Lucio Dalla, Italian singer-songwriter, dies at 68

Lucio Dalla, one of Italy’s most pro¬lific singer-songwriters, died yes¬ter¬day in Switzer¬land dur¬ing a European con¬cert tour.

Dalla, 68, appar¬ently died of a heart attack in a Montreux hotel after eat¬ing break¬fast, accord¬ing to his agency, Ph.D srl Music Man¬age¬ment, which is based in Dalla’s nat¬ive city of Bologna, Italy.

 

Dalla had just given a con¬cert Wed¬nes-day even¬ing in the Swiss city known for its music and “was in fine form,’’ said Pas¬cal Pel¬legrino, the dir¬ector of Montreux’s “cul¬ture sea¬son.’’ Pel-legrino said the per¬form¬ance was warmly applauded and Dalla stayed on to chat with fans.

 

Dalla was the com¬poser of Caruso (1986), which has been covered by numer¬ous inter¬na¬tional artists. A ver¬sion of Caruso sung by Luciano Pav¬arotti sold over 9 mil¬lion cop¬ies, and another ver¬sion was a track on Andrea Bocelli’s first inter¬na¬tional album Romanza, which later sold over 20 mil¬lion cop¬ies worldwide.