Bruno Martino (11 November 1925 – 12 June 2000) was an Italian composer, singer, and pianist.
Career
Martino learned to play the piano at the age of fourteen. A
Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...
fan, he spent the early years of his career performing with European radio and night club orchestras. In the mid-1950s he was a member of the
RAI
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...
orchestra. He later started composing music for popular Italian singers, eventually touring the world with his own orchestra. This resulted in a late-blossoming career as a singer.Michael Sattler Bruno Martino michaelsattler.com
Internationally he is best known for his 1960 song '' Estate'', a standard that has been performed by many jazz musicians and singers since the early 1960s, including
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Shirley Valerie Horn (May 1, 1934 – October 20, 2005) was an American jazz singer and pianist. She collaborated with many jazz musicians including Miles Davis, Dizzy Gillespie, Toots Thielemans, Ron Carter, Carmen McRae, Wynton Marsalis and ot ...
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Eliane Elias
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Michel Petrucciani
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and Robert Jospé.
Martino's hit-song ''Dracula Cha Cha'' (later also called ''Dracula Cha Cha Cha'') was first heard in the Italian horror-comedy film '' Tempi duri per i vampiri'' (1959) and on a vinyl single released the same year. It was later included in the album ''Italian Graffiti'' (1960/61) and is performed onscreen in
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Vincente Minnelli (born Lester Anthony Minnelli; February 28, 1903 – July 25, 1986) was an American stage director and film director. He directed the classic movie musicals '' Meet Me in St. Louis'' (1944), '' An American in Paris'' (1951), ' ...
's film ''
Two Weeks in Another Town
''Two Weeks in Another Town'' is a 1962 American drama film directed by Vincente Minnelli and starring Kirk Douglas and Edward G. Robinson. The supporting players include Cyd Charisse, Claire Trevor, Daliah Lavi, George Hamilton, and Rosanna S ...
'' (1962). It inspired the title of
Kim Newman
Kim James Newman (born 31 July 1959) is an English journalist, film critic and fiction writer. Recurring interests visible in his work include film history and horror fiction—both of which he attributes to seeing Tod Browning's ''Dracula'' at ...
's novel ''
Dracula Cha Cha Cha
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'' (1998), which takes place in Rome in 1959. There were several recordings by other artists, and Martino himself released a follow-up song called ''Draculino (Vampiro un po' bambino)'' (1959).
Discography
*1959 - ''I grandi successi di Bruno Martino''
*1960 - ''Nuovi successi''
*1963 - ''Bruno Martino''
*1964 - ''Bruno Martino con orchestra''
*1965 - ''Dedicato a te''
*1969 - ''Sabato sera''
*1970 - ''The Best of Bruno Martino''
*1971 - ''Cos'hai trovato in lui''
*1972 - ''Ieri, oggi e sempre con Bruno Martino''
*1975 - ''I Love You''
*1977 - ''In the Night''
*1978 - ''Night Games''
*1980 - ''Il pianoforte e tu''
*1981 - ''Starai bene con me''
*1983 - ''Inconfutabilmente mia''
*1986 - ''Innamorarsi mai''