Lucio Battisti died 25 years ago September 9th at the age of 55 and is considered one of the most influential Italian pop artists of all time, recognized by artists worldwide. David Bowie once listed Lou Reed and Lucio Battisti as his two favorite singers. In 1974, he composed the English lyrics to a cover of Battisti’s “”Io vorrei… non vorrei… ma se vuoi” for friend Mick Ronson.

Battisti’s songs have been covered by international artists around the world, in English, Spanish, French, Croatian, Finnish, Greek, and Swedish.

Battisti recorded a number of albums in Spanish and in 1977, he relocated to Los Angeles and released an English album of some of his biggest hits.

Even years after the release of his greatest successes, covers are continually recorded, even internationally.

cover of E penso a te

We’re entering the last week of Zucchero’s North American tour with Sugar visiting the west coast.

Tue, Sep 27 – Portland, OR – REVOLUTION HALL – tickets

Thu, Sep 29 – San Francisco, CA – PALACE OF FINE ARTS – tickets

Fri, Sep 30 – Los Angeles, CA – SABAN THEATRE – tickets

Sat, Oct 1 – San Diego, CA – BALBOA THEATRE – tickets

Sun, Oct 2 – Tucson, AZ – FOX THEATRE

LA City Council Member Joe Buscaino declared September 30th Zucchero day in Los Angeles: “I am excited to proclaim September 30 Zucchero Day in Los Angeles, in recognition of Zucchero’s incredible contributions to Italian culture! Zucchero is hailed as ‘the father of the Italian blues’, having introduced the sweet sounds of blues music to Italy.”

Special 15% off ticket offer for the LA event:

Saban Theatre
8440 Wilshire Boulevard
Beverly Hills, CA 90211
323-655-0111
FRI SEP 30, 2022 – 8:00 PM
Ages: Guests Under 18 Require Accompanying Adult

For 15% off, enter code LILAA22ZU in the Discount code box :
https://www.axs.com/events/428918/zucchero-tickets

Here’s a recent fun mash-up featuring Zucchero from Bruxxx Music Shaker, who commonly mashes up Italian pop with rock:

Some big names of pop performed at the final night of the annual pizzica festival in Salento, Puglia, last month including Elodie, Marco Mengoni, Stromae, Dardust, and Samuele Bersani. The annual event, since 1998, attracted 200k on its final night according to festival organizers.

9/20/22 – Detroit, MI – Detroit Music Hall

Ticket from $ 40 for 2
Detroit :   ZUDT22
Ticketmaster

9/21/22 – Chicago, IL – Copernicus Center

Tickets from $ 79 for 2
Chicago Code : ZUCH22
https://copernicuscenter.org/zucchero/

We’d recently updated radio program entries for the hour-long Philly-area shows titled “Viaggio Musicale.” Both shows feature pop music and provide news of interest to the Southeastern Pennsylvania, South New Jersey and Delaware Italian communities. On Sunday afternoons 2 to 3pm, Melissa Cannavo-Marino and Nick Alessandrini host the show on Philadelphia’s 860 AM – WWDB; on Sunday evenings, from 6 to 7pm, Cannavo-Marino produces the program broadcast out of Vineland, NJ’s 92.1, WVLT.

The unofficial start of summer begins next week and Italian-American festivals from Portland, ME to Honolulu are back. Some upcoming events:

May 19-21	St Philip Neri Italian Festival Fort Mill, SC
May 26-29	Sons and Daughters of Italy Italian Festival East Fishkill, NY
May 28	La Festa dei Ceri/ Saint Ubaldo Day Jessup, PA
May 28-30	I Madonnari Italian Street Painting Festival Santa Barbara, CA
June 3-5	Festa Italiana, Kansas City, MO
June 3-5	Festa Italiana, Madison, WI
June 5	12th Annual Italian American Heritage Festival Media, PA (Philadelphia-area)
June 8 – 12	The Feast of St. Anthony Arthur Ave, Bronx, NY

This past weekend, Roman rock bank Måneskin, won this year’s Eurovision competition, becoming only the 3rd Italian entry to win the contest. The win gives Italy hosting duties for the 2022 event.

Måneskin had won this year’s Sanremo song festival, which Eurovision was based on, and had been a favorite for the, at times, eccentric contest held this year in Rotterdam after being canceled in 2020. They join as winners from Italy the 16 year-old Gigliola Cinquettii, who took Europe and the world by storm in 1964 with “Non ho l’età,” and fan favorite Toto Cutugno in 1990 with the pro-EU and catchy “Insieme: 1992“, won in Yugoslavia. While Cinquetti’s song had won Sanremo that same year, Toto finished 2nd in that year’s Sanremo contest to I Pooh‘s Uomini Soli with a different song, Gli Amori (song in English at the Festival by Ray Charles). Cutugno was already a loved figure throughout Europe not only for his hit Italian songs but even as a songwriter for French artists like Joe Dassin and Johnny Hallyday, and Latin superstars like Miguel Bosé and Luis Miguel.