Renée and Renato were a female/male vocal
duo, who had a UK
number-one hit in December 1982 with "
Save Your Love". The follow-up single "
Just One More Kiss" peaked at No. 48. Their third single, "Jesus Loves Us All", failed to reach the
UK Singles Chart.
-resident Italian-born
Renato Pagliari auditioned for
ITV's talent show ''
New Faces
''New Faces'' is a British television talent show that aired in the 1970s and 1980s. It has been hosted by Leslie Crowther, Derek Hobson and Marti Caine. It was produced for the ITV network by ATV, and later by Central.
Original series: ...
'' in 1975, catching the attention of songwriter,
Johnny Edward, who had written "Save Your Love". He was teamed by Edward with British singer
Hilary Lester and the duo was renamed Renée and Renato. They recorded the song, "
Save Your Love", which became the 1982 Christmas number one
and peaked at number 3 in Australia in 1983.
[
By that stage Lester had already joined another group, and the contractually enforced follow-up][
Lester returned to private life after the fame died down, but Renato still sang, mainly on cruise ships and occasionally at his son's restaurant, Renato's, in Tamworth, Staffordshire. His later credits included a guest spot on the TV comedy show '']Little and Large
''Little and Large'' were a British comedy double act comprising straight man Syd Little (born Cyril John Mead; 19 December 1942) and comic Eddie Large (born Edward Hugh McGinnis; 25 June 1941 – 2 April 2020).
Comedy duo
They formed their pa ...
''. He is also rumoured to have been the singer for the Wall's ice cream Wall's is formerly an ice cream and meat products brand in the UK, now split into two businesses:
* Wall's (ice cream), a brand owned by Unilever that makes ice cream
* Wall's (meat), a British sausage brand owned by Kerry Foods
See also
* Walls ( ...
jingle "Just One Cornetto" (although this is claimed not to be the case by Pagliari's son, RemoAston Villa F.C.
Aston Villa Football Club (commonly referred to as simply Villa) is a professional Association football, football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club, founded in 1874, compete in the Premier League, the top tier of English foot ...
and during the early 1990s was asked by manager Ron Atkinson
Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939) is an English former football player and manager. Nicknamed "Big Ron", he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Nicknamed "The Tank" during his ...
to sing " Nessun dorma" at half time following a particularly poor first half performance by the team.Luciano Pavarotti
Luciano Pavarotti (, , ; 12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor who during the late part of his career crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most acclaimed tenors of all time. He made numerou ...
could sing "Nessun Dorma" better than Renato.
Death
Renato died from complications following surgery on a brain tumour
A brain tumor (sometimes referred to as brain cancer) occurs when a group of cells within the brain turn cancerous and grow out of control, creating a mass. There are two main types of tumors: malignant (cancerous) tumors and benign (non-cancero ...
at Good Hope Hospital, Sutton Coldfield
Sutton Coldfield or the Royal Town of Sutton Coldfield ( ), is a town and civil parish in the city of Birmingham, West Midlands County, West Midlands, England. The town lies around 8 miles northeast of Birmingham city centre, 9 miles south of L ...
, on 29 July 2009, aged 69.[Tributes after Birmingham singer Renato loses battle to beat brain tumour]
''Birmingham Mail
The ''Birmingham Mail'' (branded the ''Black Country Mail'' in the Black Country and ''Birmingham Live'' online) is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, England, but distributed around Birmingham, the Black Country, and Solihull and parts ...
'', 4 August 2009.
Discography
Albums
Renato albums
Singles
Renato singles
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Renee and Renato
British pop music duos
Male–female musical duos