Tenor, born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. Discovered while working in the family's grocery business, he auditioned for Serge Koussevitzky in 1942, and appeared that summer at Tanglewood. His career was interrupted by service in World War 2, and afterwards he went on to Hollywood to appear in several musicals, including his most famous role in The Great Caruso (1951).
| Mario Lanza | ||
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Mario Lanza in The Great Caruso |
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| Background information | ||
| Birth name | Alfredo Arnold Cocozza | |
| Born | January 31, 1921 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | |
| Died | October 7, 1959 Rome, Italy | |
| Genre(s) | Opera, pop | |
| Occupation(s) | Singer and actor | |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals | |
| Years active | 1942 - 1959 | |
| Label(s) | RCA | |
Mario Lanza (31 January 1921 – 7 October 1959) was an American tenor and Hollywood movie star who enjoyed success in the late 1940s and 1950s. His voice was considered by many to rival that of Enrico Caruso, whom Lanza portrayed in the 1951 film The Great Caruso. Lanza was able to sing all types of music.
Film career
MGM's contract with Lanza required him to commit to the studio for six months, and at first Lanza was able to combine his film career with his operatic one, singing two acclaimed performances as Pinkerton in Madama Butterfly for the New Orleans Opera Association in April 1948. However, his first two films, That Midnight Kiss and The Toast of New Orleans, were very successful, as was his recording career, and Lanza's fame increased dramatically.
In 1951, Lanza portrayed Enrico Caruso in The Great Caruso, which proved to be an astonishing success. At the same time, his popularity exposed Lanza to intense criticism by music critics, including those who had praised his work years earlier.
In 1954, Lanza was dismissed by MGM after he had pre-recorded the songs for The Student Prince. Lanza then moved to Rome, Italy in May 1957, where he worked on the film Seven Hills of Rome and returned to live performing in a series of acclaimed concerts throughout Britain, Ireland and the European Continent. Later that year, Lanza also agreed to open the 1960/61 season at the Rome Opera as Canio in Pagliacci. When he died small rumors spread that the notorious mob boss Lucky Luciano (Salvatore Luciano) had Lanza killed after he refused to perform for him but those rumors quickly died down because they simply were not true.
Lanza's short career covered opera, radio, concerts, recordings, and motion pictures. A highly influential artist, Lanza has been credited with inspiring the careers of successive generations of opera singers, including Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Leo Nucci and Jose Carreras, as well as those of singers with seemingly different backgrounds, and influences, his RCA Victor label-mate Elvis Presley being the most notable example. In 1994, tenor José Carreras paid tribute to Lanza in a worldwide concert tour, saying of him, "If I'm an opera singer, it's thanks to Mario Lanza."
Trivia
When Philips invented the compact disc, they chose Mario Lanza's voice recordings as the first recording in history to be transferred to a CD.
When Frank Sinatra described the first time he heard Mario Lanza he said: "talking about people swooning when I sing, the tables were turned the other day when a young chap came on my set and started to sing.
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