Nino de Angelo

These days, Nino de Angelo garners headlines more often for his enormous personal debts than for his recordings, despite enjoying an extended and prosperous run as a German pop singer. Born Domenico Gerhard Gorgoglione on December 18, 1963, in Germany to Italian immigrant parents, he entered the music scene in 1979 by performing Elvis Presley, Adriano Celentano, and Renato Zero numbers at a Persian restaurant. He attained German citizenship in 1980. At age 17 in 1981, he secured a contract with Polydor Records in Hamburg and issued two singles under the name Nino before the year ended, yet both met with little success. His third single, released in 1982 and credited to Nino de Angelo, rose high on the German pop charts, caught the eye of teen magazines, and launched his period as a teen idol. He continued issuing multiple singles and albums across the 1980s before reducing his output in the 1990s while confronting lymph node cancer and repeated financial troubles. Modest momentum returned with the start of the twenty-first century, though his development as an adult singer remains ongoing.