#58: Torero by Renato Carosone

City: Ottawa, ON
Radio Station: CKOY
Peak Month: July 1958
Peak Position in Ottawa ~ #2
Peak position in Vancouver ~ #29
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #18
YouTube: “Torero”
Lyrics: “Torero”

Renato Carosone was born in Naples in the Kingdom of Italy in 1920. At 14, he wrote “Triki-trak”, his first composition for piano, and in 1935, he was hired by an opera dei pupi puppet theater to play music to the battles of Count Roland and Renaud. Subsequently, he worked at E.A. Mario’s publishing house teaching new songs to singers. He studied piano and composition at the Naples Conservatory under Alberto Curci, and obtained his diploma in 1937, when he was just 17. A few months later he signed a contract with comedian Aldo Russo to perform as a band leader in Italian East Africa. The troup landed in Massawa, Eritrea, to work in a restaurant-theatre frequented by Italian workers. He remained after a short stay with Aldo Russo, and met a woman and got married.
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#27: Tarzan Boy by Baltimora

Peak Month: January 1986
Peak Position on CKLG chart ~ #2
14 weeks on Vancouver’s CKLG chart
Peak Position on Billboard Hot 100 ~ #13
Peak Position on Cashbox Singles Chart ~ #18
Peak Position on Belgian Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Finnish Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on French Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Dutch Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Spanish Singles chart ~ #1
Peak Position on Austrian Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on Irish Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on Swedish Singles chart ~ #2
Peak Position on South African Singles chart ~ #3
Peak Position on UK Singles chart ~ #3
Peak Position on West German Singles chart ~ #3
Peak Position on Norwegian Singles chart ~ #4
Peak Position on Swiss Singles chart ~ #4
YouTube.com: “Tarzan Boy”
Lyrics: “Tarzan Boy”

James Harry McShane was born in Derry, Northern Ireland in 1957. He was raised in a conservative household and was faced with rejection when he came out as gay to his family. He was hired as a stage dancer and backing singer, touring Europe with Dee D. Jackson and her band. During a visit to Italy with the band, he was attracted to the country’s underground dance scene, which inspired him to relocate to Milan in 1984. Having initially made his debut playing in small clubs in Derry without success, McShane instead went to work as an emergency medical technician for the Red Cross until meeting Italian record producer and keyboardist Maurizo Bassi, with whom he created the band Baltimora. Bassi was born in Italy in 1960.

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