Kamaliya & Greek composer/singer Alex Panayi performed on the eve of Christmas in her private concert "Io che non vivo (senza te)" - "I, who can't live (without you)" - was introduced at the 1965 Sanremo Festival by Pino Donaggio - who'd co-written the song with Vito Pallavicini - and his team partner Jody Miller: the song took seventh place at Sanremo and as recorded by Donaggio reached #1 in Italy in March 1965. "Io che non vivo (senza te)" would also be prominently featured on the soundtrack of the Luchino Visconti film "Vaghe stelle dell'Orsa" (aka "Sandra") starring Claudia Cardinale which was awarded the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival that September. Dusty Springfield, who participated at the 1965 Sanremo Festival, was in the audience when Donaggio and Miller performed "Io che non vivo (senza te)" and despite having no awareness of the lyrics' meaning the song moved Springfield to tears. Springfield obtained an acetate recording of Donaggio's song but allowed a year to go by before actively pursuing the idea of recording an English version. On 9 March 1966 Springfield had an instrumental track of Donaggio's composition recorded at Philips Studio Marble Arch: the session personnel included guitarist Big Jim Sullivan and drummer Bobby Graham. Springfield still lacked an English lyric to record: eventually Springfield's friend Vicki Wickham, the producer of Ready Steady Go!, would write the required English lyric with her own friend Simon Napier-Bell-You Don't Have to Say You Love Me. Springfield recorded her vocal the next day: unhappy with the acoustics in the recording booth she eventually moved into a stairwell to record. Springfield was not satisfied with her vocal until she'd recorded forty-seven takes. Released 31 March 1966, the single release of Springfield's recording became a huge hit and remains one of the songs most identified with her. When Dusty died the song was featured on Now 42 as a tribute to her. The song hit #1 in the UK,and #4 in the USA. In 2004, the song made the Rolling Stone list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time at #491. The song subsequently charted in the UK via remakes by Elvis Presley (#9/ 1971), Guys 'n' Dolls (#5/ 1976) and Denise Welch (#23/ 1995) with Presley's version also reaching #11 US in 1970."You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" was also a Top Ten hit in Ireland for Red Hurley (#5/ 1978), in Italy for Wall Street Crash (#6/ 1983), and - as "En koskaan" - in Finland for Kristina Hautala (#6/ 1966).

• published: 05 Feb 2014
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