Rocco Granata

Marina. There are few songs that have been recorded so often, played so often & printed so often. Famous interpreters include Dean Martin, Flaco Jimenez, Marino Marini, Celia Cruz, Pérez Prado, Chico & The Gypsies, Dalida, Toots Thielemans & André Rieu. In 1959, Rocco –with help of his friends- arranged to record MANUELA. In the studio, Rocco realized that he also needed a B-side for the single. He chose the unfinished song MARINA & kept the studio engineer waiting so he could rapidly complete the lyrics before entering the recording booth. The road to success was bumpy, since no record company believed in the song. Rocco had 300 singles pressed, & again with the help of his friends, they were put in local jukeboxes. MARINA skyrocketed up the international charts shortly thereafter, the song that nobody believed in sold more than 100.000.000 copies. Rocco was invited to famous US radio and TV shows, & the Italian miner’s son performed in the Mecca of music: Carnegie Hall. According to an anecdote, even President JFK would whistle the catchy melody while walking into the kitchen. In 1989 Rocco recorded a new dance version of Marina. Same song, same accordion solo, same singer. Again on top of the charts 30 years later. The award-winning biopic ‘Marina’ (2013) became one of the most successful movies in Belgian film history. It was directed by Oscar-nominated director Stijn Coninx, stars Matteo Simoni & the soundtrack was composed by Michelino Bisceglia.