Tony Dallara, the voice of "Romantica," has died: farewell to the king of screamers.

Tony Dallara has died. The singer, considered the "king of screamers" and one of the iconic faces of the era that transformed Italian songwriting between the late 1950s and early 1960s, was 89 years old.

The news was released by Nuovo Imaie with a message published on X: “Dear Tony, you were one of the so-called screamers and you marked the history of Italian music. We will not forget you.”

Born in Campobasso in 1936, Dallara exploded into fame in 1958 with "Come Prima," a song destined to become a pop classic. The single sold over 300000 copies in just a few weeks and remained a popular staple over the years, even drawing inspiration from advertising.

His breakthrough came in 1960, when he won the Sanremo Music Festival with "Romantica," performed alongside Renato Rascel, the song's author. Dallara returned to the Ariston stage in subsequent years: in 1961 with "Un uomo vivo" with Gino Paoli and in 1964 with "Come posso dimenticarti," with Ben E. King. In 1961, he also won Canzonissima.

For decades he was remembered as one of the longest-running winners of Sanremo and loved to look back on his golden age, emphasizing the productivity of those years: “I managed to have seven songs in the hit parade at the same time, considering that at the time a 45 rpm record was recorded every two months.”

With an energetic style and powerful vocals, Tony Dallara helped break the mold of traditional bel canto, bringing rock and roll influences to Italian song and paving the way for a new generation of singers, from Mina to Adriano Celentano. His best-known songs also include "Ti dirò," "Brivido blu," "Julia," "Ghiaccio bollente," "La novia," and "Bambina bambina."

Passionate about painting and a beloved television personality, Dallara remains a symbolic figure in a period of profound transformation in Italian music.