He was one of the most famous tenors of all time: Luciano Pavarotti. One of his childhood friends was the soprano Mirella Freni, who later …
Louis Armstrong: King of Razzmatazz (2.)
Armstrong was not only a major influence on the invention of swing, he was also considered the King of Swing for a long time: During the heyday of swing in the thirties and forties, Louis Armstrong enjoyed great success…
Louis Armstrong: King of Razzmatazz (1.)
There is no jazz musician as closely intertwined with the history of jazz music as Louis Armstrong. Louis Daniel Armstrong grew up in poor conditions …
Fred Astaire: Master of the dance
It all started in Omaha, Nebraska: Fred Astaire, whose real name was Frederick Austerlitz, was born there in 1899. His mother was the daughter of …
The music of the James Bond movies
It was actually an accident: English composer Monty Norman was entrusted with composing the score for the first Bond film, Dr. No, in 1962. John …
Dalida: The exotic chanteuse (3.)
Iolanda wanted to present her new musical style at the Olympia: But the owner of the Olympia, Bruno Coquatrix, did not believe that she would attract the audience with her new style. Dalida herself was also doubtful: she was not sure if her audience, used to chansons like Bambino, would accept melancholic chansons.
Dalida: The exotic chanteuse (2.)
The success of Bambino was enormous: she received a gold record for 300,000 sold records of Bambino. But at this point Dalida’s journey of success was far from over.
Lucien Morisse, her lover and also her manager, landed a second hit with her: Gondolier.
The song was written in French and Italian – which improved the chances for success. The plan worked: Gondolier became Dalida’s second big hit – this time the song also enjoyed great success in Italy.
Dalida: The exotic chanteuse (1.)
It was a life marked by the longing for love: the life of Iolanda Cristina Gigliotti. Under her stage name Dalida, she became world famous.
She sang in no less than ten languages and was admired by a wide audience.
Her image: the “Madonna”. There were critics who compared Dalida to a beauty from ancient Egypt.
But who was Iolanda Gigliotti?
Mirella Freni: The Magic of a Voice
She was considered Herbert von Karajan’s favorite singer, was a friend of Maria Callas, and grew up with Luciano Pavarotti: Mirella Freni.
Fritz Wunderlich: The Century Tenor (4.)
It was in June 1963 that Fritz Wunderlich caused a small scandal in his hometown Kusel: In a television broadcast, Wunderlich referred to his home town of Kusel as “a little nest in the Palatinate.” The people of Kusel took this as an insult – it took less than 24 hours for Fritz Wunderlich to learn of the uproar…