Al Bano

Albano Antonio Carrisi (born 20 May 1943), better known as Al Bano, is an Italian and Albanian tenor, actor, and winemaker. Having sold over 165 million records globally, he is one of the most recognisable Italian singers in the world whose career spans seven decades. He has gained worldwide notability due to his four and a half octave vocal rangeas well as mésalliance with Romina Power, daughter of Hollywood legend Tyrone Power. Carrisi is acclaimed for singing with operatic affinity in pop, rock and italodisco repertoires. In 2016, he was awarded Albanian citizenship due to his close ties with the country and a forename referring to the land. He was born in the town of Cellino San Marco (province of Brindisi, Puglia in Southern Italy), where he still lives. His mother Iolanda Ottino named him Albano because, when he was born, his father Carmelo Carrisi was fighting in Albania for the Royal Italian Army during World War II. He has one brother, Franco Carrisi (Kocis). He made his debut in 1966 both as a singer, at the Festival delle Rose, and on television. He won the Disco per l'Estate, an Italian song contest, with "Pensando a te" in 1968. He recorded some major hits such as "La siepe" and "Nel sole" at that time. "Nel sole" sold 600,000 copies in Italy within three months of release in 1967, and eventually over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc in July 1968. Soon afterwards, he started a musical collaboration with Romina Power (daughter of the American ac…