Lucio Dalla, Italian singer-songwriter, dies at 68

Lucio Dalla, one of Italy's most prolific singer-songwriters, died yesterday in Switzerland during a European concert tour.

Dalla, 68, apparently died of a heart attack in a Montreux hotel after eating breakfast, according to his agency, Ph.D srl Music Management, which is based in Dalla's native city of Bologna, Italy.

Dalla had just given a concert Wednesday evening in the Swiss city known for its music and “was in fine form,'' said Pascal Pellegrino, the director of Montreux's “culture season.'' Pellegrino said the performance was warmly applauded and Dalla stayed on to chat with fans.

Dalla was the composer of Caruso (1986), which has been covered by numerous international artists. A version of Caruso sung by Luciano Pavarotti sold over 9 million copies, and another version was a track on Andrea Bocelli's first international album Romanza, which later sold over 20 million copies worldwide.

By Lucarelli (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (www.creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0) or GFDL (www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html)], via Wikimedia Commons

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.