Angelo Candela was born in Viggiano, Italy, on 9 October 1909. His mother Angelarosa Candela (nee Paoliello) died giving birth to him. He was raised by his father Vincenzo and his stepmother Emanuela (nee Nigro), who had married Angelo's father, Vincenzo a few months after his mother's death. His older brother, Francesco died of the Spanish Flu in 1918.

Angelo migrated to Australia in November 1920, at the age of ten, with his father Vincenzo and stepmother Emanuela. After arriving he Australia he attended state primary school in Carlton, on the corner Cardigan and Faraday Streets for a few years. Angelo was a talented musician and had been introduced to music in his hometown of Viggiano from the age for four. In Melbourne he continued to take music lessons from Di Giglio, Briglia and Curcio, specialising in violin. These Italian musicians were from Basilicata, Italy, the same district of Angelo's family, and had settled in Australia at the turn of the twentieth century and made a name for themselves as musicians.

Angelo began playing in public as early as 1925, when he worked with one of the Lamacchia brothers. By 1926 he was playing in a Melbourne cinema, and from the early 1930s he played for radio stations 3LO and 3AR. He also performed with other Italian musicians, such as Ginnacini and Giovanni Cera, for a number of years. With them Angelo established the Argentino Tango Band which successfully performed on radio, as well in the Myer Dining Hall. Angelo was also a violinist and conductor at the Tivoli Theatre for 25 years.

At the outbreak of WW2, Angelo was enlisted in the Australian Army and later joined the 3rd Australian Division Concert Party, and travelled around Australia performing with the band. He also spent some months in the Bonegilla army camp. In 1951 Angelo returned to ABC Radio and worked for them for 25 years until retirement.

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