NICOLA DI BARI
An honestly serious singer whose greatest sin perhaps is his excessive modesty, Nicola Di Bari, whose real name is Michele Scommegna has been on the scene since 1961 with his tact and courtesy sometimes making him appear outwith the melting pot of Italian music.
Doubtless one of the most popular and well-loved Italian singers the world over, he was born at Zapponeta (Foggia) on 29 September 1940 on the feast day of Saint Michael the patron saint of the small town. “This is a lucky day” said his father, “and the baby will be called Michele so that he will always be protected by this saint.”
When he got to primary 5 at school (school-leaving age of 10), the Scommegna household began to discuss what young Michele would be when he grew up. It was decided he wouldn’t follow his father’s and brothers’ footsteps and become a farmer, but rather they would have him carry on with his studies. Thus it was that his father enrolled him at the Istituto Arcivescovile Sacro Cuore in Manfredonia.
All the years he was at high school he had never felt the desire to sing – he had a coarse, gravelly voice. Then suddenly one day...
It was the 29th of September, the local saint’s day in Zapponeta and a teenage Michele was traipsing around the booths set up for the feast, between shooting ducks, merry-go-rounds and stalls selling toys and sweets when he was struck by the presence of an old man standing sadly beside his ice-cream cart. “What’s wrong?” he asked, “business not good?” The old man was distressed because he had hardly any voice left and couldn’t shout to attract customers. Everyone was going to the other ice-cream vendors, the ones who were shouting their wares. “Folks don’t even realize I’m here” he moaned with tears in his eyes. Michele was moved by the situation and taking up the megaphone he started to shout “ice-creams, ice-creams, the best ice-creams in Puglia!” It was at this point that his friends had an idea. “Why don’t you sing one of those songs you sing during the interval at school?” Just for fun Michele began to sing and he noticed that people were coming near, gathering round him, applauding, wanting more songs. Meanwhile the old man sold all his ice-creams. Michele wanted to stop but the crowd insisted “sing, sing again…”
When he got home, Michele had decided – he wanted to be a pop singer. He began with small regional competitions, then the Jesi Festival, La Caravella dei Successi and Castrocaro then, at the age of eighteen during the summer he made friends with the Principe brothers, two accordion players well-known at the time, who suggested he went with them on tour on Lake Maggiore. Michele’s father didn’t like the idea, but in the end the youngster got his way and gained his father’s permission to leave. In this way he left his home to go “looking for dreams” and in 1958 he moved to the hinterland of Milan. At that time Milan was sort of the capital of pop music; it was there that most of the big record companies had their head office.
“... I loved music and I wanted to sing. I used to go to places like the Galleria del Corso in Milan where music was being born at that time because it was there in the Gallery that the biggest record companies had their main offices. I thought it would be easier to make it there. And in the Galleria del Corso I met the “genovesi”: Michele, Tenco, Calabrese, the Riverberi brothers and others.” Straight away Michele took part in a competition for new voices where the jury, impressed by his strangely different voice, gave him first prize. One of the jury members was maestro Leoni of the SAAR record company who offered him the opportunity of taking singing lessons and shortly afterwards a contract with the company. With SAAR he recorded a series of fortunate singles like “Piano, pianino”, “Amor non farmi pianger più”, “Perché te ne vai”, “Amici miei” and in the meantime he took part in the Cantagiro song contest.
1964: he recorded the song “Amore ritorna a casa” which is the official beginning of what was to turn out to be a wonderfully long career. People liked this song; they especially liked this young new singer’s voice and his record was one of the best sellers. Then came THE test, i.e the Festival of Sanremo the next year, 1965, when the SAAR took him to the contest with “Amici miei” in a duo with Gene Pitney and they arrived second. For the next two years he appeared with the American singer at the Festival with “Lei mi aspetta” in 1966 and “Guardati alle spalle” in 1967. By this time the singer had been engaged for some time to a pretty, sweet-natured girl called Agnese Girardello who came from the Veneto region but he also used to travel back and forth between Milan and Zapponeta in his light-blue two-seater sports car bought with the first money he earned: Nicola has always been very attached to his family, especially to his father, who at the beginning of his career when things were a bit difficult had always encouraged him to carry on along his chosen path. But the outcome of “Guardati alle spalle” was not as expected: it only takes one mistake to have to start again from the beginning. The 1967 edition of Sanremo was made even sadder for Nicola by the death of his dear friend and colleague Luigi Tenco as a tribute to whom shortly afterwards he recorded the very charming album “Nicola Di Bari sings Luigi Tenco”. Agnese never stopped encouraging him. She decided to marry him. The wedding was fixed for the 21st December 1967 in Peschiera del Garda, where they were married by Father Giuseppe Girardello, Agnese’s brother, a Franciscan monk... and so Nicola Di Bari’s becomes a love story...
1968: the singer from Puglia was again taking part in the Cantagiro contest with the intention of regaining ground with a lovely song called “Eternamente”, a real highlight in Nicola’s repertoire. The music was written by Charlie Chaplin for “Limelight”, the words were Nicola’s, having taken them from a letter written to him by Agnese the year before from Buenos Aires where he was on tour. It is a delicately romantic song which has to be carefully listened to in silence to be fully appreciated. Nicola took part in the Cantagiro with this song too and although he was somewhat bewildered by the course the music scene at the Cantagiro was taking with the participation of numerous beat groups which attracted an audience of wild youngsters, he still did fine. The evening the Cantagiro show stopped in Massa Carrara, Nicola stepped on to the stage to sing “Eternamente” with a strangely excited, happy aura about him. What had happened? A few minutes beforehand his brother had phoned him to tell him he had just become father to a bonny baby girl, named Ketty. The journalists who had found out about the happy event immediately bombarded him with questions: “Nicola are you happy?” “It’s a great joy for me but I would have liked to be near Agnese” and as soon as he finished his turn he shot off to Milan. The arrival of Ketty was the start of a wonderfully fortunate time for Nicola. In the spring of 1968 there was a French song which was all the rage and Nicola thought that if it was given a good text in Italian it would be perfect for him. He recorded it towards the end of the year with the title “Il mondo è grigio, il mondo è blu” and the song was an immediate hit, selling hundreds of thousands of copies in the space of a few weeks. Fan letters start to arrive by the sackful, telephone calls from admirers, from journalists, from impresarios offering concert tours. He moved to the RCA record company at this point, where he worked alongside two worthy collaborators, Gianfranco and Gianpiero Reverberi. To those who ask him what he thinks of the 1960s he replies: “ it was a really lucky time for Italian pop music. We sold a lot abroad too. Music reflected what was happening then in Italy, a country with so much joie de vivre, a strong desire to make it, to flourish again; song-writers and composers were influenced by this newness and record producers were keen to find new talent and invest in it. Then with the “revolution” in 1968, the deep changes which it brought about within society were reflected in the music: singers and song-writers changed the way we expressed ourselves.” “In the 1960’s there were lots of song contests that young unknowns just starting out could take part in. Nowadays you hardly hear of song contests any more. Someone who has decided to become a singer starts out by self-recording, inventing a label, going on tour as supporters of better-known names”. But back to the ’68, the year in which Nicola goes to RCA. Between ’68 and ’75 you find the golden period of Nicola Di Bari.In this music scene, his poetry is simple, pure, often tickles the heart. There must certainly be expected of him beat songs, protest or denunciatarie one of the many things that do not ”squaring” in our country. Nicola sings love, his emotions, simple emotions, but at the same time large and intense. The new label, RCA, “plans” the singer with a criterion that could be called industrial many well- spaced discs a year, organized tours abroad in minute detail and according to the records recorded.
After the success of “The world is gray, the world is blue” Nicola fails to divert the thought from a song he wrote himself and which is entitled ”The First Beautiful Thing”. Personally convinced that it is a valuable piece, even if the directors of the record show some concerns… But after a couple of years, Nicola still managed to bring the song at the Sanremo Festival of ’70, paired with Ricchi e Poveri, and is ranked in 2nd place. The public, however, decrees that he is the real winner of that edition: ”The First Beautiful Thing” is very strong, soon reaches the top of the charts and the record company, while working full time, is hardly able to meet the demands the market. Now that Nicola Di Bari is truly a unstoppable rise. He recorded ”If you ever speak to me”, the Italian version of “Smile” by C.Chaplin, a song very dear to Nicholas and his father Matthew, ”A man does not know many things”, a song of high artistic, or the funny and ironic, “You know that I drink, you know you smoke.” Nicola is still enjoying the results as the Sanremo ’70 that it is already possible for him the Festival ’71 .
1971/1972: The RCA has understood that this time Nicola Di Bari can be the winning horse and accompanied the young Nada, to present ”The heart is a gypsy”. Forecasts are right and the song of Migliacci – Brick triumphs at 1 posto. Same year is the spontaneous “Country” or genuine “It was the spring”. The time to spend a year and here he is, at the beginning of ’72, again winning first Canzonissima with ”Guitar sounds more plan,” and yet at the Sanremo Festival, this time alone, to savor the joy of the entire triumph of “The days of the Rainbow”, which earns the 1st place. Home Di Bari, in the festive atmosphere of the victories in the meantime get a beautiful baby sister to keep company with Ketty: it is called Nicoletta. Also in ’72, Nicola affects some of his best songs: the sweet "Love makes you beautiful”, "Zapponeta", a song dedicated to his country, in a simple and immediate way, saturated colors and atmosphere of the our south, in addition, "Wanderer", from overwhelming pace, a true anthem for the kids of the 70s, but also much appreciated by those young people who today met Nicholas at his concerts and they find in him an artist timeless, and "Guitar sounds more plan", an absolute masterpiece, with whom Nicola Di Bari triumphs in, getting another 1st place. Among the many events in which he took part in those years, remember the Venice Film Festival in ’71, then again in ’72 and in the same year the Eurovision Song Contest in Edinburgh. The Festival of Sanremo and Canzonissima in those years were important events in our country, participate in and win represented then, for the career of a singer, a very high recognition to the artistic value. Nicola says himself: "Back then, winning a singing event of that weight, it brought you to feel a strong inner peace, a sense almost of ecstasy, when you heard pronounce your name, and proclaimed vincitore.Pensavi of getting to the top a peak… it was really amazing!" I think it still is. Still in ’72 Nicholas became deeply involved in the role of the actor when director Carlo Lizzani calls him to play the movie “Torino black”, as the protagonist.
1973: Di Bari leave RCA and go to the WEA Italy. And… in November of that comes the third daughter, who is called Ariadne.
1974: participates in the Sanremo Festival with ”The village idiot ” and yet Canzonissima.
1976: he recorded "The most beautiful in the world” dance version, it is stated that at "A disc for the summer" festival and ranks high in salt. The fame of Nicola, who came abroad quickly, spreads everywhere, but especially in Latin America, where he has always been much loved for his way of doing authentic and her voice very "caliente", which leads him to engrave all his songs in Spanish. And that also impact in this language proves to be a good choice, especially in ’77 with the album "You’re mine”, which is enjoying great success in South America.
1979: was the successful collaboration between Nicola and Dario Baldan Bembo. From their meeting arise a series of songs, among them being the beautiful and ethereal “Chiara”. In February of that year, Nicholas became a father for the fourth time, with the arrival of the long-awaited boy, to be called Mathis and the family is now complete. They spend another two years in which Nicholas is busy at his job abroad, it really brings a bit 'all over the world and are the real triumphs tour in Spain, Canada, North and South America, Australia, Japan and Korea. In ’81 the album "Step by step", that inspired the single "I swear”, still a hit in Spanish. At this point Nicola Di Bari decides to take a break to rest and devote himself to his family. He recorded a little ‘less discs and his name appears less frequently in the posters of singing competitions. This reflects the fact that the "melodic” – and many others like him in the first floor – no longer able to find enough space in a music scene dominated by deep mutamenti.Il that does not mean that the "Italian singers” have closed. In the 90's the sharpest observers have seized a certain return to the melodic genre, in this perspective is Nicola Di Bari with the album "Falling in Love”, from which emerges “Rosa”, beautiful song in the Spanish version, which again won a once the charts South America. It was subsequently published a series of collections of the best songs recorded by Nicola Di Bari remember “A success after another” published by BMG. The sounds of the latest collections produced, offering the best songs and representative of Nicholas, revisited with taste and maturity that this great author and performer has accumulated in the course of his long career, without the originality and spontaneity of the issues are nicked, keeping unchanged the characteristics of Nicholas: a crooner, nostalgic, "last romantic" as the title of one of his recordings.
2000: saw the release of the album titled "A long journey of love”. Nicola is currently working on the creation of new projects.
2011: "La Prima Cosa Bella", one of the Nicola Di Bari’s greatest hits both in the Italian and international discography, resurfaces through the remake of the singer Malika Ayane, soundtrack of homonymous movie directed by Paolo Virzì.
From 2012 to 2013 a new recording project takes shape: the typical enthusiasm of the artist mixed to a new artistic maturity take to the release. Out on April 25th his new album "La Mia Verità" and its Spanish version "Mi Verdad" for US and Latin American market by Planet Records.
Last Updated: February 24th, 2014
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