Tony Renis

Elio Cesari (born 13 May 1938), known by his stage name Tony Renis, is an Italian singer, composer, music producer, and film actor.

Life and career

Renis was born in Milan. In the mid-1950s he met with Adriano Celentano, and the two started performing an impression of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. In 1958, he was signed by the label "Combo Records", and released a few cover versions of Italian and American rock 'n' roll songs as lead vocalist of the band Combos. In 1961, Renis debuted at the Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Pozzanghere".

In 1962, Renis returned to the Sanremo Music Festival where he gained international recognition with the song "Quando, quando, quando", written with Alberto Testa. One year later, he won the Festival with the song "Uno per tutte", and, in 1967, he finished second with the song "Quando dico che ti amo".

In 1972, Renis and Testa composed the song "Grande grande grande". It was successfully interpreted by Mina, and later by Shirley Bassey as "Never Never Never". Over the years "Grande grande grande" have been covered by Marina Dale, Vikki Carr, Celine Dion with Luciano Pavarotti, Julio Iglesias, Patrizio Buanne with Renee Olstead, among others.

In 1974, he won the Nastro d'Argento for the Best Score for his work on the soundtrack of the film Brothers Blue.

In the 1980s, Tony Renis temporarily retired from performing and mainly worked as music producer. In 1981 he launched the career of child prodigy Nikka Costa.

In 1999, Renis received a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Oscar for the song "The Prayer", performed by Celine Dion and Andrea Bocelli, from the Quest for Camelot film soundtrack.

In 2005, he won a David di Donatello for the song "Merry Christmas in Love" from the film Christmas in Love. The song was also nominated for Best Original Song at the 63rd Golden Globe Awards.