Lou Monte was born in the state of New York (USA, Manhattan) in 1917. Has Italian roots, real name is Louis Scaglione. Gained fame thanks to his author's songs about Italy and its inhabitants (especially popular among this national diaspora in the states). The main period of creativity is the 50s and 60s of the last century.
Lou Monte's early years
The artist spent his childhood in the state of New Jersey (the city of Lyndhurst). After his mother's death in 1919, Lou Monte was raised by his father. The first stage experience began with performances in clubs in New York and New Jersey, at the age of 14. With the outbreak of World War II, Monte was drafted into the army. From the age of 48, he worked as a presenter at the WAAT AM-970 radio station. Later he received his own television show (from the same WAAT).
An interesting fact: the singer began his creative career as a performer of tavern songs in Italian. He was noticed by the famous Joe Carlton (worked as a music consultant for RCA Victor Records). Carlton liked the singer's voice, his charismatic manner of performance, style and guitar playing (Lou accompanied himself at the time). Joe offered Monte a 7-year contract with RCA Victor, under which the singer performed in clubs.
Perhaps a significant role in shaping the creativity of Lou Monte was played by the place of his birth - Manhattan. The territory formerly belonged to Holland and the population has roots from a wide variety of European countries, including Italy.
The beginning of a musical career and the flowering of creativity
Fame and fame for a long time bypassed Monte. Lou Monte's first success came with the recording of a new version of "Darktown Strutters' Ball" (1954, a jazz standard of the time, reissued many times). The artist's own track, which received real recognition, was recorded when the singer was already 45 years old (1962, "Pepino the Italian Mouse"). This song was sold in a million copies and was awarded the Golden Disc nomination.
The work is a satirical story about the life of a mouse in the house of two Italians. Performed in English and Italian. Lyricists are Lou Monte, Ray Allen and Vanda Merrell.
"Pepino" is #5 on the Billboard Hot Top 100 (1962). On the reverse side, a track dedicated to the activities of George Washington (the first president of the states of America) was recorded. This work is also humorous.
Subsequently, Lou performed on radio stations and television programs, recording a number of musical compositions. Early songs include Here's Lou Monte (1958), Lou Monte Sings for You (1958), Lou Monte Sings Songs for Pizza (1958), Lovers Lou Monte Sings the Great Italian American Hits (1961) and others .
One such track, a remake of a famous Italian folk song: "Luna Mezzo Mare", was called a remake of "Lazy Mary". Lou's other popular composition was the Christmas "Dominick the Donkey", especially loved by immigrants from Italy.
Heritage
"Donkey Dominik", recorded by Lou back in 1960, gained popularity on the British Chris Moyles show. Thanks to this, the composition was widely disseminated and recognized by listeners. In 2011, the track took second place in the number of "downloads" (iTunes version). In the same year - 3rd place in the weekly English charts (December). It peaked at number three on the official UK New Year's chart.
An excerpt from this track was included on one of the Nirvana- dedicated albums, Smells Like Teen Spirit.
"I Have An Angel In Heaven" (1971) was very popular at the turn of the 80s and 90s with satellite radio listeners. There is an active fan club Lou Monte in Totowe, New Jersey.
Interesting facts from the biography of Lou Monte
One of the artist's sons died early from blood cancer. The young man was only 21 years old. The tragedy was the motive for the sponsorship of the artist in the creation of a research laboratory (the study of leukemia and methods of dealing with it) at the Medical University in New Jersey. It bears the name "Lou Monte".
Monte regularly appeared on television programs on American TV ("The Mike Douglas Show", "The Merv Griffin Show" and "The Ed Sullivan Show"), played a role in the comedy "Robin and the Seven Hoods" (1964).
Conclusion
The performer lived for 72 years (died in 1989). The artist was buried in New Jersey, at the Immaculate Conception Cemetery. For some time after the death of the singer, his songs were still actively performed by his son Ray at various musical events.
The author's works reached their peak popularity in the late 80s and early 90s (already after the death of the artist himself). One of them, "I Have An Angel In Heaven", was a wild success at concerts in its cover version.
Monte's songs have been repeatedly reissued on CD. The site, created under the authorship of the RONARAY Records studio, is dedicated to the memory of this famous Italian American.
Louis can be considered one of the prominent Italians on the American scene. The pop genre of his songs was combined with humorous radio recordings. The artist's works occupied high positions in foreign ratings 24 years after his death. This fact allows us to attribute the singer to the number of "classics" of the musical genre.
