Born in Lyon France of Italian origin, his first memories are of the Italian and French Dalida songs which he heard while still in the cradle, but it wasn't until 1974 that he really fell for her charms with "Gigi l'Amoroso"
This passion never sopped growing and he remains faithful to this very day.

Excessively perfectionist in his approach, he spent his adolescence plugging his idol to all those around him.
Parents or friends, no-one could escape.
For a brief period he even tried imitating the blonde Disco Queen but soon realised that mimicry wasn't his forte.
Instead he studiously followed her career, her records, photos and concerts... Dalida was his ideal.

At the tender age of 20 in 1985 he crossed the audiovisual frontier and asked her a question on the TV show "Game of Truth"

"...I'm crazy about you, I tell you, to some extent I live in your shadow...!"

On 7th May 1987, overcome with grief at her passing, he attended her funeral at La Madeleine in Paris.

Thierry SAVONA would henceforth always hold a torch for her.
In 1995 he organised the first Dalida Evening at the SPACE club in Lyon and 2000 flyers went out. The evening was a total success with over a thousand clubbers dancing the night away to "Comme si j'étais là" ("As though I were still there") with its Techno influences.

For the tenth anniversary of her death in 1997 he organised a music-hall show based on the life of Dalida. It was 1 hour 40 minutes long and involved ten dancers on stage performing to some of her best songs in some of her best outfits. This gave a whole new audience the chance to see what she had been like on stage and ran for two performances in Lyon.

The same year, impatient to share his passion, he approached Orlando to ask his permission to start a website devoted to Dalida. After some deliberation, Orlando agreed to the creation of the "Official Website".
They worked closely together.
One of the world's first official artist's websites saw the light of day on 5th October 1998.
More than 5000 visits per month and e-mails from the four corners of the world: Canada, USA, Italy...it was a great success.

   In May 2002 on the occasion of the 15th anniversary of her departure, following several press articles about the excellent work on the website, various TV reports noted his devotion to Dalida:
"Special Envoy" on France 2 and "The One O'Clock News" on TF1
which allowed him to express his passion and that of hudreds of surfers who visited the official Dalida website every day.

   June 2004 Thierry Savona and Orlando present for the first time in the history of "fanzines", the very first quarterly magazine with CD rom in English and French: DALIDA FOREVER.

   May 2006 On the occasion of the nineteenth anniversary of Dalida's departure, Orlando and Polygram have commissioned Thierry Savona to produce a collection called "Dalida For Ever". This previously unreleased series, comprising 22 booklets and 22 CDs, constitutes the Complete Works of Dalida from 1956 to 1987.

2007 To mark the twentieth anniversary of the death of Dalida, Orlando is contributing to the commemorative exhibition taking place at Paris City Hall between 11th May and 8th September 2007. On this occasion Thierry Savona puts on a show in tribute to Dalida at the Labour Exchange in Lyon on 12th May. This extraordinary event is attended by 1500 enthusiastic people! A whole host of articles appear in the press and many programmes are broadcast on radio and television to celebrate the work of Dalida and the passion for her.

An all-consuming passion, a real love and above all respect for the exceptional DALIDA, these are the immense recompense and pleasure which he gets from working with Orlando on "DALIDA Éternelle".

Brigitte Bernal
Journalist