If you’ve ever watched Rocky, you know the music of Bill Conti. But you may not know that before he became one of Hollywood’s best-known film composers, the Rhode Island native Conti spent several years in Italy working with some of the biggest names in Italian pop.

One of them was Ornella Vanoni.

In 1973, Conti arranged and conducted Vanoni’s E così per non morire, written by Elide Suligoj, with lyrics by Luciano Beretta. Three years later, that same melody became Going the Distance, the unmistakable instrumental theme from Rocky.

So how did the American composer end up involved in the Italian music scene? Conti went to Rome in the late 1960s to study music and stayed on, making a living as an arranger, orchestrator and conductor in the Italian music and film business. Conti also worked with I Ricchi e Poveri, Patty Pravo, Peppino Gagliardi and Umberto Bindi.

Vanoni, one of the great voices of Italian music, was known for classics like Senza fine, L’appuntamento (featured in Ocean’s Twelve), Domani è un altro giorno and La musica è finita. Her career lasted nearly seven decades, and she continued performing and appearing on television well into her later years. She died in Milan in November 2025 at the age of 91.