A Brief History
On August 6, 1994, Italian singer, Domenico Modugno, died of a heart attack at the age of 66. Americans remember his 1958 hit song, “Nel blu dipinto di blu,” better known in the US as “Volare.”
Digging Deeper
Covered by many artists, “Volare” was the first foreign language song to rank #1 on the US Billboard Chart. Modugno won Grammys for Best Song and Record of the Year, as the singer and composer of the hit.
There have been many songs not in English in the US but only eight hit #1. A Japanese song, “Sukiyaki,” by Kyu Sakamoto in 1963 made it to the top, as did a remake of the 1958 Richie Valens hit, “La Bamba,” this time by Los Lobos in 1987. “La Bamba” is a Mexican folk song dating back hundreds of years! Another great one was “Dominique” by The Singing Nun in 1963, and perhaps you have danced to “Macarena” by Los Del Rio in 1996.
Question for students (and subscribers) to ponder: What is your favorite non-English song?
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Historical Evidence
For more information, please see…
Bold Rain. Billboard Number One Hits 1955-2017 with Video Links. Kindle, 2016.
Lori Lei, Leonardo. Domenico Modugno Fan-Book: Between the notes of the soul and beyond the stage. Independently published , 2024.
The featured image in this article, a picture captured of Domenico Modungo’s face from a released to public domain newsreel, has been released into the public domain by its copyright holder, Universal Pictures. This applies worldwide.
You can also watch video versions of this article on YouTube.
