Renato Carosone

Born on January 3, 1920, Renato Carosone began performing as a vocalist at seventeen after completing piano training at a conservatory. He earned recognition as the father of Neapolitan singing by weaving jazz and swing into Italy’s classic song traditions. Postwar Italy provided the subject for his landmark 1956 single “Tu Vo’ Fa l’Americano,” whose English title reads “You Want to Play the American.” Additional successes arrived with “Maruzzella” and “O Sarracino.” While reshaping the genre inside Italy, he also carried Italian song to international audiences. His compositions appeared in the soundtracks of Martin Scorcese’s Mean Streets and the 1999 film The Talented Mr. Ripley. Complications from a long-term respiratory illness caused his death in May 2001; he passed in his sleep at his Rome home, his family at his side.