Franco de Vita

With more than a dozen US hit singles to his credit the Venezuelan pop singer Franco De Vita is one of the best known Latin musicians whose appeal spans both American and Latin audiences. Although primarily known as a singer who records in Spanish, De Vita was brought up in Rome and his first language is Italian. His parents were Italian immigrants who returned to Italy when he was three and it wasn't until they went back to Venezuela when De Vita was 13 that the singer learned to speak Spanish. After studying piano at university De Vita formed the band Icaro and they released a self-titled album in Venezuela. The band achieved no significant commercial success and so De Vita decided to turn solo, releasing his debut album 'Franco De Vita' in 1984.

Spawning three hit singles the album marked the start of De Vita's successful solo career. The follow-up album 'Fantasia' featured the track 'Sólo Importas Tú' which was to become an important song for De Vita. 'Sólo Importas Tú' was used in the end credits of the popular Spanish soap opera 'La Dama de Rosa' which ran for 144 episodes. De Vita was featured at the end of each episode playing the song on a piano and this exposure became pivotal in establishing him as a major Latin music star.