TONY RENIS

When in 1962 singer-songwriter Tony Renis participated in the Sanremo Song Festival, he would have never thought that a couple of days later his song was going to be such a great hit." Quando Quando Quando " (When When When) was the title of the song co-authored with Alberto Testa. In a matter of months the song was translated in several languages. In English, lyrics were written by Ervin Drake, who also decided it would have been nice to sing the whole song in English, except for the refrain where he chose to write "Tell me Quando Quando Quando ..." The song was also used in the movie "The Blues Brothers." Although recently the song has been used and remixed by many artists (like Michael Buble' and Nelly Furtado in their duet) and in many different arrangements, the most notable rendition in English was by pop singer Engelbert Humperdinck.

Born in Milano on May 13th 1938 , Tony Renis' real name was Elio Cesari. Since childhood he was best friends with singer Adriano Celentano. The two started their careers in Milano performing as "the Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis comedy duo." In those years another performer often joined the duo in search of a musical career: Silvio Berlusconi, who sang and played piano. Eventually Berlusconi will give up his musical career to become a very successful businessman.

In 1960 Tony Renis signed his first important contract with the record company "La Voce Del Padrone," and in 1961 participated for the first time to the Sanremo Song Festival with the song "Pozzanghere." The following year (1962) he tried again with the song " Quando Quando Quando " but Tony didn't win the contest. As we know, the song was about to become one of the greatest hits ever, and later that same year " Quando Quando Quando " won the TV show-contest " Canzonissima ." In the United States Dean Martin was the first singer to record his own version of the song.

It was 1963 when Tony Renis finally won the first place at the Sanremo Song Festival, with the song " Uno Per Tutte ." He soon realized he wanted to become a full-time song writer. He would write songs for other singers and TV shows; he would step away from the spot light and make other performers successful. And he did. When Tony Renis composed " Grande Grande Grande " for a very young Mina Mazzini, nobody knew that she would soon become just "MINA," a milestone in the Italian music industry. The song was reinterpreted overseas by Shirley Bassey with the English title "Never Never Never." Also, the most recent version by Celine Dion and Luciano Pavarotti sold thousands of copies.

A turning point in Tony Renis' career was his friendship with Rosmarie Kanzler (a great friend of Prince Ranieri and the Onassis family) which later became a love story. With Rosemarie's help, Tony gained access to the international scene by proposing his music and his projects to international artists. In 1972 Tony Renis decided to move to New York and later to Los Angeles . He performed several times in Las Vegas throughout the 70's, and since then he's been cooperating, producing and composing for many American artists, such as Frank Sinatra, Stevie Wonder, Quincy Jones, Barbra Streisand, Diana Ross, Julio Iglesias, etc.

He also achieved impressive commercial success producing songs for Nikka Costa, daughter of Don Costa (Sinatra's music director). Therefore, Ronald Reagan invited him several times to the White House and they became good friends.

In 1992 Tony Renis married Elettra Morini in Milano. He won the Golden Globe in 1999 for the song "The Prayer," beautifully performed by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli in the Warner Bros movie "Quest For Camelot."

The City of Sanremo , for the 2004 Sanremo Song Festival edition, nominated Tony Renis "Music Director and Coordinator" for the event. The festival was an authentic success!

Tony Renis at the age of 69 is currently working at some "special project," and whenever asked about his career his answer is: "The best is yet to come!"

So: "Buona Fortuna, Tony, and Grazie for being such a wonderful soundtrack of our lives!"

Ciao a tutti, ci vediamo a Giugno!