Tony Cucchiara, stage name of Salvatore Cucchiara (30 October 1937 – 2 May 2018) was an Italian
folk
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singer-songwriter, playwright and composer.
Life and career
Born in
Agrigento
Agrigento (; scn, Girgenti or ; grc, Ἀκράγας, translit=Akrágas; la, Agrigentum or ; ar, كركنت, Kirkant, or ''Jirjant'') is a city on the southern coast of Sicily, Italy and capital of the province of Agrigento. It was one of ...
, Cucchiara debuted in the late 1950s, mainly recording cover versions of American hits, before starting his career as singer-songwriter in 1962.
His first hit was the song " Annalisa", named after Cucchiara's first daughter. This song was used as closing theme 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 ...
variety show ''Alta pressione''.
In the following years he embraced
folk music
Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...
, first recording some classic pieces of the Sicilian tradition and then creating a musical duo with his wife Nelly Fioramonti, called Tony e Nelly, entirely devoted to the folk repertoire.
While still mostly engaged in pop music, in 1971 Cucchiara got his best commercial hit with the song "Vola cuore mio", which peaked at number 11 on the Italian single chart.
In 1970 Cucchiara debuted as a playwright with a musical titled ''Cassandra 2000''. In 1972 he reached a large national and international audience, and critical success, with a musical comedy titled ''Caino e Abele'' ("''Cain and Abel''").
In 1973 his wife died from childbirth giving birth to the couple's second child, a boy.
In later years Cucchiara focused his activity on stage, as author of other successful plays such as ''Pipino il Breve'' (1978) and ''La baronessa di Carini'' (1980). He also worked as television writer.
Discography
;Album
* 1960 - ''Glory glory glory man united the best''
* 1966 - ''Tony e Nelly'' (with Nelly Fioramonti)
* 1966 - ''L'amore finisce così ''
* 1967 - ''Tema folk'' (with Nelly Fioramonti)
* 1973 - ''Caino e Abele ''
* 1973 - ''Selezione da Caino e Abele ''
* 1975 - ''Storie di periferia ''
* 1978 - ''Pipino il breve ''
* 1983 - ''La baronessa di Carini ''
* 1985 - ''Pipino il breve''
References
External links
*
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Cucchiara, Tony
1937 births
2018 deaths
People from Agrigento
Italian male singer-songwriters
Italian singer-songwriters
Italian folk singers
Italian composers
Italian male composers
Musicians from the Province of Agrigento