Renée and Renato were a female/male vocal
duo, who had a UK
number-one hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...
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
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
.
West Midlands
West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...
-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: 197 ...
'' in 1975, catching the attention of songwriter,
Johnny Edward, who had written "Save Your Love". He was teamed by Edward with British singer
ilary Lesternd the duo was renamed as 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-ups.][
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 p ...
''. 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, now split into two businesses:
*Wall's (ice cream), a brand owned by Unilever that makes ice cream
*Wall's (meat)
Wall's is a brand of meat products in the United Kingdom, best known for i ...
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 is a professional football club based in Aston, Birmingham, England. The club competes in the , the top tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1874, they have played at their home ground, Villa Pa ...
and during the early 1990s was asked by manager Ron Atkinson
Ronald Frederick Atkinson (born 18 March 1939), commonly known as "Big Ron" or "Mr. Bojangles", is an English former football player and manager. In the 1990s and early 2000s, he was regarded as one of Britain's best-known football pundits.
Nic ...
to sing "Nessun dorma
"" (; English: "Let no one sleep") is an aria from the final act of Giacomo Puccini's opera ''Turandot'' (text by Giuseppe Adami and Renato Simoni) and one of the best-known tenor arias in all opera. It is sung by Calaf, (the unknown prince), ...
" at half time following a particularly poor first half performance by the team.Room 101
The Ministry of Truth, the Ministry of Peace, the Ministry of Love, and the Ministry of Plenty are the four ministries of the government of Oceania in the 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', by George Orwell.
The use of contradictory ...
'', Atkinson claimed that only Luciano Pavarotti could sing "Nessun Dorma" better than Renato.
Death
Renato died from complications following surgery on a brain tumour at Good Hope Hospital
Good Hope Hospital is a teaching hospital in the Sutton Coldfield area of Birmingham, England. Covering north Birmingham and south east Staffordshire, it is managed by the University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust.
History
The hospit ...
, Sutton Coldfield, 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) is a tabloid newspaper based in Birmingham, England but distributed around Birmingham, the Black Country, and Solihull and parts of Warwickshire, Worcestershire a ...
'', 4 August 2009.
Discography
Albums
Renato albums
Singles
Renato singles
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Renee and Renato
British pop music duos
Male–female musical duos