Rocco Granata born 16 August 1938

Rocco Granata (born 16 August 1938) is a Italian-Belgian singer, songwriter, and accordionist.

Granata was born in in Figline Vegliaturo, Calabria, Italy; but his parents immigrated to Belgium when he was aged ten. Rocco's father was a coal miner, but Granata pursued music instead. He played accordion and toured Belgium with his band, 'The International Quintet'.

After relocating to Germany this singing songwriter was also a capable guitarist and accordionist. Equally convincing with romantic ballads and racier material, he was contracted by Germany’s Electrola label who were most optimistic about the longevity of his chart career but his only major success was with 1960’s ‘Marina’, a highlight of his stage act.

 "Manuela" / "Marina" was released as a single in 1959; the B-side became an international hit, reaching #1 in Belgium and in Germany as well as charting across Europe and in the United States. It sold over one million copies in Germany alone, and was awarded a gold disc. It has been covered many times by artists such as Marino Marini, Ilham al-Madfai, Dalida and Louis Armstrong.

Although he has continued to make music ever since and has sold many copies of his other songs (altogether he made it 9 times to the top 10 of the Belgian hit parades), the enormity of the success of "Marina" basically has reduced Rocco to a "one-hit wonder".

After the success of "Marina", Granata toured the world, including dates at Carnegie Hall. A feature film entitled Marina was released in 1960, which set the stage for a string of German hits. He also appeared in Italy at the Sanremo Festival in 1961.

Granata later became a successful record producer. He owned the record labels Cardinal Records and Granata Records, and has produced Marva, Louis Neefs, Miel Cools, and De Elegasten. He has been married to Rosita since 1968. They have two children.

In 1989, Granata commissioned a dance remix of "Marina", which again topped the Belgian charts as well as those of Italy and Germany. He has appeared regularly on Belgian television, and served as a jury member for the 2002 Flemish preliminaries for the Eurovision Song Contest. In March 2000 he was awarded the ZAMU Lifetime Achievement Award by the Belgian music industry.

In 2013 his early life was captured in another movie named 'Marina' also CNR Records released a double CD and DVD, “The Best of Rocco Granata”. Rocco Granata still performs occasionally and is often seen as a guest on Flemish TV.

Granata has released some 65 albums over the course of his career. (Info mainly from Wikipedia)