Mango

Blessed with extraordinary vocal gifts and a refined melodic talent, Giuseppe/Pino Mango from Lagonegro (Potenza) made his debut very young, but struggled to break through and get his highly distinctive musical style accepted.

His first three albums, released between 1976 and 1982, went pretty much unnoticed, and the Lucanian artist had to wait until 1984 to score his first hit with the song "Oro", one of his great vocal showcases. He then took part in the Sanremo Festival in 1985 with "Il viaggio", which won the critics' prize. He repeated the feat the following year, again at the Sanremo Festival, with "Lei verrà", which climbed to the top of the charts.

He returned, in 1987, once again to the Sanremo Festival with the song "Dal cuore in poi", which placed eighteenth. That same year he released the album "Adesso", which includes the Sanremo entry alongside one of his most famous songs: "Bella d'estate", co-written with Lucio Dalla. The album earned gold and platinum certifications and was also released outside Italy.

The songs and records from this period maintained a consistently high quality. Mango was sharpening his musical style, and in 1990 he achieved true consecration with the new LP "Sirtaki", which was a hit with both audiences and critics — a success confirmed in 1992 by the superb "Come l'acqua", which features, among other unforgettable tracks, "Mediterraneo" and the title track. Mango thus became the king of Mediterranean pop, a byword for quality.

In the following phase of his career, he continued to score successes with the songs "Amore per te" (1999), "La rondine" (2002), "Ti porto in Africa" (2004) and "Chissà se nevica" (2007).

In 2004 he married Laura Valente, known for having been the second singer of Matia Bazar.

But a tragic fate was lying in wait: on the evening of 7 December 2014, Mango took part in the charity event "Solidarietà e integrazione: insieme costruiremo un mondo a colori", at the Palaercole in Policoro, in the province of Matera. During his performance of "Oro", he felt ill and, apologizing to the audience, stopped the show. Despite immediate medical attention, the artist died before reaching the hospital, felled by a sudden heart attack at the age of 60.

Over the course of his career, Mango sold 6 million records. He also wrote songs for artists such as Mietta, Loredana Bertè, Patty Pravo, Loretta Goggi, Scialpi and Andrea Bocelli, many of them written in collaboration with his brother Armando, with whom he shared much of his career.