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Artist News: Banco's Francesco Di Giacomo Passes Away At 66

Posted on Saturday, February 22 @ 21:39:35 UTC by nightowl

As shared by Greg Walker yesterday (owner of Syn-Phonic), we learned that "Francesco Di Giacomo (the beloved tenor singer of Banco Del Mutuo Soccorso) passed away today from the result of a car accident. Details are sketchy about what caused the accident but it may be health related. Here is the posting on the internet and the English translation:

"'É morto il 21 febbraio 2014 a Zagarolo, in provincia di Roma, per un incidente stradale avvenuto in via Valle del Formale. Nel tardo pomeriggio Di Giacomo era alla guida della sua auto di cui pare abbia perso il controllo schiantandosi, poi, contro un'altra autovettura che proveniva in senso contrario. Di Giacomo è deceduto durante il trasporto all'ospedale di Palestrina. La sera stessa è stato annuncíato l'accadimento e ricordato da Fabio Fazio durante la diretta televisiva del Festival di Sanremo seguito dal cordoglio del pubblico."

"'Francesco Di Giacomo died today February 21, 2014 in Zagarolo, a province of Rome, from a road traffic accident in Valle del Formale. In the late afternoon Di Giacomo was driving his car which seems to have lost control and crashed into oncoming traffic. Di Giacomo died during transport to Palestrina hospital. He was 66 years old. This evening, the news was announced by Fabio Fazio during the live broadcast of the Sanremo Festival followed by public mourning.'"

While Walker also included had his own personal reflection on Di Giacomo in his email, including the fact that Banco performed at the Walker-organized Progfest 2000, and their conversations surrounding that event, and performed at NEARFest 2001, my own comment is I that had the pleasure of seeing Banco perform live three times, the first time at Progfest 2000, later at NEARFest 2001 and lastly at NEARfest 2008. Both times I was blown away by just how good they were, not having heard them at all before that Progfest performance. I would have to say they drew me in to Italian prog (even if my volume of reviews does not reflect that), the loss of that great voice will certainly leave a void in not just the progressive music universe, but in any music universe.

While not updated at press time to mark Di Giacmomo's passing, you can learn more about the band here: www.bancodelmutuosoccorso.it

[Photo: Banco @ NEARfest 2008 © Stephanie Sollow]

Posted in Band News (tours, comings/goings, etc)