Pino Daniele (born in Naples on March 19th, 1955), one of the most beloved Italian singer-songwriters and self-taught guitarist, died of a heart attack at age 59 on January 4th, on route from his house in the Tuscan countryside towards S. Eugenio Hospital in Rome.
One of his brothers declared that the singer only trusted his head physician in the capital and, probably, if he had been treated at the local hospital he would have been still alive. The funeral took place in Rome on Wednesday and Naples’ Mayor Luigi de Magistris requested to hoist flags at half-mast on city buildings, proclaiming a mourning day for the singer.
Pino Daniele was born to a working-class family and raised in a slum of Naples. In high school he studied accounting, but had soon a calling for music. His acclaimed debut on stage occurred in 1977 with the album Terra Mia, a successful mix of Neapolitan tradition and blues.
In 1980, Pino Daniele reached the apex, when his band performed at the opening of the historic concert of Bob Marley in Milan. With time, the singer enlarged his repertoire to different sounds from other areas of the globe, forming a Latin-American band featuring Juan Pablo Torres, Adalberto Lara and Nanà Vasconcelos, or with the album Bonne Soirée (1987) inspired by Arabic music.
It deserves a separate chapter, Pino’s score for Neapolitan actor/director Massimo Troisi’s films, from Starting From Three (1981) to I thought it was love, but it was a barouche (1991).
From his humble beginnings, Pino Daniele shifted from a success to the other, collaborating with musical legends the likes of Eric Clapton, Richie Havens, Pat Metheny and Chick Corea. More recently, in September 2009, he had the privilege to be the first Italian artist invited on stage at the Apollo Theatre in New York, the real temple of American soul, followed in 2010 by the singer’s performance at the prestigious Crossroad Guitar Festival in Bridgeview, south of Chicago, Illinois.
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