He was born in the town of Cellino San Marco (province of Brindisi, Apulia in Southern Italy), where he still lives. His mother named him Albano because, when he was born, his father was fighting in Albania for the Italian Army during World War II. He made his debute in 1966 both as a singer, at the Festival delle Rose, and on television. He won the Disco per l'Estate, an Italian song contest, with Pensando a te in 1968. He recorded some major hits such as La siepe and Nel sole at that time. He married Romina Power (daughter of the American actor Tyrone Power), the woman who had already started to share her musical career with him, on July 26, 1970. That year, Al Bano and Romina Power also recorded Storia di due innamorati. Together they have sung as the duo Al Bano & Romina Power for almost thirty years and are popular in Italy and Germany. Al Bano returned to his solo career in 1996 with È la mia vita which was followed by Verso il sole in 1997 and Ancora in volo in 1999. He also starred in the Italian reality show L'isola dei Famosi (Italian version of Celebrity Survivor) with his daughter, Romina Carrisi in 2005. Al Bano returned to Sanremo in 2007. He sang Nel Perdono which came in second place. Al bano still tours all over the world and Al Bano and his music are to this day still loved throughout the world. To date Al Bano has sold 165 million albums around the world. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.