Roberto Danova | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Giacinto Bettoni |
| Born | 27 August 1937 (age 86) Verbano-Cusio-Ossola (near Lake Maggiore), Northern Italy |
| Origin | Lake Maggiore, Northern Italy |
| Genres | Pop, dance, rock, electronic, funk, blues, choral, reggae, soul, instrumental |
| Occupation(s) | Composer, arranger, producer |
| Years active | 1959–present |
| Labels | Plaza Records London |
| Website | www |
Roberto Danova (born Giacinto Bettoni; 27 August 1937) is best known as a music composer, arranger and producer, achieving record chart success - particularly in Ireland, the UK, Europe, South Africa and Australasia.
During the 1970s 1980s and 1990s Danova produced, arranged, or had compositions covered by many popular performers, including Joe Dolan (with whom he made a key contribution in the mid-1970s),[1][2] Johnny Logan (whose career was overseen in the late 1970s by Danova and Louis Walsh),[3] Mungo Jerry,[4] Tom Jones,[5] Demis Roussos,[6] Engelbert Humperdinck,[7] and Showaddywaddy,[8]
Since the mid-1980s Danova has developed an instrumental project General Lafayette, a series of albums and singles featuring some of his own compositions through the sound of the trumpet.[9][10][11] From 1977 to 1980, Danova released an album and singles as Roberto Montecristo.[12]
The premiere of his musical The Phantom of the Opera on Ice, featuring a cast of Russian ice skating stars and live singers, played at various locations in the UK between 1995 and 1996. A VHS video was issued in 1999, and a CD/DVD with some modifications was released in 2006 by Plaza Records London.[13][14][15][16]
In 1998 he produced Credo, a musical celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The concept album was featured on BBC Radio 3 in April 2001.[17] Also the same year he guested on the Don Maclean BBC Radio 2 show.[18]
Danova was honoured in 2012 by the Irish Country Music Association at a ceremony in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland for his outstanding contribution to Irish Popular Music.[19]