Lydia Macdonald

Lydia Macdonald – Lydia MacDonald (2020) [Official Digital Download 24bit/96kHz]

Studio Masters By admin · May 31, 2023 · Comments off

Lydia Macdonald was a vocalist who specialised in film soundtrack work for the Italian film industry between the 1950s and 1970s [2]. She was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1923. Her father was Italian and had migrated to Scotland where he met his wife. Lydia studied and played the piano at her school St George’s in Edinburgh. In 1939, when she was 15, her father took the family on their first overseas holiday to Italy to meet their relatives. The timing turned out to be fateful as World War 2 was declared shortly after their arrival in Rome. Lydia’s father was advised by friends in Edinburgh not to return home as he would be likely to be interned. So the family remained in Rome for the duration of the War with Lydia and her sister completing their education at Marymount International school in Rome. During this time Lydia took lessons in operatic singing which she enjoyed although her primary enthusiasm was for jazz. After leaving school in 1942, Lydia struck up friendships with a number of young Italian music lovers who shared her passion for jazz. These included Piero Piccioni and Armando Trovajoli, to name but two. It was during this time that she began to sing informally with Piccioni’s Orchestra 013 [3]. Then when Rome was liberated by the allies in 1944, Lydia broadcast both on the British and American Forces Networks. As a result of this, when Frank Sinatra performed in Rome for the troops in 1944, Lydia was invited to attend the concert and subsequently joined Sinatra on a sightseeing jeep tour of the city. He had heard her singing on the American Forces network and complimented her on her ability and encouraged her to develop her singing career.

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