Joe Dolce

Joe Dolce
Man sitting on back door steps, wearing jeans, boots, black T-shirt and sun glasses. Rests left elbow on left knee with left forefinger pointing to his right. Right fist hidden inside left hand and he is facing forward.
Dolce in 2003
Background information
Birth nameJoseph Dolce
Born (1947-10-13) October 13, 1947 (age 77)
Painesville, Ohio, US
Occupations
  • Singer
  • songwriter
  • poet
  • essayist
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • mandolin
  • acoustic guitar
  • electric guitar
  • harmonica
Years active1968–present
Labels
Websitejoedolce.net

Joseph Dolce (/ˈdoʊltʃeɪ/, originally /ˈdoʊlts/; born October 13, 1947)[1] is an American-Australian singer, songwriter, poet and essayist.[2]

Dolce achieved international recognition with his multi-million-selling novelty song, "Shaddap You Face", released worldwide under the name of his one-man show, Joe Dolce Music Theatre, in 1980–1981.[3][4][5] The single reached number one in 15 countries.[6] It has sold more than 450,000 copies in Australia and continues to be the most successful Australian-produced single worldwide, selling an estimated six million copies.[7] It reached No. 1 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart for eight weeks from November 1980.[5]

  1. ^ ""Shaddap You Face" at APRA search engine". Australasian Performing Right Association (APRA). Retrieved 9 January 2010.
  2. ^ "Joe Dolce, Author at Overland literary journal". Overland. Retrieved 4 September 2023.
  3. ^ McFarlane, Ian (1999). "Encyclopedia entry for 'Joe Dolce'". Encyclopedia of Australian Rock and Pop. St Leonards, NSW: Allen & Unwin. ISBN 1-86508-072-1. Archived from the original on 19 April 2004. Retrieved 10 January 2010.
  4. ^ Spencer, Chris; Zbig Nowara, Paul McHenry with notes by Ed Nimmervoll (2002) [1987]. "DOLCE, Joe". The Who's Who of Australian Rock. Noble Park, Vic.: Five Mile Press. ISBN 1-86503-891-1. Retrieved 9 January 2010. Note: [on-line] version established at White Room Electronic Publishing Pty Ltd Archived 29 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine in 2007 and was expanded from the 2002 edition.
  5. ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book Ltd. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. NOTE: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until ARIA created their own charts in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.
  6. ^ "Joe Dolce Official Website". Joedolce.net. Retrieved 9 April 2022.
  7. ^ Jenkins, Jeff; Ian Meldrum (2007). "Chapter 22: Joe Dolce". Molly Meldrum presents 50 years of rock in Australia. Melbourne, Vic: Wilkinson Publishing. pp. 167–168. ISBN 978-1-921332-11-1.