Spotlight

Blind since the age of 12, Andrea Bocelli has shed a joyous musical light throughout the world in the course of a three-decade career that has skyrocketed him into the popera firmament. It’s been 31 years since Andrea Bocelli won the newcomers’ section of the 44th Sanremo Music Festival with his performance of “Il mare calmo della sera.” Almost 100 million albums and countless awards and recognitions later, he remains one of the world’s greatest living tenors. Andrea was born in a small Tuscan town in 1958, where his family had a farm and made wine. He was diagnosed in …

Nearly half a century after “I Just Wanna Stop” skyrocketed to No. 4 on the U.S. charts, Gino Vannelli’s still wowing audiences and collaborating with fellow music legends. In August of 1978, the Pop/Adult Contemporary hit “I Just Wanna Stop” blasted onto the radio airwaves, launching a musical journey for Gino Vannelli that continues to excite live audiences to this day. Gino was born in Montreal to Italian parents who immigrated to Canada to escape the daunting era of World War II Italy. Many of the Italian traditions he still practices were brought over by his grandparents from Molise and …

The former CEO of America’s largest bookseller found himself championing an obscure Italian novel in his retirement. Stephen Riggio believes it was his destiny to translate Luigi Natoli’s epic Sicilian novel, “I Beati Paoli,” into English. The former CEO of Barnes & Noble spent three years immersed in the project, whose roots trace back to the passing of his daughter Melissa. “From that tragic event, I returned to the study of the (Italian) language, visited Sicily four times, traced my family’s roots back 400 years, discovered distant relatives, translated a classic work of literature and published it the day before …

Steve Augeri’s eight years at the helm of one of rock’s most successful groups was but a single stop in an ongoing musical sojourn that has spanned more than three decades. From 1977-1987, the rock band Journey emerged as one of the most popular and commercially successful musical acts in history. “Don’t Stop Believin,’” “Open Arms,” “Faithfully” and several other of the band’s megahits have become anthems in the live music world, cherished by the young and young-at-heart alike. But when Journey’s popular lead singer, Steve Perry, left the band in response to health challenges and internal conflicts, the group …

One of the architects of the iconic rock group Chicago, Danny Seraphine has never lost touch with his roots on Chicago’s Far Northwest Side. Danny Seraphine first picked up a set of drumsticks at 9 years of age, beginning a musical roller-coaster ride that gave the world some of the best-loved pop hits of our lifetime. Sixty years ago, the 17-year-old from the Far Northwest Side of Chicago was asked to be a drummer in Dick Clark’s road band, Jimmy Ford and the Executives. While in that band he met bassist extraordinaire Terry Kath and saxophonist Walt Parazaider. That chance …

Founding members of the standout ’60s pop band The Buckinghams, Carl Giammarese and Nick Fortuna were instrumental in the band’s resurrection in 1980 after a decade-long hiatus. 1967 was quite the year in pop music history. Elvis and Priscilla got married. Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and The Doors all released their debut albums. The Aretha Franklin anthem “Respect” hit the airwaves. And The Buckinghams charted five Top 40 hits that to this day remain fan favorites. Undone by the British Invasion, the band broke up in 1970. But they re-formed in the early ’80s, thanks to two original members — …

Il Volo will be performing at the Chicago Theatre on March 14, having first appeared there more than a decade earlier in the course of their first international tour. In 2009, the career paths of three young singers — one from Abruzzo, one from Sicily and one from Bologna — converged at a musical competition on Italian TV. One of them won the contest, but they all emerged victorious. The show’s director, Roberto Cenci, saw something in the teens that led to a remarkable musical journey. He thought of bringing them together in the spirit of the original Three Tenors: …

A generation removed from far northeastern Italy, Micky Dolenz skyrocketed to fame as a driving force behind one of America’s most beloved ’60s pop groups and he’s still performing today. “Hey! Hey! We’re the Monkees!” was a familiar ditty that drew so many of us to our black-and-white television sets with the “bunny-ear” antennas on Monday evenings in the mid-’60s. For me, it was the Saturday morning reruns of the ’70s that bound me to America’s Marx Brothers-esque answer to the Mop-Top British Invasion. Davy Jones, the British heartthrob and tambourine playing vocalist; Peter Tork, the simple, soft-spoken bassist; and …

Now representing Italy on his sixth of seven continents, Chicago’s new consul general has been a part of several initiatives that have significantly impacted his country’s relationship with the rest of the world. Most of us have been in the proverbial right place at the right time at least once in our lives. Mario Bartoli, Italy’s new consul general in Chicago, has made a career of it. During nearly a quarter-century in the Italian diplomatic corps, Bartoli has played a role in easing tensions between North and South Korea, worked with local authorities to secure the release of two hostages …

A driving force in the Cubs’ 2016 championship season, Anthony Rizzo returned to Wrigley Field for the first time since being traded to the Yankees in 2021 for a Sept. 6 matchup with his old team. Watching Anthony Rizzo’s rise to stardom in the Windy City was a Cubs fan’s dream come true. As the player and team reached unimagined heights together, America’s pastime became a religious experience in the home of deep-dish pizza and the friendly confines of Wrigley Field. Being a lifelong devotee of the Chicago Cubs, I endured the multi-season heartbreak that reached a new low in …