Domenico Modugno

Best remembered for his song 'Volare', which became a big international hit in 1958 and went on to sell over 22 million copies, Domenico Modugno was a popular Italian crooner who also acted, wrote and was involved in political activism. Born in the seaside town of Polignano a Mare in the south of Italy, Modugno started writing songs at the age of 15 and landed minor film roles in the early 1950s before penning his first nationally famous hit 'Veccho Fraro'.

After a dream, his actor friend Franco Migliacci started writing lyrics inspired by two Marc Chagall paintings and, with the help of Modugno, they turned the words into the song 'Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu' (In the Blue That Is Painted Blue). It ended up winning Modugno the prestigious Sanremo Music Festival, and becoming simply known as 'Volare' (to fly); it reached number one the US and won him the Record of the Year, Best Performer and Song of the Year titles at the first ever Grammy Awards. The song was later covered by huge stars such as Dean Martin, Luciano Pavarotti and David Bowie and became a classic Italian pop standard, whilst Modugno followed up his success with favourites such as 'Piove' and 'Libero' and Elvis Presley turned his track 'Lo' into 'Ask Me'.

He represented Italy several times in the early days of the Eurovision Song Contest and appeared in more 40 films, before turning his hand to opera in the 1970s; he was also elected an MP in Turin for the Italian Radical Party in 1987. He was left paralysed after suffering a severe stroke, but continued to fight for a number of political causes and performed a concert at Carnegie Hall in New York in 1991, before passing away from a heart attack in 1993, aged 66.