Their lives were torn apart after the disappearance, in 1994, of their daughter Ylenia, who went missing in New Orleans. She was never found, and many believe it was this tragedy to separate the couple.
After several years of appeals and searches, the couple decided to legally declare their daughter dead, even though.
If their brand of simple, heart-warming love songs has often been criticized, their status as main representatives of a certain type of “feeling-good” Italian music is undeniable. They have entered Italy’s popular collective memory and nor time neither their personal and professional splitting has eroded their popularity.
The song “Liberta!” (Freedom), first performed by Al Bano and Romina Power in 1987, became the anthem of the Romanian Revolution in 1989.
It came as a bolt from the blue when, in 1992, Al Bano of Celino San Marco in Puglia filed a lawsuit against the pop star Michael Jackson for plagiarism for the song Will You Be There. Her melody really looks amazingly like that of I Cigni di Balaka, which, however, was completely unknown in the world until then. Three music experts came to the conclusion that 37 out of 40 notes in the songs of the two stars are the same.
The American star has hired top lawyers and experts in the field of intellectual property plus composer Brad Boxer for his defense.
At first, the court sided with Al Bano, deciding to recover 4 million lire from Jackson, but the court in Milan ruled that both compositions were a reworking of the American song “Bless You For Being An Angel”. In addition, Al Bano had to reimburse Jackson for legal costs. Michael refused these payments in exchange for the promise that Al Bano and Romina would sing at a charity concert dedicated to abused children. Three years later, an appeals court in Rome upheld the Milan court’s decision, ruling that Jackson did not copy Al Bano’s song.
Today, many music experts explain what happened at the time with the intervention of Cosa Nostra.
2014 has marked an important moment for the career of Al Bano and Romina, but also for their fans, as the two decided to start performing as a duo again. Their personal relationship, which was polite, but far from warm for most of the 2000s, rekindled, even though both of them strongly deny rumours of being, once more, an item. They are like wine aged for years – even better!