Claudio Villa

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mario Trevi and Claudio Villa (1962)
Plaque on Villa's birthplace

Claudio Villa (born January 1, 1926 in Rome as Claudio Pica, † February 7, 1987 in Padua ) was an Italian singer and actor . Villa had a particularly high tenor voice and was considered the "king" (reuccio) of the melodious, popular song in Italy in the 1950s . At the Sanremo Music Festival Villa took whole 13 times in part (including four wins), twice he also represented his country at the Grand Prix Euro Vision Song Contest .

Career

Born in the popular Roman district of Trastevere , Villa especially cultivated the song tradition of his hometown. After doing various odd jobs , he made his debut in 1944 as a singer in the Ambra Jovinelli theater , but fell ill a year later with tuberculosis , which affected his singing technique. With his special falsetto singing , Villa established himself as the founder of the Italian gorgheggiatori (" yodel "). He published his first recordings from 1947 on the Italian Parlophon label (an early spin-off from the German Parlophon ) until he founded the Vis Radio label in 1949 together with fellow musician Gino Conte . At the Sanremo Festival in 1955 Villa immediately entered the race as a favorite and actually won the competition together with Tullio Pane with the song Buongiorno tristezza . Due to his surge in popularity in the 1950s, Villa also appeared in a number of films as an actor.

After switching to the Cetra label in 1956 , the singer won the Sanremo Festival again in 1957 , this time with Corde della mia chitarra , together with Nunzio Gallo . Gallo then presented the song at the Grand Prix Eurovision de la Chanson . By 1982 Villa took part in Sanremo a further eleven times, often with several contributions in the race. Together with Domenico Modugno , he won the festival again in 1962 with the song Addio ... addio ... , which he also presented at the Grand Prix Eurovision (he came in ninth place). Villa finally achieved the fourth Sanremo victory in 1967 with Non pensare a me together with Iva Zanicchi . In the same year he took part in the Grand Prix a second time and was eleventh with Non andare più lontano .

While Villa was still considered the undisputed “king” of its genre in the 1950s, public taste in Italy began to change in the early 1960s. Villa was increasingly seen as old-fashioned, and more modern singers like Domenico Modugno were preferred. Villa changed his style and repertoire little, however. His difficult character also regularly led to numerous quarrels with other singers, with the organizers of the Sanremo Festival and with the press.

Discography

Singles

Villa recorded over 3,000 songs during his career. The first 10 ″ single was released in 1947. Since the Italian single charts from Musica e dischi did not start until 1960, only a small part of Villa's successes is recorded by it. A full discography is available on the Pamabù website .

year Title
album 		Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, album , rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
IT IT
1963 Amor, mon amour, my love
Da Il Cantatutto con Milva e Villa 		IT3 (6 weeks)
IT
Cetra , SP 1162
1966 Una casa in cima al mondo IT13 (2 weeks)
IT
Cetra , SP 1296
1967 Granada
Villa’s story 		IT10 (2 weeks)
IT
Cetra , SP 424
published 1958
Non pensare a me
25 anni di successi 		IT7 (5 weeks)
IT
Cetra , SP 1327
1969 Povero cuore
25 anni di successi 		IT13 (3 weeks)
IT
Cetra , SP 1371
Il tuo mondo
25 anni di successi 		IT19 (3 weeks)
IT
Cetra , SP 1407
1970 The sole del mattino IT23 (2 weeks)
IT
Cetra , SP 1420
1971 Not è la pioggia IT19 (7 weeks)
IT
Cetra , SP 1448
1972 La cosa più bella IT11 (7 weeks)
IT
Cetra , SP 1468

Albums

None of Villas' innumerable albums (17 albums released by different labels in 1957 alone) are included in the M&D charts that began in 1970. In recent times, only a posthumous compilation succeeded in chart entry in 2009.

year title Top ranking, total weeks, awardChartsChart placements
(Year, title, rankings, weeks, awards, notes) 		Remarks
IT IT
2009 Tutto Villa (Storia di una voce) IT89 (2 weeks)
IT
Warner Music

Filmography

  • 1947: Sono io l'assassino
  • 1950: The big show (Botta e risposta)
  • 1951: Canzone di primavera
  • 1951: Stasera sciopero
  • 1951: Vedi Napoli e poi muori
  • 1952: Solo per te Lucia
  • 1952: Serenata amara
  • 1954: Canzone d'amore
  • 1955: Ore 10: lezione di canto
  • 1956: Canzone proibita
  • 1956: Guaglione
  • 1956: Sanremo canta
  • 1957: Vivendo cantando… che male ti fò?
  • 1957: Sette canzoni per sette sorelle
  • 1957: A night with 16 blondes (Serenate per 16 bionde)
  • 1957: Primo applauso
  • 1957: C'è un sentiero nel cielo
  • 1957: Buongiorno primo amore!
  • 1957: La canzone del destino
  • 1958: L'amore nasce a Roma
  • 1958: Perfidious ... ma belle
  • 1959: Destinazione Sanremo
  • 1959: Quanto sei bella Roma
  • 1960: Un canto nel deserto
  • 1960: La banda del buco
  • 1960: Fontana di Trevi
  • 1962: Appuntamento in Riviera
  • 1967: Granada, addio!
  • 1978: Melodrammore
  • 1983: “FF.SS.” - Cioè: “… che mi hai portato a fare sopra a Posillipo se non mi vuoi più bene?”

literature

  • Dizionario della canzone italiana. Curcio editore, 1990
  • Eddy Anselmi: Festival di Sanremo. Almanacco illustrato della canzone italiana. edizioni Panini
  • Ettore De Mura: Enciclopedia della Canzone Napoletana. Il Torchio, 1969

Web links

Commons : Claudio Villa  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

supporting documents

  1. ↑ Discografia ufficiale di Claudio Villa. In: Pamabù. Ottavio Buonomo, accessed on September 3, 2016 (Italian, sound carriers sorted by records of 78, 45, 16 and 33 revolutions and by CDs).
  2. ↑ M&D chart archive. Musica e dischi, accessed on September 3, 2016 (Italian, paid subscription access).
  3. ^ Albums by Claudio Villa. In: Italiancharts.com. Hung Medien , accessed September 3, 2016 .
personal data
SURNAME Villa, Claudio
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Pica, Claudio
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Italian singer and actor
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Rome , Italy
DATE OF DEATH February 7, 1987
Place of death Padua , Italy