Editing Dalida (section)

==== First contract and overnight success with "Bambino" ====

[[File:Dalida 1950s (cropped).jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.9|Dalida in the 1950s]]

After the performance in {{lang|fr|Les Numéros 1 de demain}}, Morisse handed Dalida his card so that they could meet in his office as soon as possible, which she accepted without hesitation. A few days later, on the second floor of the building at 26 {{lang|fr|Rue François Ier|i=no}}, she performed "{{lang|pt|Barco negro|i=no}}", a recent hit by [[Amália Rodrigues]], humming the a cappella verses and tapping her fingertips on a corner of Morisse's desk. Visibly satisfied, he demanded that she work on minor imperfections before a new audition in front of [[Eddie Barclay]] in person.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.allmusic.com/artist/dalida-mn0000564599/biography|title=Dalida {{!}} Biography & History|website=AllMusic|language=en-us|access-date=14 March 2019}}</ref> On 2 May 1956 in Barclay's office at 20 {{lang|fr|Rue de Madrid|i=no}}, Dalida signed a renewable one-year contract, with a modest percentage on record sales, with the promise of increasing it if the expected success was accomplished.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tYG2MC3_Hi8/XIxGcxuhPiI/AAAAAAAAALA/ZWccoUCCm2AOHef5yo0TvuEm7yTDmPNKwCLcBGAs/s1600/20190314_095841.jpg|title=Contract, 1956|website=dalidaideal.com|access-date=15 March 2019}}</ref> While Morisse was responsible for radio promotion, Coquatrix had developed a strategy to grab the headlines. He planned to promote her through a series of concerts, including two concerts at the [[Olympia (Paris)|Olympia]], two weeks in [[Bobino]], and a tour of the provinces.

Her first song "Madona" was recorded in June and was first released in August on an EP with three other songs. "Madona" was played on 28 August 1956 on Radio Europe n°1, which was Dalida's first radio appearance.<ref name=":1">{{cite web|url=https://www.universalmusic.fr/artiste/1940-dalida/bio|title=Biographie de Dalida|website=Universal Music France|language=fr|access-date=14 March 2019|archive-date=4 November 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104050149/http://www.universalmusic.fr/artiste/1940-dalida/bio|url-status=dead}}</ref> The record achieved sufficient success and was followed by a second EP, Le Torrent, a month later, which received an equally encouraging welcome. Dalida continued performing live throughout the latter part of 1956, while her promoters worked on developing a song that would make her a star; Morisse asked lyricist [[Jacques Laurent|Jacques Larue]] to write a French language version of "{{lang|nap|[[Guaglione]]|i=no}}", the winning song at the recent inaugural {{lang|it|[[Festival di Napoli]]|i=no}}, which would become "{{lang|it|[[Bambino (song)|Bambino]]|i=no}}".<ref name=":1" />

"{{lang|it|Bambino|i=no}}" was released in early December only as a promo single, but quickly received more public interest than all of her previous recordings. Morisse started to heavily promote it and it was placed as the first track on Dalida's debut album {{lang|fr|[[Son nom est Dalida]]}}, which was issued at the end of the same month.<ref name=":6">{{cite web|url=http://dalida.com/1956-1961.html|title=Dalida site Officiel – 1956 – 1961|website=dalida.com|access-date=14 March 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170729013332/http://dalida.com/1956-1961.html|archive-date=29 July 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> The album was immediately followed by a third EP titled {{lang|it|Bambino}}. After debuting at number seven in January 1957,<ref>{{Cite journal|date=January 1957|title=Classement des 10 plus grands succès du mois|journal=Music Hall|page=1}}</ref> ''Bambino'' reached number one and went on to become the biggest-selling and one of the most beloved pop standard hits of the 1950s in France, Belgium, Canada and Switzerland. As the song knocked [[Doris Day]]'s "[[Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)|Whatever Will Be, Will Be]]" off the top of the French charts,<ref>{{Cite journal|date=May 1957|title=Classement des 10 plus grands succès du mois|journal=Music Hall|page=1}}</ref> women began to emulate Dalida's makeup, resulting in an explosion of [[Rimmel]] sales, while men saw in her a talent, sensuality and sexiness. [[Bruno Coquatrix|Coquatrix]] then named her "the first sex-symbol of the song".<ref name=":2">{{Cite book|title=Dalida: une vie..|last=Pessis|first=Jacques|publisher=Chronique|year=2007|isbn=978-2205061079|location=France|page=1}}</ref> "Bambino" was Dalida's first number-one hit, and through 1957 it became the longest-running number one in world history, with a total of 39 consecutive weeks, a record that it still holds.<ref name=":3">{{cite web|url=http://www.infodisc.fr/Number1_50.php|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080323112530/http://www.infodisc.fr/Number1_50.php|archive-date=23 March 2008|title=InfoDisc : Tout les Titres N° 1 des 50's|date=23 March 2008|access-date=14 March 2019}}</ref> It made Dalida an overnight star and gave her her first gold disc, the very first time that such an award had been received by a woman, on 19 September 1957 for sales of over 300,000.<ref name=":1" /> As the French music industry was then still in the background, "{{lang|it|Bambino|i=no}}" was described in 2007 by Bertrand Dicale of [[Le Figaro]] as "a launch that announced what will happen in the coming decades ... a start of really modern times where singer is more important than song".<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Dicale|first=Bertrand|date=17 August 2007|title=Les tubes de l'été|journal=Le Figaro|page=1}}</ref> Promoting it in early 1957, Dalida also made her first TV appearance, and her contract was immediately extended for four years.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://dalida.com/images/orlando/Presse/page09.jpg|title=Contract extension|date=2014|website=dalida.com|access-date=14 March 2019}}</ref> Then she also received her first criticism from a journalist: "On stage, Dalida appears in beauty and warmth, highlighted by a presentation of extreme sobriety."