DOMENICO MODUGNO, "VOLARE" WRITER, DIES

International Herald Tribune, Monday, August 8, 1994 (page 2)

Rome - Domenico Modugno, 66, whose "Volare" rose to the top of the pop music charts in the United States in the late 1950s, died Saturday at his villa on the island of Lampedusa.

Medical personnel on the island, south of Sicily, said in an interview on RAI state television that he had collapsed on the beach and had presumably died of a heart attack.

Other hit songs he wrote included "Ciao, Ciao Bambina" and his Italian version of "Mack the Knife". In all, more than 60 million records of his song were sold worldwide.

In 1987 he won a seat on the Radical Party ticket in the Chamber of Deputies.