Fifties, In The Groove

IN THE GROOVE (July 18, 2023)

Nancy's Notes šŸ–ŠļøšŸŽ¶

Ciao! Welcome back to In The Groove.

We celebrated my Dadā€™s birthday the other day. He was born 108 years ago in the town of Cattolica Eraclea in the Province of Agrigento in Sicily. Dad was incredibly proud of his heritage and instilled that pride in me. He loved music, mostly Italian opera, traditional Italian songs and American standards; there was always something playing on our radio or stereo.

Well, Dadā€™s been gone almost 25 years (d. August 1, 1998), but I can still hear him singing along to this song.

Happy Birthday, Dad! This one’s for you!

This is Domenico Modugno singing his Grammy Award-winning song from 1958, ā€œVolareā€.

Now thatā€™s singing with heart and soul. As my dad would say, ā€œPerfetto!ā€  

If youā€™d like to know more about Domenico Modugno or ā€œVolareā€, all the facts are available on Wikipedia, but donā€™t look anything up until after youā€™ve read the question of the day.

This is for you trivia buffs or Baby Boomers out there. Let’s see what you got!

In 1960 an 18-year-old out of Philadelphia had a HUGE hit with ā€œVolareā€. Can you name this famous Philadelphian?

As usual, the answer is given below and this time there’s a bonus video.

I hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane. Debā€™s flying in tomorrow; who knows whereā€™s sheā€™s going to land this time? Stay tuned!

ā€œArrivederci!ā€

See you on the flip side.

Iā€™m the Sicilian Storyteller

NAR Ā© 2023

And the answer is ….. Bobby Rydell

Shall we have a listen to one of the best set of pipes to come out of Philly? Here is Bobby Rydell singing his version of “Volare”; I know which one my dad preferred. How about you?

8 thoughts on “IN THE GROOVE (July 18, 2023)”

    1. Yes, Dino did and probably a few others we don’t know about. I think Bobby Rydell did an excellent job; he had the best voice of that Philly group.
      Back then there were a lot of Italian/American “kids” starting out in the business. Most of them were told by the record producers and their agents to change their names to sound more American. Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, James Darren, Bobby Darin, Connie Francis, Fabian, Johnny Rivers, Lou Christie are just a few I can think of who had to change their names. Annette Funicello kept her last name but she agreed to go simply by “Annette”. That’s the way it was back then, take it or leave it.

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  2. Grazie for this post, cara.
    My why is shared at your Papa post.

    All I will say for now, signora, is Perfetto! … as I am enjoying my Al Pacino, listening to the 1958 Volare.

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