Whilst a miner he performed at local Working Men's Clubs and appeared in several TV amateur shows, such as
Top Down,
Bid For Fame,
What Makes A Star and
The Carroll Levis Discovery Show. He could not take up professional singing until he had completed the necessary four years residency pre-requisite of working in the steelworks. Dalli was soon booked at the Cecil Cinema in Hull. Here, he was spotted by Percy Livingstone and Rob Goldstein (from
20th Century Fox), who told him that he must leave Yorkshire and go to London. By May 1957, Dalli was studying under singing teacher Dino Borgiole, and in October 1957, he performed at the
Embassy Club. It was here that he was discovered by the comedian
Max Bygraves, whose agent, Jock Jacobsen, also signed Dalli on. By this time, Dalli was appearing in numerous major TV shows. In February 1958, he made his first appearance on
The Ed Sullivan Show in New York, following by major performances at the
Moulin Rouge, Hollywood and the
Desert Inn in Las Vegas. Upon Dalli's return to England, a contract was waiting for him with
EMI Records and his first of five albums was recorded, including the hit song "
Come Prima" ("More Than Ever"). Later, he recorded with
Capitol Records and
Decca, appearing in theatres throughout the world. These included two one-man-shows at the
Carnegie Hall and
Hollywood Bowl. When
Mario Lanza died in 1959, Dalli was signed up to do a motion picture based on his life,
The Mario Lanza Story. The film was never released, for legal reasons. Dalli also sang in the US, where he had his own TV show on
KCOP in Los Angeles for 13 weeks. He also worked in Australia, South Africa and Hong Kong. ==Personal and later life==