Paris (AFP)

At 76, Salvatore Adamo, the singer with the eternal smile and the 100 million records sold, is "in pre-inventory" with an international tour and a complete compilation of the first years of his career, from 1962 to 1975, revealing around twenty new songs.

"It's a bit of a pre-inventory. I gathered the first thirteen years. There are also new songs and others that remained at the bottom of the albums. I have a lot of affection and tenderness for these titles who have not had the honor of radio stations, "he told AFP.

Among the icons of the variety as far as Japan and Chile, Salvatore Adamo who published his 25th studio album last year, the elegant "If you knew ...", is about to celebrate 57 years of career. "Sans toi ma mi", his first success, was released in 1963. Three years earlier, the year of his 17 years, this "Belgian-Italian" born in Sicily, won the Radio Luxembourg competition.

"Fall the snow", "You allow sir", "The girls by the sea", "My hands on your hips", "I forgot that roses are pink", "This is my life", " Insh'Allah "...: successes will be linked, translated into ten languages.

"I am more than satisfied. Everything went beyond my dreams. I did not think of doing a job. I wanted to become a footballer! I am dependent on the sympathy of the public who understood that I do not take myself seriously" , he believes.

From his beginnings, Adamo keeps the memory of "the candor of the time": "everything was easy. Everything was done live. Today, we can record one duet without meeting the other ...", observes there.

Yesterday as today, the singer spends his best artistic moments on stage: "sharing a song with the public is a communion of souls. It feels like levitating".

The moment of creation is just as special: "sometimes the music comes during my sleep. I hurry to write it down when I wake up, with the sensation of receiving a gift without knowing where it came from".

After the sold-out Pleyel hall, Salvatore Adamo continues his tour in Brussels, Ostend, Barcelona, ​​Madrid and Tokyo, before a series of concerts in Canada, then again South America and in particular Chile which worships him at his great surprise for more than half a century.

"I can't understand this success there. I'm moved by this tenderness, from generation to generation," he says. In October, he performed there twice despite social unrest and the curfew.

© 2019 AFP