The popular music of the late 1950s was dominated by Italian singers from the urban northeast — though you might never guess it with a cursory glance at their names. Besides the uncontested star of ...

Italy’s muff-haired Domenico Modugno, a guitar-plunking crooner with a gypsy wail, turns out lyrics that make no sense, and he cannot read the music he composes and sings. But last year his song ...