Tony Croatto

Hermes Davide Fastino Croatto Martinis (2 March 1940 – 3 April 2005), better known as Tony Croatto, was an Italian singer and composer best known for his interpretations of Spanish folkloric songs and music from Puerto Rico.

His musical career began as part of the sibling musical group, Los TNT, with his siblings Nelly and Tim.

He was also a television presenter.

Hermes Davide Fastino Croatto Martinis was born on 2 March 1940 in Attimis, a comune in the province of Udine, Italy.

His family moved to the border town of La Paz, Uruguay, when he was nine years old.

While being raised as a carpenter, lumberjack and farmer, music was very much a part of his household.

In 1959, at 19, he and his siblings Edelweiss ("Tim") and Argentina ("Nelly") formed the pop group Los TNT.

The group came about at Nelly's insistence, who adamantly wanted to become a singer.

Their mother, who frowned upon the idea of Nelly touring solo at the age of 15, would only allow her to sing in public with her brothers in a group, as a back-up plan.

The group eventually developed a very strong following, first in Uruguay, then Argentina and Spain, where Los TNT moved as their popularity soared.

Los TNT were renowned for their vocal harmonies, their onstage chemistry and Nelly's voice and magnetic personality.

At the time, Tony stated once, he was happy with just singing background and playing guitar, claiming he was rather shy.

Eventually, he developed a strong stage presence, which allowed him to occasionally take over vocal duties.

In 1960, Los TNT recorded the song "Eso, eso, eso", written by tango composers Virgilio and Homero Expósito, for RCA Records, which sold more than 100,000 copies in Argentina alone.

They were part of the first broadcast of the country's television station, Canal 9; their personal appearances were solidly attended, and their popularity ensured the success of a media campaign they did for the Argentinian brewer, Cerveza Quilmes.

The group was also popular in Venezuela, Colombia, Perú, Chile and Mexico, where they eventually toured.

Their LP records for RCA-Victor were fast-sellers all over Latin America.

They even appeared in the 1962 film, Fiebre de Juventud, along Mexican pop idol, Enrique Guzmán.

After attaining some success in Spain, Los TNT moved there in 1963.

They went as far as representing the country in the Eurovision Song Contest 1964 in Copenhagen, billed as "Nelly, Tim and Tony".

Tony stated once that the group was handpicked by the powers behind the Spanish state television TVE to substitute that year's winners in the Spanish classification round, Michel and Teresa María, who were popular Spanish singers of the time.

TVE toned down their normally dynamic act for the contest, in which they sang what was originally a slow ballad, "Caracola" (written by Spanish songwriter Fina de Calderón).

Tony and his siblings suspected that this was a disaster waiting to happen.

Disappointed by their twelfth-place finish in the competition, and the subsequent reaction in Spain, their willingness to tour and record there diminished with time.

They moved back to Argentina in 1965, only for Tim to eventually leave the group the following year; he returned to his native Italy to become a concert promoter.

After Tim's departure from Los TNT, Nelly and Tony became a duo.

In 1968, after travelling across South America and spending two years in Venezuela, Tony moved to what would eventually become his adoptive homeland, Puerto Rico, when "Nelly y Tony" were hired by Puerto Rican promoter Alfred D. Herger to appear on his popular youth television shows.

While performing with his sister Nelly in New York City's Teatro Puerto Rico in 1973, Tony was introduced to New York-bred and Puerto Rico-born vocalist Roberto Tirado who suggested that he compose a hit song for the latter's idol Lucecita Benítez, who was going through hard times in her career.

Tony obliged, and with poet David Ortiz, wrote her number one career-refreshing hit, "Soy De Una Raza Pura" which would be the only song that Lucecita Benítez would claim as her opening song for many years later on.

While he was almost as successful in Puerto Rico singing pop tunes with his sister as he was in other countries, Tony Croatto was very much impressed by Puerto Rican jíbaro singers, who could improvise décimas on the spot, something that reminded him of the payadores of Uruguay and Argentina he used to listen to when he was growing up.

He also found a richness in musical traditions in Puerto Rico that, he claimed, was extremely rare elsewhere in Latin America.

He started singing Puerto Rican folk songs with Nelly, and noticed that their pop treatment of these songs was far more in demand that the pop material they would normally sing together.

He was also well impressed by the Puerto Rican people, who — he claimed — treated him better on his first night on the island than what he had experienced touring extensively in a country or two.

That, and various personal reasons, persuaded him to stay in Puerto Rico for good; he even went as far as saying he was a "born-again Puerto Rican."

Croatto formed the nueva trova musical group, Haciendo Punto en Otro Son, particularly famous for its protest songs.

He recruited Puerto Rican singers Silverio Pérez, Josy Latorre, Irvin García, and Nano Cabrera.

Pérez's strength was in jíbaro music, Latorre was a classically trained singer, Cabrera was a rocker and García was also a strong salsa percussionist and singer, but Croatto's vast experience with pop music made all the difference in the group's success.

Croatto was instrumental in both the musical and technical aspects of the group, not only as singer, guitarist and keyboardist, but also as arranger, producer and studio technician.

"Nelly y Tony" would perform together until 1974, when Nelly married a Puerto Rican surgeon.

She retired from pop music and eventually moved to the United States.