Nicola Di Bari (born 29 September 1940) is an Italian singer-songwriter and actor. He is considered one of the "sacred monsters" of Italian pop music.

Life and career

Born in Zapponeta, Apulia, Di Bari was the youngest of ten children from a farming family.''B & N'', Volume 32, Edizioni 7–12. Società Gestione Editoriali, 1971. p. 90. He gave up his accountancy studies to work in Rome, and after a short stay in Rome he moved to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

. In 1962, in

Cologno Monzese Cologno Monzese ( lmo, label=Milanese dialect, Milanese, Cològn ) is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Milan in the Italy, Italian region of Lombardy, located about northeast of Milan. The population increased substantially ...

, he won a song contest with a song of which he was also the author, "Piano pianino". In 1964 he achieved his first commercial success with the song "Amore ritorna a casa". Between 1965 and 1967 he entered the competition at three editions of the

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annua ...

, while coupled with

Gene Pitney Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 hit singles, inclu ...

. In 1970 Di Bari obtained even greater commercial and critical success with the song " La prima cosa bella", which ranked second at the

and first on the Italian hit charts. In 1971 he won the

and ''

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 ...

'', with the songs " Il cuore è uno zingaro" and "Chitarra suona più piano". In 1972, he again won the Sanremo Festival and represented Italy at the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

with the song " I giorni dell'arcobaleno" ("The Days of the Rainbow"). In the following years Di Bari grew his international popularity, especially in Latin America, where he recorded several albums in Spanish and where he gradually focused his career.

Selected discography

Albums

*1965 ''Nicola Di Bari'' (Jolly records, LPJ 5041) *1970 ''Nicola Di Bari'' (

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

, PSL 10464) *1971 ''Nicola Di Bari'' (RCA, PSL 10494) *1971 ''Nicola di Bari canta Luigi Tenco'' (RCA, PSL 10520) *1972 ''I giorni dell'arcobaleno'' (RCA, PSL 10533) *1973 ''Paese'' (RCA, PSL 10571) *1973 ''Un altro Sud'' (RCA, DPSL 10597) *1973 ''La colomba di carta'' (RCA, TPL1-1043) *1974 ''Ti fa bella l'amore'' (RCA, TPL1-1104) *1977 ''Nicola Di Bari'' (Carosello, CLN 25068) *1981 ''Passo dopo passo'' (WEA, T 58327) *1982 ''L'amore è...'' (Carosello, CLN 25096) *1985 ''Innamorarsi'' (CBS, 57047) *1987 ''Encanto'' (CBS DIL, 11350)

Singles

*1963 "Piano... pianino.../Perché te ne vai" (Jolly, J 20217) *1964 "Amore ritorna a casa/Senza motivo" (Jolly, J 20229) *1964 "Non farmi piangere più/Ti tendo le braccia" (Jolly, J 20255) *1965 "Tu non potrai capire/Una cosa di nessuna importanza" (Jolly, J 20280) *1965 "Amici miei/Amo te, solo te" (Jolly, J 20282) *1965 "Piangerò/Il rimpianto" (Jolly, J 20294) *1965 "Un amore vero/Non sai come ti amo" (Jolly, J 20331) *1966 "Lei mi aspetta/Ridi con me" (Jolly, J 20346) *1967 "Guardati alle spalle/Judy" (Jolly, J 20406) *1968 "Se mai ti parlassero di me/Giramondo" (

, PM 3416) *1968 "Il mondo è grigio, il mondo è blu/Solo ciao" (RCA, PM 3448) *1969 "Eternamente/La vita e l'amore" (RCA, PM 3488) *1970 "La prima cosa bella/...e lavorare" (RCA, PM 3510) *1970 "Vagabondo/La mia donna" (RCA, PM 3531) *1970 "Una ragazzina come te/Zapponeta" (RCA, PM 3554) *1971 "Il cuore è uno zingaro/Agnese" (RCA, PM 3575) *1971 "Anima/Pioverà pioverà" (RCA, Pl 1) *1971 "Un uomo molte cose non le sa/Sogno di primavera" (RCA, PM 3611) *1971 "Chitarra suona più piano/Lontano, lontano" (RCA, PM 3627) *1972 "I giorni dell'arcobaleno/Era di primavera" (RCA, PM 3639) *1972 "Occhi chiari/Un minuto... una vita" (RCA, PM 3673) *1972 "Paese/Qualche cosa di più" (RCA, PM 3693) *1974 "Sai che bevo, sai che fumo/Libertà" (RCA, TPBO 1121) *1975 "Beniamino/Tema di Beniamino" (RCA, TPBO 1150) *1976 "La più bella del mondo/Anna, perché" (Carosello, Cl 20415) *1976 "E ti amavo/Momento" (Carosello, Cl 20435) *1977 "Lei, mia/Favole" (Carosello, Cl 20450) *1979 "Chiara/Partire perché" (VIP, 10205) *1982 "Innamorati noi/Solamente una vez" (Carosello, Cl 20510) *1983 "Vorrei/Sono triste" (

Polydor Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United State ...

, 815 409-7)

CDs

*1995 ''Il meglio di Nicola Di Bari'' ("The Best of Nicola di Bari"), (DV More Records, DV 5874) *1999 ''I più grandi successi'' ("The Greatest Hits"), (Duck Records)

Selected filmography

Actor

* ''I ragazzi dell'Hully Gully'' ("The kids of hully gully"), directed by Marcello Giannini (1964) * ''

Questi pazzi, pazzi italiani ''Questi pazzi, pazzi italiani'' is a 1965 Italian "musicarello" film directed by Tullio Piacentini. Plot The film takes place in Ferrari, Italy about two young pizza chefs named Mario and Luigi that traverse all around the town looking for ...

'' ("These crazy, crazy Italians"), dir. by Tullio Piacentini (1965) * '' Viale della canzone'' ("Song Avenue"), dir. by Tullio Piacentini (1965) * '' Altissima pressione'' ("Ultimate pressure"), dir. by Enzo Trapani (1965) * ''L'immensità (La ragazza del Paip's)'' ("Immensity – The girl of the Paip's"), dir. by Oscar De Fina 1967 * ''

The Most Beautiful Couple in the World ''The Most Beautiful Couple in the World'' (Italian: ''La più bella coppia del mondo'') is a 1968 Italian " musicarello" comedy film directed by Camillo Mastrocinque and starring Walter Chiari, Paola Quattrini and Aldo Giuffrè Aldo Giuffr� ...

'' (1968) * ''

La ragazza del prete ''La ragazza del prete'' (''The girlfriend of the priest'') is a 1970 Italian romantic comedy film directed by Domenico Paolella. Cast * Nicola Di Bari: Don Michele / Nicola * Susanna Martinková: Erika * Isabella Biagini: Maria Innocenza Fu ...

'' ("The girl of the preacher man"), dir. by

Domenico Paolella Domenico Paolella (18 October 1915 - 7 October 2002) was an Italian director, screenwriter and journalist. Born in Foggia, between 1933 and 1935 Paolella won several contests for amateur directors; in the same years he started working as a journa ...

1970 * '' Torino nera'' ("Black Turin"), dir. by

Carlo Lizzani Carlo Lizzani (3 April 1922 – 5 October 2013) was an Italian film director, screenwriter and critic. Biography Born in Rome, before World War II Lizzani worked as a scenarist on such films as Roberto Rossellini's '' Germany Year Zero' ...

(1972)

Soundtrack composer

* '' Preparati la bara!'' ("You'd Better Smile"), dir. Ferdinando Baldi by (1968) * '' Torino nera'' ("Black Turin"), dir. by

(1972)

References

External links

Detailed discography

Official website

(in Italian) {{DEFAULTSORT:Di Bari, Nicola 1940 births Living people People from the Province of Foggia Italian pop singers Italian male singers Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Italy Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1972 Sanremo Music Festival winners Italian male film actors Spanish-language singers of Italy