Joseph Dolce (born October 13, 1947)
(, originally ) is an American-Italian singer/songwriter, poet and essayist.
Dolce achieved international recognition with his multi-million-selling song, "
Shaddap You Face", released worldwide under the name of his one-man show, Joe Dolce Music Theatre, in 1980–1981.
[ Note: n-lineversion established a]
White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd
in 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition.[ NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until ]ARIA
In music, an aria ( Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompa ...
created their own charts in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974. The single reached number one in 15 countries. It has sold more than 450,000 copies in
Australia and continues to be the most successful Australian-produced single worldwide, selling an estimated six million copies.
It reached No. 1 on the Australian
Kent Music Report Singles Chart for eight weeks from November 1980.
Life and career
1947–1977: Early years
Dolce was born in 1947, the eldest of three children, to Italian-American parents in
Painesville, Ohio
Painesville is a city in and the county seat of Lake County, Ohio, United States, located along the Grand River northeast of Cleveland. Its population was 19,563 at the 2010 census.
Painesville is the home of Lake Erie College, Morley Libra ...
, graduating from
Thomas W. Harvey High School in 1965. During his senior year, he played the lead role of Mascarille in
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin (, ; 15 January 1622 (baptised) – 17 February 1673), known by his stage name Molière (, , ), was a French playwright, actor, and poet, widely regarded as one of the greatest writers in the French language and worl ...
's ''Les Précieuses Ridicules'' for a production staged by the French Club of
Lake Erie College
Lake Erie College is a private liberal arts college in Painesville, Ohio. Founded in 1856 as a female seminary, the college converted to a coeducational institution in 1985. As of the 2016–2017 academic year, the total enrollment was 1,177 stud ...
, which was his first time on stage, acting and singing an impromptu song he created from the script. The play was well-received and his performance was noted by director Jake Rufli, who later invited him to be part of his production of
Jean Anouilh
Jean Marie Lucien Pierre Anouilh (; 23 June 1910 – 3 October 1987) was a French dramatist whose career spanned five decades. Though his work ranged from high drama to absurdist farce, Anouilh is best known for his 1944 play ''Antigone'', an a ...
's ''Eurydice''.
His co-star in ''Les Précieuses Ridicules'' was a sophomore on a creative writing scholarship at
Lake Erie College
Lake Erie College is a private liberal arts college in Painesville, Ohio. Founded in 1856 as a female seminary, the college converted to a coeducational institution in 1985. As of the 2016–2017 academic year, the total enrollment was 1,177 stud ...
,
Carol Dunlop, who introduced him to folk music,
poetry
Poetry (derived from the Greek ''poiesis'', "making"), also called verse, is a form of literature that uses aesthetic and often rhythmic qualities of language − such as phonaesthetics, sound symbolism, and metre − to evoke meanings i ...
and the writings of
William Faulkner
William Cuthbert Faulkner (; September 25, 1897 – July 6, 1962) was an American writer known for his novels and short stories set in the fictional Yoknapatawpha County, based on Lafayette County, Mississippi, where Faulkner spent most o ...
and
Ernest Hemingway
Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...
. Dunlop later married the
Argentine novelist
Julio Cortázar. Dolce attended
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subseq ...
, majoring in
architecture
Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...
, from 1965 to 1967 before deciding to become a professional
musician.
While attending college at
Ohio University
Ohio University is a public research university in Athens, Ohio. The first university chartered by an Act of Congress and the first to be chartered in Ohio, the university was chartered in 1787 by the Congress of the Confederation and subseq ...
, in
Athens, Ohio, he formed various bands including Headstone Circus,
with
Jonathan Edwards who subsequently went on as a solo artist to have a charting hit song in the US ("
Sunshine"). Edwards subsequently recorded five Dolce songs including, "Athens County", "Rollin' Along", "King of Hearts", "The Ballad of Upsy Daisy" and "My Home Ain't in the Hall of Fame", the latter song becoming an alt country classic, also recorded by
Robert Earl Keen
Robert Earl Keen (born January 11, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter and entertainer. Debuting with 1984's ''No Kinda Dancer'', the Houston native has recorded 20 full-length albums for both independent and major record labels. His songs ha ...
,
Rosalie Sorrels
Rosalie Sorrels (June 24, 1933 – June 11, 2017) was an American Folk music, folk singer-songwriter. She began her public career as a singer and collector of traditional folksongs in the late 1950s. During the early 1960s she left her husband an ...
, JD Crowe & the New South and many others.
1978–1984: Move to Australia, "Boat People" and "Shaddap You Face"
Dolce relocated to
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
, Australia, in 1978 and his first single there was "Boat People"—a
protest song
A protest song is a song that is associated with a movement for social change and hence part of the broader category of ''topical'' songs (or songs connected to current events). It may be folk, classical, or commercial in genre.
Among social mov ...
on the poor treatment of Vietnamese refugees—which was translated into Vietnamese and donated to the fledgling Vietnamese community starting to form in Melbourne. His one-man show, Joe Dolce Music Theatre, was performed in cabarets and pubs with various line-ups, including his longtime partner,
Lin Van Hek.
In July 1980, he recorded the self-penned "
Shaddap You Face",
for the Full Moon Records label, at Mike Brady's new studios in
West Melbourne.
When in Ohio, Dolce would sometimes visit his Italian grandparents and extended family—they used the phrases "What's the matter, you?" and "Eh, shaddap", which Dolce adapted and used in the song.
He wrote the song about Italians living in Australia and first performed it at Marijuana House, Brunswick Street,
Fitzroy in 1979.
It became a multi-million-selling hit, peaking at No. 1 on the Australian
Kent Music Report Singles Chart for eight weeks from November 1980,
in the UK from February 1981 for three weeks,
and also No. 1 in
Germany
Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...
,
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
,
Fiji,
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico (; abbreviated PR; tnq, Boriken, ''Borinquen''), officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico ( es, link=yes, Estado Libre Asociado de Puerto Rico, lit=Free Associated State of Puerto Rico), is a Caribbean island and unincorporated ...
, the Canadian province of
Quebec
Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...
,
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
,
[ Note: Some information is in German.] New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...
and
Switzerland.
[ Note: Some information is in German.] Dolce received the Advance Australia Award in 1981.
The song has had hundreds of cover versions over the decades including releases by artists as diverse as Lou Monte, Sheila (France), Andrew Sachs (Manuel, of Fawlty Towers), actor Samuel L. Jackson and hip-hop legend KRS-One. In 2018, the first Russian language version was released by two of Moscow's most popular singers, Kristina Orbakaite and
Philipp Kirkorov
Philipp Bedrosovich Kirkorov PAR (russian: Филипп Бедросович Киркоров; bg, Филип Бедросов Киркоров, Filip Bedrosov Kirkorov; born 30 April 1967) is a Bulgarian-born Russian pop singer. He is a five ...
. The song has been translated into fifteen languages, including an aboriginal dialect.
By February 1981, it had become Australia's best-selling single ever selling 290,000 copies, entering the Guinness Book of World Records and surpassing the previous record of 260,000 copies by Brady's own "
Up There Cazaly
"Up There Cazaly" is 1979 song by Mike Brady, written to promote Channel Seven's coverage of the Victorian Football League (VFL). It was first performed by the Two-Man Band, a duo of Brady and Peter Sullivan, and has since become an unofficial ...
".
"
Shaddap You Face" has continued to be licensed and recorded by other artists and companies since its release in 1980 with its most recent appearance, in 2021, as part of the US series ''
The Morning Show'' (aka, ''Morning Wars'' in Australia.)
Follow up single, "If You Wanna Be Happy" was released in 1981 and charted in Australia and New Zealand.
In December 1981, Dolce released the album ''Christmas in Australia'', which peaked at number 92 on the Australian chart.
1984–present
With
Lin Van Hek, he formed various performance groups including Skin the Wig, La Somnambule (1984) and the ongoing
Difficult Women (1993).
Van Hek and Dolce co-wrote "Intimacy",
for the soundtrack of the 1984 film ''
The Terminator'',
now part of the US Library of Congress collection. He was a featured lead actor in the Australian film ''
Blowing Hot and Cold'' (1988). He has continued to perform solo and with Van Hek as part of their music-literary cabaret
Difficult Women.
In 2010, two of his photos were selected for publication in the US journal, ''Tupelo Quarterly''.
Since 2009, he has been a prolifically published poet in Australia. In 2010, he won the 25th Launceston Poetry Cup at the Tasmanian Poetry Festival. His poems were selected for Best Australian Poems 2014 & 2015. He was the winner of the 2017 University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor's Health Poetry Prize, for a choral libretto, longlisted in the same year for the University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor's Poetry Prize and included in the Irises anthology. He longlisted for the 2018 University of Canberra Vice-Chancellor's Poetry Prize and was included in the Silence anthology. He was Highly Commended for the 2020 ACU Poetry Prize and included in the Generosity anthology. He was selected as the August 2020 City of Melbourne Poet Laureate.
Since 2018, he has been the television and film reviews editor for
''Quadrant'' magazine.
Poetry
;Collections
*
*
Discography
Albums
Singles
References
External links
*
Joe Dolce''Countdown'' biography
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dolce, Joe
1947 births
Living people
21st-century Australian poets
American expatriates in Australia
American male guitarists
American male singer-songwriters
American people of Italian descent
Australian guitarists
Australian male guitarists
Australian male poets
Australian singer-songwriters
Australian singers of Italian descent
Guitarists from Ohio
Meanjin people
Musicians from Melbourne
Ohio University alumni
People from Painesville, Ohio
Quadrant (magazine) people
Singer-songwriters from Ohio
21st-century Australian male writers
20th-century American guitarists
20th-century American male musicians
MCA Records artists
PolyGram artists
Australian male singer-songwriters