Fred Buscaglione

Turin-born Ferdinando Buscaglione (nicknamed Fred) had musical talent since childhood. He was a professional musician in and around Turin while still in his teens, playing several different instruments in nightclubs around the city. World War II interrupted his musical career, but he eventually joined the Allied Radio Orchestra based on the island of Sardinia, where he learned to play and sing more modern American-style "swing" music. After the war he developed his own singing "character", that of a Clark Gable-type ladies man and hard-drinking tough guy with a pencil mustache like Gable wore. His style caught on and he became a popular singing star in Italy in the 1950s. His talents weren't limited to singing, however. He turned into a very savvy businessman, making many appearances on TV variety shows and endorsing and appearing in ads for a variety of products. He also appeared in almost a dozen movies. On May 3, 1960, he was killed in a traffic accident in Rome when his Ford Thundrbird plowed into a truck.