Bino (real name Benedetto Arico) first studied architecture in order to take over his father's company. He returned to Italy and came back to Germany in 1975 as a musician, first to Schopfheim in the Black Forest. In nearby Bad Säckingen, he became a member of the existing group "I Figli Di Yuma" with which he toured the region and through Switzerland. Then he came to Oldenburg, where he once worked as an ice cream vendor, sometimes as a singer at festivals and on to Hamburg, where producer Rainer Felsen from Pino Music first took notice of him. In 1978, working with
Drafi Deutscher and
Mike Mareen, Bino recorded
Mama Leone., a song composed by German pop composer and singer Drafi Deutscher and was first sung in German version by Ruth Händel in 1976, but was not a success in this version or in the version by Mike Mareen released in the same year. A third version was released in 1978, sung by Bino. In addition to the German version, he also released an English and an Italian version with lyrics written by himself. Bino landed his biggest success in 1978 with the song
Mama Leone, with music composed by
Drafi Deutscher and
Mike Mareen. The song was recorded in Italian with lyrics by Bino, as well as a German version. For eight weeks, it was number 1 on the charts in Austria, and four weeks at the top position on the Swiss charts. On 23 November 1978, both versions were in the top 10 on the German charts. The
Mama Leone album sold 20 million copies worldwide. In 1997, he dedicated his song to the late Catholic nun
Mother Teresa. He later had two minor hits with the songs Bambino (18th in Germany) and Maria (25th place in Germany), both written by Drafi Deutscher. For some years Bino lived with his girlfriend Katrin on
Mallorca in
Spain. He died at the age of 57 in Palermo with cancer. ==Discography==