Dead Paki Canzi, frontman of the New Angels

Pasquale 'Paki' Canzi, a Milanese singer and musician best known as the frontman of the Italian beat group I Nuovi Angeli, died on Sunday 15 March at the age of 78. For over fifty years, he was the face, pianist and soul of the group, which topped the national and international charts in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The news of his death on his social page where it is announced that the funeral is planned in a secular form on Wednesday 18 March at 11 am in Vignate (in the Vignatese Funeral Home). Born in Milan, with his band he went on to sell around eight million copies, marking a musical season that accompanied several generations. He was the voice of such hit songs as Ragazzina, ragazzina and especially Donna felicità.

I Nuovi Angeli nel 1971, ai tempi di «Donna Felicità»: Paki Canzi è il primo a sinistra

Passionate about music since childhood, he started playing the piano at an early age and attended the conservatory. In the early 1960s he founded the Paki & Paki duo, together with Pasquale Andriola, with whom he recorded his first singles and participated in the 1964 Festivalbar. In 1966 came the turning point with the birth of the Nuovi Angeli, a group formed together with Alberto Pasetti, Renato Sabbioni and Ricky Rebaioli. After a few recordings and appearances at music festivals, great success arrived in 1969 with Ragazzina, ragazzina, an Italian cover (this was how it worked at the time) of Mendocino by the Sir Douglas Quintet.

Two years later, Donna felicità (1971), a song not without late Beatlesque echoes, also written by Roberto Vecchioni and Andrea Lo Vecchio, was a breakthrough. The band's other hits include Uakadì Uakadù, Singapore and Anna da dimenticare, which remained in the charts for a long time. Canzi always remained the focal point of the band - which after the golden years had a few line-up changes - as frontman.

In the following years, he continued to tour the repertoire of the Nuovi Angeli, keeping the bond with the public alive. Residing between Milan and Peschiera Borromeo, Paki Canzi had never abandoned live activity. Just for Friday 20 March, he was scheduled to give a concert at the Bareggio Auditorium together with colleagues Aldo Valente and Marco Bonino, an appointment that was to once again celebrate his long history in music.