Nicola Salerno, also known as Nisa (11 March 1910 - 22 May 1969) was an Italian

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

 lyricist

Lyricist

A lyricist is a songwriter who specializes in lyrics. A singer who writes the lyrics to songs is a singer-lyricist. This differentiates from a singer-composer, who composes the song's melody.-Collaboration:...

. He formed a famous songwriting duo with Renato Carosone

Renato Carosone

Renato Carosone , born Renato Carusone, was among the greatest figures of Italian music scene in the second half of the 20th century. He was also a modern performer of the so-called canzone napoletana, Naples' song tradition.-Beginnings:Carosone was born in Naples...

.

Career

Nicola Salerno was born in Naples

Naples

Naples is a city in Southern Italy, situated on the country's west coast by the Gulf of Naples. Lying between two notable volcanic regions, Mount Vesuvius and the Phlegraean Fields, it is the capital of the region of Campania and of the province of Naples...

.

His first hit was "Eulalia Torricelli" of 1947, about the unhappy love story between a wealthy girl from Forlì

Forlì

Forlì is a comune and city in Emilia-Romagna, Italy, and is the capital of the province of Forlì-Cesena. The city is situated along the Via Emilia, to the right of the Montone river, and is an important agricultural centre...

 and a guy named Giosuè. Nisa put the whole team of songwriters in the lyrics, as heirs to the beautiful Eulalia: "Un castello lo dà a Nisa, un castello lo dà a Redi, un castello, ma il più bello, al maestro Olivieri lo dà" ("she gives one castle to Nisa, one castle to Redi, but the most beautiful ones goes to Maestro Olivieri").

Nisa and Carosone met in 1955. It was Mariano Rapetti, Ricordi

Casa Ricordi

Casa Ricordi is a classical music publishing company founded in 1808 as G. Ricordi & Co. by violinist Giovanni Ricordi in Milan, Italy...

 record company's director - and father of lyricist Mogol

Mogol (lyricist)

Giulio Rapetti , in art Mogol, is an Italian music lyricist. He is best known for his collaborations with Lucio Battisti.-Career:...

 - who suggest them to work together in view of a radio

Radio

Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...

 contest. Nisa brought Carosone three texts to be set to music. One of them was titled Tu vuò fà l'americano

Tu vuò fà l'americano

"Tu vuò fà l'americano" is a Neapolitan language song by Italian singer Renato Carosone....

. Carosone had an instant inspiration and started composing a boogie-woogie

Boogie-woogie

Boogie-woogie has the following meanings:*Boogie-woogie, a piano-based music style*Boogie-woogie , a swing dance or a dance that imitates the rock-n-roll dance of the 1950s*"Boogie Woogie" , a song by EuroGroove and Dannii Minogue...

 on the piano

Piano

The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...

 keyboard

Keyboard instrument

A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

. It took just fifteen minutes to create Carosone's most famous song, that became a worldwide success.

Their most famous hits include "'O suspiro", "Torero", "Tu' vuo' fa' l'americano", "Caravan Petrol", "Pigliate 'na pastiglia" and "'O Sarracino".

Nisa worked also with other songwriters. Among his best-known lyrics are "Guaglione

Guaglione

Guaglione is a Neapolitan song with music by Giuseppe Fanciulli and words by Nicola "Nisa" Salerno. It was the winning song at the IV Napoli Song Festival broadcast by radio in 1956. The song's title is Neapolitan language slang which translates to "street bum", "urchin", "back street boy", "corner...

", winning song of the Festival of Naples in 1956, and "Non ho l'età

Non Ho L'Età

"Non ho l'età" was the winning song in the Eurovision Song Contest 1964, held in Copenhagen. It was performed in Italian by Gigliola Cinquetti representing Italy. Like all previous Italian Eurovision entries, the song had also won that year's San Remo Music Festival...

", with which Gigliola Cinquetti

Gigliola Cinquetti

Gigliola Cinquetti is an Italian singer, TV presenter and journalist.-Biography:At the age of 16 she won the Sanremo Music Festival in 1964 singing "Non ho l'età" , with music composed by Nicola Salerno and lyrics by Mario Panzeri...

 won both the Sanremo Music Festival and the Eurovision Song Contest

Eurovision Song Contest 1964

The Eurovision Song Contest 1964 was the ninth Eurovision Song Contest. It was held in Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark after the Danish victory the previous year. Sweden did not participate because of a boycott by singers. They did however broadcast it...

 in 1964.

Besides writing lyrics, Nicola Salerno was also an illustrator

Illustrator

An Illustrator is a narrative artist who specializes in enhancing writing by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text...

. He was the author, for example, of cover designs for some Neapolitan music scores published between 1920s and 1930s.

He died in Naples in 1969.

External links

• Cover design by Nisa