Salvatore Adamo

Salvatore Adamo (November 1, 1943) is a Belgian-Italian musician, singer, and composer, who is known for his romantic ballads. Adamo was born in Comiso, Sicily, Italy, and has lived in Belgium since the age of three, which is why he has dual citizenship. By the second half of the sixties, Adamo had become the world's second best-selling musician after The Beatles. Through his career, he sold more than 80 million albums and 20 million singles worldwide, making him the best-selling Belgian artist of all time, and one of the most commercially successful musicians in the world.

He first gained popularity throughout Europe and later in the Middle East, Latin America, Japan, and the United States. Adamo mainly performs in French but has also sung in Italian, Dutch, English, German, Spanish, Japanese, and Turkish. "Tombe la neige", "La nuit", "Vous permettez, Monsieur?", "Inch'Allah" and "Petit bonheur" remain his best known songs. His songs have also been interpreted by countless artists worldwide. For instance "Yuki Ga Furu", the Japanese version of "Tombe la neige" has been covered by more than 500 artists, making it by far the most popular Japanese Christmas song, ahead of Bing Crosby's "White Christmas".

Since 2001 Adamo holds the Belgian noble title of Ridder, similar to the English title of "Knight". He became an officer of the French Légion d'honneur in 2005 and a Commander in the Order of the Star of Italy in 2015. He was also awarded the Order of the Rising Sun in 2016 for his influence on Japanese popular music.

The father of Adamo, Antonio, emigrated to Belgium in February 1947 to work as a colliery worker in the mines of Marcinelle. Four months later his wife, Concetta, and their son, Salvatore, joined him in the town of Ghlin, before moving to Jemappes (Mons).