#178: Marina by Rocco Granata/Willy Alberti
Peak Month: December 1959
14 weeks on Vancouver’s CKWX chart
Peak Position #3
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #31/#42
YouTube: “Marina” ~ Rocco Granata
YouTube: “Marina” ~ Willy Alberti
Lyrics: “Marina”
Rocco Granata was born in 1938 in Figline Vegliaturo, Calabria, in southern Italy. He is an Italian-Belgian singer, songwriter, and accordionist. When he was ten years old he left sunny Calabria for the coal Belgian mining district. His father had moved to Belgium the year before and intended to return to Italy. But Salvatore felt so lonely in Belgium and sent for his family, his wife Ida and his two young children Rocco and Wanda. At school in Belgium, Rocco continue the solfège lessons he had started in Italy. At the age of fifteen his father let him drop out of school to start working as a mechanic in a Vespa-shop. Vespa and Italian engines were of great interest to Rocco. But his real passion was music.