Nick Tosches, prominent author of biographies, journalist and writer of Arbëresh origin, passed away. He was born in Newark, New Jersey, on October 23, 1949. He bore the surname of his grandfather, an Arbëresh who immigrated to the United States from Casalvecchio, in Puglia, Italy. Tosches is remembered for the biographies of famous singers such as Jerry Lee Lewis or Dean Martin. His first biography of Jerry Lee Lewis “Hellfire: The Jerry Lee Lewis Story” (1982) was named by Rolling Stone magazine as the best biography ever written about a musician. His biography of the Italian-American singer Dean Martin in 1992 was also sensational. Since 1996, he worked as an editor in the magazine “Vanity Fair” and published a number of novels, poetry books and other biographies. In 2002, he published the novel “In the Hand of Dante”, which was his greatest success as a writer. During an interview for “Scram” magazine, in 2013, he was asked how to read his last name and where he came from. “The name is Italian, with distant roots in ancient Albania, across the Adriatic from Puglia”, replied Nick Tosches. (Pictured: Nick Tosches)
Text: Center of Studies and Publications for Arbëresh, Tirana.
Photo: © https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/20/books/nick-tosches-dies.html
Graphic processing: AHCF
