Salvatore Adamo

by Craig HarrisA passion for music and an emotion-tinged vocal quality has made Salvatore Adamo one of the most commercially successful singers in Europe and one of the most famous Italian immigrants living in Belgium. Since his debut album, Vous Permettez Monsieur, transformed him into an internationally-known celebrity, Adamo has sold over eighty million copies of his albums worldwide. Adamo, who emigrated to Belgium with his parents at the age of three, was raised in Jemappes and later moved to Brussels. A bright student, Adamo was able to avoid the coal mining industry that lured many Italian immigrants to Belgium and concentrate on his academic and musical studies. Adamo's influences included the music of Victor Hugo, Jacques Prevert and George Brassers and the Italian canzoetta and tango. While he recorded a collection of songs from Napoli, Adamo has sung in his adopted language of French. In the mid-'60s, Adamo reached his commercial peak, placing a number of songs at the top of the music charts including "Sans Toi Mamie" in 1963 and "Vous Permetter Monsieur," "Quand les Roses" and "Dolce Paola" in 1964. An adaptation of Adamo's composition, "Les Filles Du Bord de Mer," was recorded by Arno in 1993 and sparked a renewed interest in his work. Adamo's 1998 album, Regards, revealed a sociopolitical edge to his music with songs commenting on racism and the civil war in Bosnia. In Belgium, the album was released with two songs -- "Laat Onze Kinderen Dromen (Let The Children Dream)" and "Il Zie Een Engel (I See An Angel)" -- sung in Dutch.