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.