Renzo Arbore

Born in Foggia in 1937, Italian media personality Renzo Arbore earned a law degree after finishing high school and relocating to Naples. During his mid-twenties he joined a radio station as a programmer and received the Yellow Flag Award in 1965 for his emerging promise in the field. Two years later the launch of Per Voi Giovani confirmed that early recognition. The program directly led to Speciale per Voi, Italy’s first television talk show, which Arbore hosted. His on-air work continued through the 1960s and 1970s, including the quiz show L’Atra Domenica—the first to solicit audience opinions via telephone—as well as additional programs.

Arbore made his directorial debut in 1980 with Il Pap’occhio, in which he starred opposite Roberto Benigni. He entered music in 1981 as vocalist and clarinetist with Telepatria International, resulting in the album Ora o Mai Piu, Ovvero Canautore da Grande. The 1980s brought sustained commercial success; several releases reached gold or higher, among them Ma la Notte, which sold 800,000 copies, and Meglio dal Vivo Che dal Morto, which surpassed 500,000 units. Popularity rose further in the 1990s, expanding international awareness of his recordings while his band appeared at major venues including the Montreux Jazz Festival and Carnegie Hall in the early part of the decade, then Madison Square Garden and the Olympia in Paris later in the decade. Renzo Arbore and his band had by then become the foremost name in Italian swing.

In 2002 he formed Renzo Arbore & His Swing Maniacs, whose debut album Tonite! Renzo Swing! quickly attained platinum status. Arbore marked his 70th birthday with the release of L’Orchestra Italiana at Carnegie Hall.