The man who dedicated over 60 years of his life to ensuring people’s musical tastes were catered for has died – passing on the enduring baton of D’Amato Records, dubbed the world’s oldest record store.

Described as a “pillar of the family business”, his son with the same name, said Anthony D’Amato was “taken away from us too fast, too soon”. Not even three weeks had passed since he was lending a hand at the Valletta shop that dates back to 1885.

Born in 1945, D’Amato died on Sunday, following the shock diagnosis of an aggressive illness. He had just turned 75.

He leaves behind a “legacy of kindness, love and respect to anyone who crossed his path” his son said – and these do not only include family and friends, but also the many customers who associate the record store they regularly frequented with the low-key man by the same name.

Fond memories abounded among clients reacting to D’Amato’s death on Facebook, with recollections of the excitement of turning up, money in hand, to buy a tape.

They hark back to the Bisazza Street days, where the “soft-spoken and gentle character would always put aside any Genesis material” for a client at the Sliema outlet.

D’Amato had been working at the shop after school since around the age of 14, his elderly father having been taken ill. He was semi-retired but would continue to visit every other day and still held certain administrative roles, his son said of the calm and meticulous man, who was ruled by precision.

He was more service-oriented than business-minded, and his job was his hobby, the third-generation owner said. “It was his life.” 

If he had to associate any specific music with his father, it would have to be The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, he said, recalling the music playing from a tape in the car in his childhood.

D’Amato is also known to have supported the local music scene in the 1970s, producing many records by Maltese artists, including the likes of Freddie Portelli in his early days.. In fact, all the seven-inch singles bear his name.

Anthony D'Amato supported many in Malta's music scene.

He was recently quoted as saying he could not recall a single instance when the 135-year-old record store closed – come recession and four decades of rampant piracy – until COVID-19 forced it to temporarily pull down its shutters last year.

In the Times of Malta article, it was noted that the shop did not stop trading when Malta was blitzed during World War II, and also survived the Spanish flu. Surviving war and pestilence, its owners said it had probably been hardest hit by the outbreak of the MP3.

Even then, not for a second did D’Amato think it was game over for what has been described as the “holy grail of record shops” on the international scene. 

Financially, it would probably have been more feasible to rent out the shop and stay home, but this is a labour of love and D’Amato Records is part of their DNA, his son had said.

“We could not kill it off because we would be killing off a member of our family.
“There are three speeds in records – 78s, 45s and 33s. I was born in 1978, my dad in 1945 and the difference between the two is 33. We were meant to be in this line of work,” his son had added.

Anthony D’Amato will be laid to rest on Tuesday, with funeral mass being held at the Carmelite Church in Valletta at 10am.