Renée & Renato

Renée and Renato was a female/male vocal duo, who had a UK Number one hit in December 1982 with "Save Your Love". The follow-up single "Just One More Kiss" peaked at #48. Their third single, "Jesus Loves Us All", failed to reach the UK Singles Chart. West Midlands-resident Italian-born Renato Pagliari (born 28 June 1940, died 29 July 2009) auditioned for ITV's talent show New Faces in 1975, catching the attention of songwriter, Johnny Edward, who had written "Save Your Love". He was teamed by Edward with British singer Hilary Lester and the duo was renamed as Renée and Renato. They recorded the song, "Save Your Love", which became the 1982 Christmas number one. By that stage Lester had already joined another group, and the contractually enforced follow-ups, "Just One More Kiss" and "Jesus Loves Us All", flopped. Lester returned to private life after the fame died down, but Renato still sang, mainly on cruise ships and occasionally at his son's restaurant, Renato's, in Tamworth, Staffordshire. His later credits included a guest spot on the TV comedy show Little and Large. He is also rumoured to have been the singer for the Wall's ice cream jingle "Just One Cornetto" (although this is claimed not to be the case by Pagliari's son, Remo). He also issued several albums.