Marymount - International School Rome
Marymount - International School Rome
Marymount - International School Rome
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Duca 40: Rome's karaoke taxi driver

How a Roman taxi driver has got his customers to sing along with him for the last 15 years.

We have all heard of Carpool Karaoke where The Late Late Show host James Corden invites famous musical guests to sing along to their songs with him as he drives.

Rome taxi driver Emanuele Della Seta, known to colleagues and fans by his stage name 'Il Duca 40', has been singing along with his customers ever since 2007.

Emanuele's musical adventure began when he started inviting his clients to sing with him to pass the time stuck in Rome's traffic, a trick he learned from his mother as a child.

"She would take us to the sea at Ostia and not having a radio in the car she made us spend the whole trip singing", the cheerful Roman cabbie told Italian newspaper La Stampa.

Over the years his singalong customers have ranged from ordinary citizens to celebrities including actors Roberto Benigni and Stefano Fresi, and the acclaimed American violinist Robert McDuffie.

Not everyone wants to sing, of course. Emanuele normally broaches the subject by asking "Do you like music?" and then "Can you sing?".

If the customer responds in the affirmative, with a smile, Il Duca 40 selects an appropriate song and asks if he can record the performance for his YouTube channel.

One time he picked up Italian pop singer Emma Marrone, without recognising her. "She was wearing sunglasses and a hat"- he told La Stampa - "I asked her if she could sing and she replied 'a little bit'".

The ensuing video went viral.

"Driving around Rome singing is beautiful," says Emanuele, whose dream is to perform on the stages of Las Vegas "with a golden microphone", just like his idol Frank Sinatra.
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