Teddy Reno

Italian recording artist; singer, record producer, actor

Singer
songwriter
actor

Years active1945–1975
2007–2016Spouse

Rita Pavone

(m. 1968)

Teddy Reno (born 11 July 1926) is an Italian singer, songwriter, actor, and record producer.

Life and career

Born in Trieste as Ferruccio Merk Ricordi, Reno made his debut on Radio Trieste during the Anglo-American administration of the city, launching the song "Eterno ritornello (Te vojo ben)".^[1] He later entered as a singer the orchestra of Teddy Foster, with whom he toured across Europe and North Africa.^[2] In 1948, he founded one of Italy's first record companies, CGD (i.e. Compagnia Generale del Disco), which he later sold to Ladislao Sugar, a publisher of Hungarian origin and future owner of the Sugar Group.^[3]^[4]^[5] He enjoyed a great degree of success as a singer in the 1950s. In the 1960s, he focused his career on discovering and producing new talents, mainly through the Festival degli sconosciuti (Festival of the Unknowns) which he created in 1961.^[2]^[3] Some of Reno's discoveries at the Festival include The Rokes, Dino and Rita Pavone, whom he married in 1968.^[2]^[3]

Reno was also active as a film and stage actor and a television and radio presenter.^[3]

References

^ Peppino Ortoleva, Barbara Scaramucci (2003). Radio. Garzanti Libri, 2003. ISBN 881150497X.
^ ^a ^b ^c Giorgio Dell’Arti, Massimo Parrini. Catalogo dei viventi. Marsilio, 2009. ISBN 978-88-317-9599-9.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Eddy Anselmi (2009). Festival di Sanremo: almanacco illustrato della canzone italiana. Panini Comics, 2009. ISBN 978-8863462296.
^ Enrico Deregibus (8 October 2010). Dizionario completo della Canzone Italiana. Giunti Editore, 2010. ISBN 978-8809756250.
^ Mark Worden. "Sugarmusic Turns 70". Billboard. Vol. 115, Num. 3, p.23, 18 January 2003. ISSN 0006-2510.