Carlo Donida Labati was an Italian composer and pianist. Carlo Donida Labati was born in Milan on 30 October 1920. He graduated in piano and composition from the Giuseppe Verdi Conservatory in Milan. Carlo Donida began his musical career as a pianist of the musical group "The Dandies". He was then hired as an arranger by Casa Ricordi, which at that time had just created a pop music section. Entered into the "songbooks," he decided to put on paper pentagramma, his first songs, with the assistance of Gian Carlo Testoni wherein the songs "Tell Me I Love You" and "Under the Almond Tree" debuted on the radio and received warm reception from the public. Then came the binomial Donida - Pinchi that gave rise to such hits as Vecchio Scarpone and Canzone da due soldi which had international success. The long association with Giulio Rapetti Mogol, which eventually created 126 songs, began in 1960 with the song "Crumbs of Kisses" or Briciole di baci starring Mina and "Devil" Diavolo sung by Jimmy Fontana. "Uno dei tanti" or "One of the Many" sung by Tony Dallara and Joe Paths, was brought to international success by Tom Jones under the title "I." Jones also sang "Gli occhi miei" as "Help Yourself." His songs had great success abroad. Many famous artists are indebted to Maestro Donida. Many well known singers such as Tom Jones, Ben E. King, Shirley Bassey, Chet Baker and Charles Aznavour have interpreted many of his songs. Donida participated in twelve editions of the Sanremo Festival. His debut in 1951 coincided with the first edition of the Festival with the song "Under the Almond" interpreted by Duo Fasano. In 1953, he participated with "Old Boot Vecchio Scarpone " starring Gino Latilla. A vocal quintet with Giorgio Consolini, won third in the standings and became an important hymn in the Alps. In 1954, he participated with " Canzone da due soldi " starring Katyna Ranieri and Achilles Togliani that ranks second. One of his largest successes came in 1961 with "Al di là" on a text by Mogol, played by Betty Curtis and Luciano Tajoli's song that rose to fame in 26 countries around the world. His career in Sanremo continued with "Abbracciami forte ", " Gli occhi miei ", " La spada nel cuore " and "La folle corsa ". During his career, Carlo Donida composed musics and scores for documentaries, commercials and movies. Donida established itself as a composer of songs on texts in Milanese dialect as “Mi no, ghe vegni no”, “Cing ghei de pu, ma ross” and “Quand el coeur el s’innamora” that participated and won several editions of the Song Festival Milanese. Luigi Tenco played the songs of Donida: "Serenella", "Quasi sera ", "Sempre la stessa storia " and "Più mi innamoro di te ".
