Carlo Donida
Carlo Donida Labati was an Italian composer and pianist.
Carlo Donida Labati was born in Milan on 30 October 1920. He graduated in piano and composition from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan. Carlo Donida began his musical career as a pianist of the musical group "The Dandies". He was then hired as an arranger by Casa Ricordi, which at that time had just created a pop music section. Entered into the "songbooks", he decided to put on paper his first songs, with the assistance of Gian Carlo Testoni wherein the songs "Dimmi t'amo" and "Sotto il mandorlo" debuted on the radio and received a warm reception from the public. Then came the binomial Donida–Pinchi that gave rise to such hits as "Vecchio scarpone" and "Canzone da due soldi", which had international success.
The long association with Giulio Rapetti Mogol, which eventually created 126 songs, began in 1960 with the song "Briciole di baci" starring Mina and "Diavolo" sung by Jimmy Fontana.
"Uno dei tanti", sung by Tony Dallara and Joe Paths, was brought to international success by Tom Jones & Shirley Bassey under the title "I ". Jones also sang "Gli occhi miei" as "Help Yourself". His songs had great success abroad. Well known singers such as Tom Jones, Ben E. King, Shirley Bassey, Chet Baker, and Charles Aznavour have interpreted many of Donida's songs.
Donida participated in twelve editions of the Sanremo Festival. His debut in 1951 coincided with the first edition of the Festival with the song "Sotto il mandorlo" performed by Duo Fasano. In 1953, he participated with "Vecchio scarpone" starring Gino Latilla; a vocal quintet with Giorgio Consolini, it won third place. In 1954, he participated with "Canzone da due soldi" starring Katyna Ranieri and Achille Togliani, that ranked second. One of his largest successes came in 1961 with "Al di là" on lyrics by Mogol, performed by Betty Curtis and Luciano Tajoli, a song that rose to fame in 26 countries around the world. His career in Sanremo continued with "Abbracciami forte", "Gli occhi miei", "La spada nel cuore" and "La folle corsa".
During his career, Carlo Donida composed musics and scores for documentaries, commercials, and movies. Donida established itself as a composer of songs on texts in Milanese dialect as "Mi no, ghe vegni no", "Cingh ghei de pu, ma ross" and "Quand el coeur el s'innamora" that participated and won several editions of the Milanese Song Festival. Luigi Tenco played the following songs by Donida: "Serenella", "Quasi sera", "Sempre la stessa storia" and "Più mi innamoro di te".