"Soleado" is a mainly instrumental piece of music composed by Ciro Dammicco under the alias "Zacar", based on his earlier composition "Le rose blu". The song was recorded in 1974 by Dammico's band, the Daniel Sentacruz Ensemble, and presented at that year's edition of Festivalbar. It became an instant hit, selling over five million copies in Europe.
Cover versions
Following the success of Soleado, many artists went on to cover the song adding lyrics. In 1974 spanish actor and singer Manolo Otero recited a poem, Todo el tiempo del mundo, with the tune inthe background. The first version with proper lyrics was Tränen lügen nicht by Michael Holm in 1974, which topped the charts in Germany and became a Top 10 hit in Austria and Switzerland. In 1975, Neşe Karaböcek included a cover in Turkish named Gözyaşları Yalan Söylemez on her album Deli Gibi Sevdim. In 1975 Mireille Mathieu recorded a version in French, On ne vit pas sans se dire adieu. The first English lyric version, When a Child Is Born, was recorded by Johnny Mathis, and was a number one hit in the UK in 1976. Also in Britain that same year St Andrew's Chorale released a non-lyriced version under the title Cloud 99 on Decca Records, which reached number 31 in the UK charts. In addition that year, the Slovak singer Karol Konárik recorded a version called Rozchod with lyrics by Ľuboš Zeman. In Hungary Cserháti Zsuzsa did a cover of the song in 1978 entitled "Édes kisfiam". Mari Trini recorded a Spanish version, Te amaré, te amo y te querré in 1981. The Polish pop bandBayer Full recorded the song as Blondyneczka in 1992. In 2008 the Italian band Elio e le Storie Teseperformed a version of the song with the lyrics "Buon anno nuovo" during a New Year's Eve concert. In 1975 the Czech singer Karel Gott released a version called Měl jsem rád a mám. In 1994, German disc jockeyMark 'Oh scored a hit in the German charts with a dance rendition of Holm's version. Percy Faith, Santo & Johnny, Paul Mauriat and other artists recorded instrumental versions.
