Leo Chiosso
Encyclopedia
Leo Chiosso is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, 26 November 2006) was an Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
lyricist
Lyricist
A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...
mostly known for his work with Fred Buscaglione
Fred Buscaglione
Ferdinando "Fred" Buscaglione was an Italian singer and actor who became very popular in the late 1950s. His public persona – the character he played both in his songs and his movies – was of a humorous mobster with a penchant for whisky and women.-Biography:Ferdinando Buscaglione was born in...
. They formed a songwriting duo who produced about forty songs and created Buscaglione's public persona, a humorous tough guy with a penchant for whisky
Whisky
Whisky or whiskey is a type of distilled alcoholic beverage made from fermented grain mash. Different grains are used for different varieties, including barley, malted barley, rye, malted rye, wheat, and corn...
and women.
Chiosso and Buscaglione met in 1938 in the night-club scene of Turin
Turin
Turin is a city and major business and cultural centre in northern Italy, capital of the Piedmont region, located mainly on the left bank of the Po River and surrounded by the Alpine arch. The population of the city proper is 909,193 while the population of the urban area is estimated by Eurostat...
, hometown to both of them. At that time, Chiosso was a university student, while Buscaglione eked out a living as a jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
singer and musician in those clubs.
Their friendship was abruptly interrupted by World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. Chiosso was deported to Poland
Poland
Poland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
, while Buscaglione ended up in a US internment camp in Sardinia
Sardinia
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea . It is an autonomous region of Italy, and the nearest land masses are the French island of Corsica, the Italian Peninsula, Sicily, Tunisia and the Spanish Balearic Islands.The name Sardinia is from the pre-Roman noun *sard[],...
. Chiosso had news about his friend's fate thanks to the radio - Buscaglione had joined the allied radio station orchestra in Cagliari
Cagliari
Cagliari is the capital of the island of Sardinia, a region of Italy. Cagliari's Sardinian name Casteddu literally means castle. It has about 156,000 inhabitants, or about 480,000 including the outlying townships : Elmas, Assemini, Capoterra, Selargius, Sestu, Monserrato, Quartucciu, Quartu...
, and Chiosso knew he was still alive when he heard him playing.
Chiosso and Buscaglione reunited in Turin after the end of the war, and started writing songs together. Chiosso's lyrics were inspired by the American crime fiction
Crime fiction
Crime fiction is the literary genre that fictionalizes crimes, their detection, criminals and their motives. It is usually distinguished from mainstream fiction and other genres such as science fiction or historical fiction, but boundaries can be, and indeed are, blurred...
he was an avid reader of, as well as by current news. They were humorous stories about gangsters and their babes, New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
, tough men who were ruthless with enemies but easily fell victims to a woman's charms. They fitted perfectly with the image of amiable braggart Buscaglione was creating for himself.
The first Buscaglione-Chiosso hit was Che bambola of 1956, the song that brought Buscaglione to nation-wide celebrity. It was followed by many other hits, including Che notte, Criminalmente bella, Il dritto di Chicago, Eri piccola così, Lontano da te, Love in Portofino, Porfirio Villarosa, Sgancia e pedala, Teresa non sparare, Whisky facile.
Their last work together was the movie Noi duri of 1960, featuring Buscaglione and the famous Italian actor Totò
Totò
Prince Antonio Focas Flavio Angelo Ducas Comneno De Curtis di Bisanzio Gagliardi, best known by his stage name Totò and nicknamed il principe della risata was an Italian comedian, film and theatre actor, writer, singer and songwriter...
. Chiosso wrote both the story and the script
Screenplay
A screenplay or script is a written work that is made especially for a film or television program. Screenplays can be original works or adaptations from existing pieces of writing. In them, the movement, actions, expression, and dialogues of the characters are also narrated...
for the movie, as well as the lyrics for two songs of the sound track, Noi duri and Ninna nanna del duro. The making of the movie was still in progress when Buscaglione died in a car crash.
Chiosso's career successfully continued. He penned lyrics for famous songs such as Parole, parole, parole,
Torpedo blu, and Montecarlo. He was also a prolific television author - among his TV credits, the extremely popular music show Canzonissima. He also wrote stories and scripts for cinema
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
.