Nicola Arigliano

Biography

Nicholas Arigliano - an Italian singer of jazz, the "Frank Sinatra" of Italy - was born on December 6, 1923 in Squinzano and died on March 30, 2010. At 11 years old he ran away to Milan, as he was humiliated by his family due to his stuttering. Because of his difficult childhood he used to sign autographs, later on, by the name 'Pasquale'. He took lessons in music theory, played the saxophone and sang in a few amateur bands, with american-style singers. He came to public attention, as he parti...

Nicholas Arigliano - an Italian singer of jazz, the "Frank Sinatra" of Italy - was born on December 6, 1923 in Squinzano and died on March 30, 2010.

At 11 years old he ran away to Milan, as he was humiliated by his family due to his stuttering. Because of his difficult childhood he used to sign autographs, later on, by the name 'Pasquale'. He took lessons in music theory, played the saxophone and sang in a few amateur bands, with american-style singers.

He came to public attention, as he participated in 1946 on Radio Bari, at the "Amateur Paradise" competition, organized by composer Vito Vittorio Crocitto and maestro Carlo Vitale.

"I started young. I studied a bit 'of harmony, I was, actually I am, a Bach convinced, I like everything about Sebastian" - Nicola

In 1952, he participated at the Newport Jazz Festival, thanks to music critic Marshall Brown, who noticed him earlier. Back in Italy, he participated as an actor in numerous television programs, and started his professional career as an entertainer.

His life is divided between music and television. His first disc dates from 1956 and was a 78 rpm record; it consisted of a few napolitan songs and was released by RCA Italia. The following year, he moved to Fonit and released other recordings with Alberto Pizzigoni and Riccardo Rauchi.

With the transition to 45 rpm records, and to the Columbia label, the first success came with the recording of the song "Simpatica" by Garinei, Giovannini and Kramer, taken from the musical comedy Buonanotte Bettina.

In 1958 he participated in Canzonissima and later was noticed in a television program entitled Sentimentale, led by Lelio Luttazzi, where he attended as a regular guest, along with Mina. The homonymous theme became a hit, recorded by both the singers in two different versions.

In the meantime, Nicola went on to improve his great passion, jazz, by participating at festivals and dedicated performances (for example, the 1959 Festival Del Jazz, together with Franco Cerri), highlighting himself thanks to his crooner style.

His greatest hits: "Un giorno ti dirò", "Amorevole", "I sing amore", "My wonderful bambina", "I love you forestiera", are from this period. The titles in two different languages were a habit of songwriters at the end of the 50's, who saw "postcard-songs" as a way to promote Italy's touristic beauties (the most famous example will have been "Arrivederci Roma" by Renato Rascel).

In 1963 he was the protagonist of another Saturday night show, "Il cantatutto", together with Milva and Claudio Villa, wherein he enjoyed swapping his repertoire with the two other colleagues and performing gags and comic sketches.

In 1964 he participated in the Sanremo Festival with "Venti chilometri al giorno" and at the 12th edition of Napolitan Songs Festival with the theme of Nisa and Salerno "Si' turnata", performed together with Sergio Bruni. Afterwards he began a long and very successfull career as an advertising testimonial, first for the "Amaro Cora" liquor - for which he played his song "Amorevole" with the title changed to "Amarevole" - and later appeared in a play to advertise for Antonetto(digestive pill) - he played a braggart who boasted amazing business with friends and regularly lost every bet with them and ended up paying expensive dinners. This activity assured his income even when his musical commitments will have become less frequent, thanks to generation replacement and arrival of beat wave.

Arigliano surprisingly came back to television in 1977 in several episodes of "Non stop", a show by Enzo Trapani dedicated to cabaret.

In 1985 he made a live record "Mario Schiano presenta Nicola Arigliano al night club Il Sorpasso - Con l'orchestra I Primi" where, in spite of the title, Mario Schiano was not there: he was, in fact, the promoter of some music performances near Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome to celebrate the PCI's overtaking of DC during European election of 1984 (this thing explains the night club's name "Il Sorpasso"); on the record played some of the most famous Italian jazz musicians, like Marc 4 keyboard player, Antonello Vannucchi, Gegè Munari on drums and Giorgio Rosciglione on double bass.

More recently (1996) he won the Tenco award for his album "I sing ancora"; in 2001 he published "Go man!", album recorded live in Milan that houses some of the most famous Italian jazz musicians: Franco Cerri, Enrico Rava, Gianni Basso, Bruno De Filippi, Renato Sellani and Massimo Moriconi.

In 2005, at 81 years old, he was the oldest singer to take part to Festival di Sanremo: on the occasion he introduced the song "Colpevole" winning the Critics Prize. On the evening of Friday, that of alternate versions, after playing a song in the competition, which was accompanied by Antonello Vannucchi of Marc4 and Franco Cerri, conductor Paul Bonolis asked Nicola for a jam session with his fellow musicians from On the Sunny Side of the Street. The song was however deleted by the jury and did not make the final evening.

On the summer of 2005 his band revolutionized opting for a formation without piano, replaced by accordion and guitar. With this versatile band he started a particularly fervent and industrious moment of his career earning unanimous approval everywhere.

His last performance (with the inseparable Frank Antonucci on guitar, Reverendo Otis on double bass, Al Ventura - accordion and Santi Isgrò - drums) dates back to September 8th, 2007 on the occasion of the Career Award that his hometown Squinzano wanted to bestow upon him. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.