[1] Born in Zapponeta, Apulia, Di Bari was the youngest of ten children from a farming family.

[3] In 1970 Di Bari obtained even greater commercial and critical success with the song "La prima cosa bella", which ranked second at the Sanremo Music Festival and first on the Italian hit charts.

[3][4] In 1971 he won the Sanremo Music Festival and Canzonissima, with the songs "Il cuore è uno zingaro" and "Chitarra suona più piano".

[3] In the following years Di Bari grew his international popularity, especially in Latin America, where he recorded several albums in Spanish and where he gradually focused his career.

[1][3] Nicola was also very much enamoured with Australia where he toured near and far on several occasions performing at Theatres and Italian Clubs venues organised by Italo-australian impresario Duane d Zigliotto.