Al Bano and Romina Power (Al Bano & Romina Power) duet of the Italian spouses, their song "Ci sarà" ("So be it") won the 1st place at the San Remo competition in 1984.
Al Bano Biography
The name of the singer at birth is Albano Carrisi. He was born to poor peasants living in the small village of Cellino San Marco. Parents did not know how to read or write, all their life they were engaged in field work and cattle breeding, they were strict Catholics. Don Carmelito Carrisi (died in 2005) left his village only once, when World War II swept Albania, where he served under the banner of Mussolini.
May 20, 1943, when Carmelito was still at the front, his wife Iolanda gave birth to a boy. Father in honor of hostilities named his son Albano, which meant "Albanian", such a name did not exist in Italy. Subsequently, a brother named Franco was born to Albano.
Of the entire inheritance, the boy had only talent and passion for music. In 1955, he composed his first song, and at the age of 16 he realized that he did not want to cultivate the vineyards until the end of his days, as his mother and father, packed up and went to Milan. The young man’s career began as a waiter in a cafe, then he got on the conveyor belt, tried himself as a cook.
Six years after moving to Milan, Albano decides to try his hand at the Adriano Celentano competition for New Voices, where the successful debut of a novice musician leads to victory and contract with the recording studio Clan Celentano . The producer came up with a different name for the young man, advising him to split Albano into Al Bano. In 1965, the album "La strada" ("Road") was released. With the song “Devo dirti di no” (“I have to tell you no”) from this record, the singer tried to become a participant in the San Remo festival, but failed. The fashionable and sought after festival did not leave the song a chance to win at the stage of strict selection.
At 24, the musician released the album Sole "(" In the Sun "), which brought him fame, fame and love of his future wife. According to the single, a movie of the same name was shot, on which Albano and Romina Power met for the first time.
Biography of Romina Power
Romina Francesca Power was born October 2, 1951 in Los Angeles, in a pair of Hollywood actors Tyrone Edmund Power (Tyrone Edmund Power) and his 2nd wife - Linda Christian (Linda Christian).
Romina has become famous since birth. Readers of all American and European newspapers saw a photo of Tyrone with a newborn daughter in her arms. After 5 years, the father left the family, and a year later died of a heart attack. A mother with two daughters: the eldest Taryn Stephanie and the youngest Romina move to Italy.
From the beginning of the divorce, Romina reproached her mother for all troubles: in divorce, in the death of her father, in moving. She grew older and rebelled more and more, protesting outright disobedience. Linda, not finding the strength to resist the behavior of her daughter, defines her in a closed English school. Romina there behaved terribly, did not want to obey the teachers, skipped classes. As a result, six months later, a negligent student was asked to pick up the documents.
Mother, trying to curb the indefatigable energy of the eccentric 14-year-old daughter, arranges her screen tests, which she passes with brilliance. Romina received the first role in the film “Household in Italian” (“Menage all'italiana”, 1965).
The girl's partners on the set were: Ugo Tognazzi (Ugo Tognazzi), Yolanda Gigliotti (Iolanda Gigliotti), known as Dalida and Anna Moffo (Anna Moffo). The same year was marked by the release of Romina's first record, Quando gli angeli cambiano le piume (When Angels Change Feathers). Before meeting on the set with Al Bano, Power had already managed to take part in 4 films. All the paintings were with a touch of eroticism, so wanted the mother. She attended all the filming of her daughter and tried to give her advice. The woman believed that youth passes quickly, you need to have time to make money on it as much as possible.
Family birth
The 16-year-old girl came alone to shoot the picture “Nel Sole”. Director Aldo Grimaldi and the main character of the picture saw a tired, scared girl in front of them, whom they decided to feed for a start. From this began the romance of a simple country boy and the rich bride of Hollywood.
The twenty-four-year-old singer became a friend and mentor for the girl. She liked his care, and he was flattered to be a mentor.
Soon, Romina abandoned the movie and began to spend all her time with her beloved. Linda was horrified by the choice of her daughter, she met Carrizi with frank contempt. How could this homely bespectacled bespectacled man without money and social status claim the hand of her beautiful daughter! But the stubbornness of the young bride knew no barriers, In the spring of 1970, she told her groom that she was preparing to become a mother.
They decided to celebrate the wedding in the village of the groom, inviting only the closest relatives and some friends. The parents of the young man also did not approve of the choice of a son, since a spoiled actress cannot become a good wife and mother. But Romina managed to arouse their trust by convincing the peasants of her sincere love for their son.
Linda was furious, she offered her daughter to give birth to a child and send him to a closed school, forgetting about the baby's father. Al Bano had to offer his mother-in-law a large sum of money as a ransom in order to obtain permission for the wedding.
4 months after the celebration, little Ilenia was born. Albano and Romina Power adored their daughter. The happy father promised, if necessary, to bring his daughter the moon from heaven and bought his family a large house in Puglia.
The head of the family turned out to be domineering and decisive man. A previously wayward young wife gladly obeyed her determined husband. She was happy to do household chores and tried to please her husband.
Duet birth
But the wishes of the Italian were contradictory. He, amusing his own vanity with the humility of his wife, did not want to see her only as a housewife. And after a few months of marriage, the couple is recording a joint song, “Storia Di Due Innamorati” (“The Story of Two Lovers”).
The listeners received the song well, but it was still far from the world-famous fame. The musician was obsessed with the idea of fame, he took any steps and every significant event, Albano and Romina Power, together with the press, were covered for the public from all sides. At the time of the birth of their second son, Jari, the young father enjoyed contact with reporters and showed many photographs of his son.
In 1976, Al Bano with the song “Noi Lo Rivivremo” (“We would have experienced it again”) goes to Eurovision, where he is awarded the seventh place. The wife did not particularly take into account that the husband was upset. This is a worthy result of hard work, but the musician was not only what he had. The first time Romina saw her husband is stubborn when he promised to get involved in the competition again and get 1st place.
A faithful and devoted wife, a true mistress of an Italian house, Romina did not seek public recognition of her talents, believing that one celebrity was enough for a couple. After 10 years of marriage, she accidentally ended up in a recording studio to sing instead of the missing backing vocalist.
Unremarkable separately, the husband and wife in a pair were able to work miracles. Their duet in 1981 sounded unexpectedly harmonious and strong.
Co-creation
In 1982, their finest hour came. The composition of the pair “Felicita” (“Happiness”) was included in the 3 leaders at the competition in San Remo and it was a splash. The song Felicita Albano and Romina Power caused a lot of talk. Journalists claimed that the girl replenishes her insufficiently good voice data with beauty, and Al Bano’s rustic appearance is good in the pictures only when paired with his soulmate.
But they did not pay attention to the press. Happy musicians have achieved worldwide fame. In the same year, the recorded composition "Angeli" ("Angels") to the end approved the spouses as conquerors of the world stage. Giving a concert every day, Albano and Romina Power traveled to many halls, their fortune was estimated in millions of dollars, they were in love and happy with life.
Two years later, the festival in San Remo brought another victory for the spouses. Albano and Romina Power again created a masterpiece called “Ci Sara” (“Will”), deservingly taking the first place in the song. Newspapers were eager to start asking the winners tricky questions to which Romina and Al Bano retorted with dignity and wisdom of a loving and harmonious couple. The proof of their love was the birth of their daughter Christel in 1984. In 1986, Romina Jr. saw the light.
Creative maturity
In 1987, the composition of the Liberta (Liberty) pair turned almost into an anthem of the Italian Republic. Albano and Romina Power Liberta sang at numerous concerts, the composition won the hearts of music lovers all over the world and occupied the tops of charts. Al Bano wrote hits one by one. He was only interested in work. Although Romina really missed the children, she could not leave her husband alone and everywhere followed him.
The young woman was disturbed by the fact that their children knew and appreciated their grandparents more than their parents. She reassured herself only that she and Albano were working for the future of children.
Even with millions, the husband was in no hurry to pamper his wife with precious trinkets, fur coats and cars. He invested in real estate and Romina supported her husband's aspirations. Four children had to be raised, taught, educated and provided with a decent life.
An exemplary family never gave occasion to denigrate their relations with the ubiquitous paparazzi. They were always together, donated a lot of money to charity, took pictures with pleasure with their and other children.
Decline in popularity
In the early nineties, Albano and Romina Power did not throw songs, but the emerging crisis of their trends in music spurred the Italians to write even more and look for new approaches to the listener.
Attempts to conquer the American music market were blocked by the fame and scope of the litigation initiated by Albano against Michael Jackson. He claimed that Jackson’s song “You You Be There” is a plagiarism of his song “I Cigni Di Balaca” (“Swans of Balaque”).
The court confirmed the fact of plagiarism and Jackson paid Albano a fabulous sum of money. The lawsuit, providing Al Bano with American fame, lasted more than one year.
Missing Ilenia
Albano and Romina Power loved children and always tried to give them the best. Ilenia grew up as a calm, balanced girl, without causing her parents any trouble. She sometimes said that she wanted to leave for her mother’s homeland, but she successfully studied at the university and worked on television.
Once a girl fell asleep right at the festive table and from that moment her parents began to notice some inadequacy in her behavior. They could not even suggest that the inhibition of Ilya could be the result of drug use.
Albano and Romina were allowed to go to America to her, the daughter was going to write a book about street musicians and, it seems, the change of scenery was supposed to fix everything. On January 1, 1994, Ilya phoned her parents from New Orleans for the last time, after which she disappeared.
Concerned spouses contacted the police, but failed to find traces of their daughter. For several years, Romina was in severe depression, she could not get used to the idea that Ilya would not return. The husband supported his wife as best he could until one day he made a statement to the press that Ilya was dead and he had already accepted this idea. Romina considered such words a betrayal. Al Bano began to work even more, completely abandoning his family. Romina did not get tired of consulting with detectives, priests and psychics, until she did yoga and left for India. From there she came reassured. The husband suggests that in India, the wife first cheated on him for the first time.
Romina decided to divorce. She stopped recognizing a simple village guy in a show-business shark constantly chasing money. The husband practically did not pay attention to children, he made his wife, after a difficult fourth pregnancy, get up and start recording a new album.
Romina was not easy, health, as well as love for her husband, were undermined. The stinginess of Al Bano has crossed all borders. He counted every lira and demanded from his wife a full account for the money spent.
New life
In 1996, Al Bano began a solo career. His voice changed, became more colorful and spectacular, he did not need to adapt to the small range of sound of his wife. The song “E la mia vita” (“This is my life”), presented in San Remo in 1996, reflected all the tragedies in the fate of the musician: the loss of his daughter, and the break with his wife.
For six years, the couple hid from the press their separation. Everything became known after the appearance of Al Bano with a journalist from Slovakia.
In 1999, the couple officially divorced.
Albano and Romina Power today
The second wife of Albano - Italian Loredana Lecciso (Loredana Lecciso) gave birth to the musician another daughter Jasmine and son Albano. The union was short-lived, after 5 years, and it broke up. The last passion of Al Bano was Maria Osokina, a student of the philological faculty of Moscow State University and the organizer of the musician's tours. The press knows nothing more about it.
- The Italian has his own wineries, a recording studio, a hotel.
- Romina bought a house and lives in Rome. She is not married, writes books and paintings. The pictures of the singer were exhibited with great success in Venice.
The daughters of Christel and Romina became show stars, as did their parents.
Interesting Facts
- In 1996, during the performance of the song “This is my life,” Albano knelt in the finale. Perhaps this is how he tried to ask Romina for forgiveness.
- All characters in Romina’s paintings stand with their backs to the viewer.
- In October 2015, in Moscow, Romina Power and Albano again gave a concert together, the first after a 15-year silence.
