Italian singer Lucio Dalla dies on tour in Switzerland
Italian singer Lucio Dalla, who started out as a jazz clarinettist in the 1960s and went on to perform with opera star Luciano Pavarotti, has died of a heart attack in Switzerland at the age of 68.
Dalla died in Montreux where he was giving a series of concerts, Italian media reported.
Born in Bologna on March 4, 1943, he released his first album in 1966 with a band called "The Flippers".
His album "Lucio Dalla" in 1979 sold more than a million copies and he acquired national fame.
He wrote the song Caruso for Pavarotti -- a homage to opera legend Enrico Caruso -- which sold nine million copies.
"I am distraught," Pavarotti's widow Nicoletta Mantovani said.
"He was a great friend of Luciano. A great artist and a great man with an enormous sensitivity. He was close to me in difficult times," she said.
