Mario Merola

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Mario Merola

Mario Merola (born April 6, 1934 in Naples , † November 12, 2006 in Castellammare di Stabia ) was a Neapolitan singer and actor.

Life

Burial place of Mario Merola

Merola, coming from the poorest of backgrounds, initially earned his living in his hometown as an assistant cook and dock worker. At the urging of his colleagues, he took some singing lessons and recorded the rabid song Malu figlio . He quickly had great success in the new profession and became an icon of the Neapolitan song, which also became a star among immigrants in the United States and Canada. He released numerous records.

At the end of the 1970s, he began to build a reputation as an actor parallel to his singing career. He often appeared in films by director Alfonso Brescia , mostly criminalist films and melodramas in the tradition of director Raffaello Matarazzo and almost exclusively with a Naples reference, mostly with the (original) title. Few of these films had screenings outside of Italy.

Since the mid-1980s, the "massive and passionate actor and singer concentrated again on the Neapolitan songs full of sobs, despair and anger" and appeared in countless concerts, on stages and on television.

At the beginning of 2006 he had to end his career due to health problems. He died of pulmonary edema .

Since 1964 he was married to Rosa Serrapaglia, with whom he had three children, of whom his son Francesco continues the tradition as a singer of Neapolitan songs.

Films (selection)

  • 1973: Sgarro alla Camorra
  • 1978: Napoli serenata caibro 9
  • 1978: L'ultimo guappo
  • 1978: From Corleone to Brooklyn (Da Corleone a Brooklyn)
  • 1979: Hunted City (Sbirro, la tua legge è lenta… la mia no)
  • 1979: The great battle of the Syndicate (I contrabbandieri di Santa Lucia)
  • 1979: Il mammasantissima
  • 1979: Napoli… la Camorra sfide, la città risponde
  • 1980: Zappatore
  • 1980: La tua vita per mio figlio
  • 1981: Napoli, Palermo, New York - Il triangolo della Camorra
  • 1981: Carcerato
  • 1982: Tradimento
  • 1982: Giuramente
  • 1984: Torna
  • 1984: Guapparia

Plates (selection)

  • 1967: Mario Merola (PIG AVA 74)
  • 1970: 6 sceneggiate cantate da Mario Merola (ZSL TM 55460)
  • 1972: canzoni 'nziste (REL-ST 19154)
  • 1981: Lacrime napulitane
  • 2001: Passione eterna (District Venus)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. Andrea Orbicciani, Article Mario Merola . In: Roberto Chiti, Enrico Lancia, Andrea Orbicciani, Roberto Poppi: Dizionario del cinema italiano. Gli attori. Gremese, Rome 1998, ISBN 88-7742-261-0 , p. 321/322