- published: 05 Sep 2010
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Don Costa (June 10, 1925 – January 19, 1983) was an American pop music arranger and record producer, best known for his work with Frank Sinatra.
Dominick P. Costa was born in Boston, Massachusetts, to an Italian American family. As a child, he took a keen interest in learning the guitar, and he became a member of the CBS Radio Orchestra by the time he was in his teens. In the late 1940s, Costa moved to New York to further his career by becoming a session musician. He played guitar along with Bucky Pizzarelli on Vaughn Monroe's hit record "Ghost Riders in the Sky." It was around this time that Costa started experimenting with combinations of instruments, producing musical arrangements, and peddling them to a few notable big bands.
It was this self-promotion that caused two young up and coming singers to notice his work. Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme invited Costa to write some vocal backgrounds for their future recordings. He agreed, and thus began an association that led to their joining a new record label being headed by Sam Clark as president: ABC-Paramount Records. It was here that Costa accepted the position of head A&R man as well as chief arranger and producer. Many hits were to follow, not only with Lawrence and Gorme, but with Lloyd Price, George Hamilton IV, and Paul Anka.. Apart from his arranging skills, Costa was an excellent guitarist and during the period 1956 - 1957 he released two 45s on ABC-Paramount using the alias Guitar 'Muvva' Hubbard, the first an R&B styled instrumental 'Ponytail' which he also wrote, as well as a cover version of Bill Justis' hit record, 'Raunchy'.
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra, /sɨˈnɑːtrə/, (December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and film actor.
Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the "bobby soxers", he released his first album, The Voice of Frank Sinatra in 1946. His professional career had stalled by the 1950s, but it was reborn in 1953 after he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in From Here to Eternity.
He signed with Capitol Records in 1953 and released several critically lauded albums (such as In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Swingin' Lovers, Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice 'n' Easy). Sinatra left Capitol to found his own record label, Reprise Records in 1961 (finding success with albums such as Ring-a-Ding-Ding!, Sinatra at the Sands and Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim), toured internationally, was a founding member of the Rat Pack and fraternized with celebrities and statesmen, including John F. Kennedy. Sinatra turned 50 in 1965, recorded the retrospective September of My Years, starred in the Emmy-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, and scored hits with "Strangers in the Night" and "My Way".
Domenica "Nikka" Costa (born June 4, 1972) is an American singer whose music combines elements of funk, soul, and blues. She also had a career as a child singer starting in the early 1980s. She is the daughter of notable music producer Don Costa and is married to Australian producer/songwriter Justin Stanley.
Nikka Costa was born in Tokyo, Japan. Her father Don Costa was a notable producer and a musician with many connections in the music business. During her childhood Costa was surrounded by famous musicians and traveled around the world with her father.
At age 5 Costa recorded a single with Hawaiian singer Don Ho. Italian producers Danny B. Besquet and Tony Renis were working with her father on the album Don Costa Plays the Beatles when they had a brainstorm to produce an album with Nikka singing while her father played acoustic guitar. The album was well-received in Europe and Costa became known as a child star. At age 9 Costa sang with Frank Sinatra in an appearance on the lawn of the White House.
Actors: Maria De Matteis (costume designer), Enzo Masetti (composer), Alberto Lattuada (writer), Alida Valli (actress), Adele Garavaglia (actress), Mario Soldati (writer), Carlo Ponti (producer), Felice Minotti (actor), Enzo Biliotti (actor), Massimo Serato (actor), Mario Soldati (actor), Carlo Tamberlani (actor), Attilio Dottesio (actor), Gino Sensani (costume designer), Nino Marchetti (actor),
Plot: Franco, a young man of noble descent, decides to marry Luisa, daughter of a humble clerk, against his grandmother's will. But a terrible tragedy upsets the life of the newly married couple: their little daughter Ombretta drowns in Lake Como and Luisa goes to the brink of madness...
Keywords: 1800s, aristocrat, austrian, based-on-novel, boat, calligraphism, class-conflict, death-of-child, drowning, escape