Leo Chiosso (b.

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The ...

, 8 August 1920 – d.

Chieri Chieri (; pms, Cher) is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Turin, Piedmont (Italy), located about southeast of Turin, by rail and by road. It borders the following municipalities: Baldissero Torinese, Pavarolo, Montaldo Torine ...

, Italy, 26 November 2006) was an Italian

lyricist A lyricist is a songwriter who writes lyrics (the spoken words), as opposed to a composer, who writes the song's music which may include but not limited to the melody, harmony, arrangement and accompaniment. Royalties A lyricist's incom ...

mostly known for his work with Fred Buscaglione. They formed a

songwriting A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

duo who produced about forty songs and created Buscaglione's public persona, a humorous tough guy with a penchant for

whisky Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Various grains (which may be malted) are used for different varieties, including barley, corn, rye, and wheat. Whisky is typically aged in wooden ca ...

and

women A woman is an adult female human. Prior to adulthood, a female human is referred to as a girl (a female child or adolescent). The plural ''women'' is sometimes used in certain phrases such as "women's rights" to denote female humans regardl ...

. Chiosso and Buscaglione met in 1938 in the night-club scene of

, hometown to both of them. At that time, Chiosso was a university student, while Buscaglione eked out a living as 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 ...

singer and musician in those clubs. Their friendship was abruptly interrupted by

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

. Chiosso was deported to

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

, while Buscaglione ended up in a US internment camp in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

. Chiosso had news about his friend's fate thanks to the radio - Buscaglione had joined the allied radio station orchestra in Cagliari, and Chiosso knew he was still alive when he heard him playing. Chiosso and Buscaglione reunited in Turin after the end of the war, and started writing songs together. Chiosso's lyrics were inspired by the American

crime fiction Crime fiction, detective story, murder mystery, mystery novel, and police novel are terms used to describe narratives that centre on criminal acts and especially on the investigation, either by an amateur or a professional detective, of a crime, ...

he was an avid reader of, as well as by current news. They were humorous stories about gangsters and their babes,

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, tough men who were ruthless with enemies but easily fell victims to a woman's charms. They fitted perfectly with the image of amiable braggart Buscaglione was creating for himself. The first Buscaglione-Chiosso hit was ''Che bambola'' of 1956, the song that brought Buscaglione to nationwide celebrity. It was followed by many other hits, including ''Che notte'', ''Criminalmente bella'', ''Il dritto di Chicago'', ''Eri piccola così'', ''Lontano da te'', '' Love in Portofino'', ''Porfirio Villarosa'', ''Sgancia e pedala'', ''Teresa non sparare'', ''Whisky facile''. Their last work together was the movie '' Noi duri'' of 1960, featuring Buscaglione and the famous Italian actor

Totò Antonio Griffo Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno Porfirogenito Gagliardi de Curtis di Bisanzio (15 February 1898 – 15 April 1967), best known by his stage name Totò (), or simply as Antonio de Curtis, and nicknamed ''il Principe della risata ...

. Chiosso wrote both the

story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Story, a narrative (an account of imaginary or real people and events) ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting * Story (American English), or storey (British ...

and the

script Script may refer to: Writing systems * Script, a distinctive writing system, based on a repertoire of specific elements or symbols, or that repertoire * Script (styles of handwriting) ** Script typeface, a typeface with characteristics of handw ...

for the movie, as well as the lyrics for two songs of the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

, ''Noi duri'' and ''Ninna nanna del duro''. The making of the movie was still in progress when Buscaglione died in a car crash. Chiosso's career successfully continued. He penned lyrics for famous songs such as ''Parole, parole, parole'', ''Torpedo blu'', and ''Montecarlo''. He was also a prolific television author - among his TV credits, the extremely popular music show ''

Canzonissima ''Canzonissima'' was an Italian musical variety show broadcast by Rai 1 from 1958 to 1974, aired on Saturday evening except for the last two editions in which it was aired on Sunday afternoon. The program was referred to as "the synthesis and the ...

''. He also wrote stories and scripts for

cinema Cinema may refer to: Film * Cinematography, the art of motion-picture photography * Film or movie, a series of still images that create the illusion of a moving image ** Film industry, the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking ...

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Chiosso, Leo 1920 births 2006 deaths Writers from Turin 20th-century Italian screenwriters Italian songwriters Male songwriters 20th-century Italian musicians Italian male screenwriters 20th-century Italian male musicians 20th-century Italian male writers Italian rugby union players