(ANSA) - Rome, January 5 - Tributes flowed while fans and family grieved Monday after the news that one of Italy's best-loved singer-songwriters Pino Daniele was dead at age 59. As plans were announced for a Wednesday funeral in Rome, the mayor of Daniele's hometown of Naples lowered flags there to half-mast and declared a day of mourning for the same date. "It's a terrible time," said the singer's daughter Sara. President Giorgio Napolitano praised the musician, whose music was infused with the rhythms and the dialect of his native city. "I learned with painful surprise the news of the death of Pino Daniele, a songwriter who was able to give an original contribution to the musical tradition of his city," Napolitano, who is also from Naples, said in a statement. "To his family and the people who loved him, and the world of music, I express my most sincere condolences," said the president. Daniele's cardiologist said the successful blues and jazzman, who added a twist of rock to build on Neapolitan rhythms, knew he was a dead man walking because of heart troubles. "(He) was hanging on by a thread and he knew it.
Every day of life was a day gained," said cardiologist Achille Gaspardone, who told ANSA he felt "great sadness" at his patient's death.
Daniele built on the music of his idols, from Jeff Beck to Eric Clapton to Frank Zappa and Carlos Santana, adding his particular Neapolitan twist. One of his greatest successes came with the 1980 album Nero a Metà, and after that, he performed as the opening act for Bob Marley in 1980 in Naples. That was followed by an enormous 1981 concert in Rome's Piazza del Plebiscito before 200,000 people. Fans said that Daniele will remain a symbol of Naples but also was the force behind a musical revolution in Italy, beginning with his 1977 album Terra Mia. "Pino was 1,000 colors artistically, each was a different story," said Gigi D'Alessio, adding that Daniele brought to life the "angry voice of Naples...a city, not in mono, but in Dolby surround sound". Daniele was also known for composing soundtracks for films, often collaborating with late filmmaker and actor Massimo Troisi, also of Naples.
On his Twitter account, singer Jovanotti wrote: "Goodbye, Pino, goodbye to a man who made great music, a generous friend, and a great artist". Added Edoardo Bennato: "Farewell, Pino.
We have lost a great musician and I have lost a friend". On his Facebook page Luciano Ligabue wrote: "Goodbye, Pino, and thank you.
Once more, I embrace you". Under his message, the musician added a photo of himself with Daniele and their guitars in an embrace. Meanwhile, one of Daniele's five brothers expressed grief on Monday and said that if Pino had been taken to hospital in Grossetto rather than Rome, he might have been saved. Carmine Daniele added that all of Pino's brothers wished the singer's funeral could be in Naples, his hometown, rather than Rome as planned. Pino Daniele had been rushed to hospital in Rome in critical condition after a heart attack, but efforts to save him failed. The singer had apparently began to feel ill Sunday night while at his isolated vacation home in the countryside near Orbetello in the Maremma region of Tuscany. At about 9:15 p.m.
local time, an ambulance with a doctor was sent out and about 10 minutes was lost clarifying the address of Daniele's farmhouse, sources said. By the time he arrived in hospital in Rome, he was in critical condition and died soon after.