Italian musician Lucio Dalla, who died Thursday, three days shy of his 69th birthday, is probably best remembered internationally for "Caruso," a song which he wrote and would often sing in duet with the late Luciano Pavarotti.
But in his homeland, Dalla was widely celebrated as one of the country's finest "cantautori" the singer-songwriters who emerged in the 1960s and whose lyrics would often touch on topics related to social tumult, including strikes and student protests.
Tributes poured in for Dalla after his death - reportedly from a heart attack - in Montreux Switzerland where he was on tour.
"Dear friend I write to you ... a smile, a flower, a tear," Susanna Camusso, leader of Italy's main labour union, the leftist CGIL, wrote on her Twitter account.
Italian President Giorgio Napolitano also paid tribute to Dalla, describing him as "an artist loved by many Italians of many generations."
Nicoletta Mantovani, Pavarotti's widow fondly recalled the performances Dalla gave with her husband during his "Pavarotti and Friends" benefit concerts when the tenor who died in 2007, would also share the stage with the likes of U2's Bono and Mariah Carey.
"He was a great friend of Luciano," Mantovani said.
Dalla, who was born in Bologna on March 4, 1943 trained in his late teens as a jazz musician, learning to play the clarinet, saxophone and piano.
At the beginning of his career Dalla was principally known as a tunesmith, but later also began writing the lyrics of his songs and also chose to make his music more eclectic, incorporating elements of folk, pop and classical and world music.
"His genius will be much missed," said Eros Ramazzotti, one of Italy's best know pops stars, who recalled the encouragement he received from Dalla at the beginning of his own musical career in the 1980s.
