Real name: Peppino Principe

Effective period / Period of releases: 1958 - 1980

Italian accordionist and ensemble leader with jazzy leanings. He was very popular in in Italy and abroad in the 1950s and 1960s.

Peppino Principe was born, Monte Sant’Angelo (Foggia), Italy, 1927.

He studied music and accordion with his father, Michele, a highly regarded teacher in the Gargano area.

In 1940 he moved to the North with his brother Leonardo, a well-known jazz clarinetist, and made his debut at 13 years old, in the summer of the first year of the war, as a classical accordion soloist in the famous Caffè Pedrocchi in Padua.

From 1943 to 1946 he collaborated with the Allied commands for musical shows dedicated to the troops, initially in Bari and subsequently in Milan, always together with his brother Leonardo. He says his real musical education occurred at this time when he was living in Bari and working for the allies. He was listening to jazz - including the Joe Mooney quartet.

He formed a similar group "Quintet Hot " that evolved in Milan into "Quintetto Principe" which recorded many numbers that now form part of the history of Italian jazz.

He played all the major jazz venues of Milan, including the Capolinea, are historic.

In the 1950s he moved more to lounde and cocktail jazz as well as tradition Italian accordion music and classical music.

Whilst he was signed to the Vis-Napoli label he was asked by Fonit-Cetra to take over from their accordionist Gorni Kramer. He did under the stage name of Tony Romano who also became very popular.

In Pavia in 1961 he received the "World Accordion Oscar", the highest international recognition. In 1964, in Milan, he received the highly coveted "Ambrogino d'Oro" award at the hands of the presenter Tony Martucci. Also in 1964, he was at the "Teatro Ariston" in Sanremo, as director and accordionist with Mike Bongiorno and Domenico Modugno, winner with "Dio come ti amo"

He continued playing and recording through to the 2000s

He has sold around 40 million records worldwide.

He died in 2018.