David Arugete (Hebrew: דריו מורנו; 3 April 1921 – 1 December 1968), commonly known under his stage name Dario Moreno, was a Turkish-Jewish polyglot singer, an accomplished composer, lyricist, and guitarist. He attained fame and made a remarkable career centred in France which also included films, during the 1950s and the 1960s. He became famous with his 1961 song Brigitte Bardot.
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Biography
Dario Moreno was born to a large Turkish-Jewish family. He was orphaned in early childhood when his father, who worked at the train station in Aydın, was shot dead under tragic circumstances. He was placed in the Sephardic orphanage of Izmir (Nido De Guerfanos) by his mother and remained there until he was four.
After a primary education in the Jewish educational establishments of Izmir, he had many odd jobs during his early youth. He put great effort into continuing his education while simultaneously working to make a living. He started working as an errand boy in the law firm of the city's prominent lawyers and was eventually trained to become an office clerk. In the evenings, he would study French in Izmir's Central Library. With a guitar that had fallen into his hands by chance, he also learned to play the guitar, mainly on his own with occasional tutoring from acquaintances.
He started singing at Bar Mitzvah celebrations as a second job. In his early twenties, he had already become a well-known singer in Izmir, and particularly among the Jewish community. During his military service in the Turkish Army, he was employed as a singer in officers' quarters in various garrisons and became more focused on music. His first truly professional musical performance started in his hometown after his discharge and was arranged through army connections. After he started making money from his music, he moved to the better-off Jewish quarter of Karataş and lived in a house in a street leading to the historic Asansör, one of the city's landmark buildings (whose name means the "Elevator" since it carried people by elevator to the upper part of the quarter which was separated from the lower coastal area by a steep slope). Nowadays, this street is named Dario Moreno Sokağı (Dario Moreno Street) after him.
