Felice Chiusano born 28 March 1922

 

 

Felice Chiusano (28 March 1922 - 3 February 1990) was one of the singers of Quartetto Cetra, a popular Italian vocal quartet.

 

Chiusano was born in Fondi, in the province of Latina of southern Lazio. He was a self-taught guitarist. He left his native village before his twentieth birthday and moved to Rome. After work, he performed in local clubs as singer and guitarist. He successfully auditioned for EIAR, the Italian national radio broadcasting company, and worked as a singer for the various radio orchestras.In 1941, he replaced Enrico Gentile in the line-up of Quartetto Ritmo, a vocal quartet that immediately renamed to Quartetto Cetra.

 

The quartet's early style was very much similar to Mills Brothers's, with jazz and swing vocal arrangements. The group then found its own way with a combination of songs and entertainment: catchy tunes with funny lyrics yet with sophisticated arrangements, performed in comedy acts. The audience loved that, and Quartetto Cetra soon became very popular at first on the radio, then on stage and on the TV as well.

 

Quartetto Cetra was widely credited with the great virtue of combining excellent professional skills with popular entertainment. In over forty years the group's repertoire included more than a thousand songs. Most were written by the duo Tata Giacobetti-Virgilio Savona, two members of the quartet. Just to name a few of them, Il Visconte di Castelfombrone, In un palco della Scala, Un disco dei Platters, Nella vecchia fattoria (Italian version of Old MacDonald Had a Farm), Vecchia America, Che centrattacco (dedicated to Virgilio Levratto), Un bacio a mezzanotte, I ricordi della sera.

 

 

 

 

Felice Chiusano was widely recognized as the "bald head" of Quartetto Cetra, famous for his humour and funny jokes. He was an actor and writer, known for Biblioteca di Studio Uno: Odissea (1964), Biblioteca di Studio Uno: Il dottor Jeckill e mister Hide (1964) and Biblioteca di Studio Uno: I tre moschettieri (1964). He was married to Franca Andenna.

 

During the 1970s and 1980s, as Quartetto Cetra gradually scaled back their public appearances, he also worked in the organization of shows and cultural events. Quartetto Cetra officially finished their performing career on 1 July 1988 in Bologna, with their last public concert.

 

Their song Crapa Pelada (Testa Pelada) ("Bald head") is used in the TV series Breaking Bad, in Season 3's final episode, "Full Measure".

Chiusano died on February 3, 1990 in Milano, Lombardo, Italy.

 

(Imfo mainly edited from Wikipedia)