Farewell to Little Tony
Little Tony (Antonio Ciacci), who has died aged 72, was one of the most unlikely UK rock stars of the late 50s and early 60s. For a start, he was Italian and recorded for the Italian Durium label. What's more he had an uncertain voice that wavered off key frequently. Despite that, he made some exciting rock and roll records and had quite a bit of success in the UK before returning to Italy and continuing his career.
A citizen of San Marino, he formed a band in Italy and was recommended to TV producer Jack Good by Marino Marini. Good signed him up for the Boy Meets Girls TV show and his records, together with 'his brothers', began to be released on Decca, including I Can't Help It,The Hippy Hippy Shake (a cover of the Chan Romero US hit) and, his most successful single - Too Good, penned by Pomus and Shuman, which reached the UK top 20. The B side was another Pomus and Shuman number, the rocking Foxy Little Mama. His last Decca release was Teddy Girl, after which he returned to Italy, had success at the Sam Remo Festival, and went solo, having success in Italy for many years. Here are some of Little Tony's UK releases, with Youtube links where available.
1. Hippy Hippy Shake/ Hey Little Girl. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u5NH2-u4Ws
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gQDPpA14zU http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIvOaPjJNmw
posted by Nick @ 3:40 pm
2 Comments
2 Comments:
RnR Deathwatch '13 continues at a pace it seems. Sad to lose Little Tony - listening to your YouTube clips this morning reminded me how good a lot of his 45's were. In hindsight he probably would have been good for the TFTW shows as we could have had 'Who's that Knockin' and 'Foxy Little Mama' on a London stage. I still think Jack Good recorded him so well on 'Too Good'; such an underrated performance. I've got a copy on an ACE cd (songs of Pomus and Shuman) and sonically it's a belter.
Hope to catch up with you soon mate
John
Deathwatch 13 is certainly running at full speed. The latest is Marvin Junior, lead singer of The Dells, one of the greatest soul groups of all time. And I haven't yet mentioned Marshall Lytle, double bass player and guitarist in Bill Haley's Comets.
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