Since I was 3 years old, me and my sister’s favourite entertainment was scatting solos and harmonisations on my father’s jazz and bossanova records; Dizzie Gillespie, Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Joao Gilberto.
When I was 14 my family moved to Rio de Janeiro. Feeded until that moment on soul music, Lou Reed and Patti Smith punk attitude, Pink Floyd, Mina and Battisti, in Brasil I got in touch with the minimalism of bossanova and Caetano Veloso tropicalist poetry. I started playing guitar and singing for friends.
Back to Italy in the 80’s, I entered as lead vocals a band of school fellows, GRUPPOITALIANO, that in summer 1983 reached the highest positions in the Italian charts with the single TROPICANA. Performing it, I looked and sang like a mix of Betty Boop and Carmen Miranda. In the same year we won the “VOTA LA VOCE" prize as best revelation band of the year.
In 1984, we took part in the Sanremo Italian Song Festival with my song “Anni Ruggenti". Our exhibition at the Festival conquers both critics and audience: we dressed like actors in a Tarzan Z-movie or an old cartoon, with two foam rubber palms play horns behind us. But as time went by, that tropical cliché started getting too tight for my musical ambitions. In 1986 I decided to leave the band, going where my musical instinct would lead me. From that moment on I set out in search of reference points, to discover my identity lost inside the band. I worked with various producers, writing and singing new tracks, but the work never came to the point: no label accepted my change of style. “Your songs are so sad! People know you as the happy "Tropicana girl", they say, “why should you make something different�
So I decided to start from the beginning, singing in little clubs, and recording background vocals for many Italian artists, such as Lorenzo Jovanotti and Pitura Freska, and writing lyrics for others.
..In 1992 director Marco Maccaferri called me as leading actress for his movie Georgia, where I played the role of a singer in search of her identity (who better than me?...). With me in the movie renowned jazz artists such as Tiziana Ghiglioni, Tim Berne and Enrico Rava, and actor Antonio Catania (also in Academy Award Winner Salvatore’s movie Mediterraneo).
In 1993 I married Andrea Betti, and on September 11th our daughter Anita came to life: her presence gave a different meaning and depth to my life and music (listen to my song PICCOLO PENSIERO – Little thought of mine).
In 1995 at Massive Attack’s concert I got in touch with Fred Ventura, an Italian disco star during the eighties, who had recently published for a little independent label (Right Tempo) as Vibrazioni Productions. Fred was a fan of mine, and had often been wondering where could have I gone. We became friends, and I entered MILANO 2000, the independent label created by Fred, and worked with him and ENRICO COLOMBO, STEFANO GHITTONI (The Dining Rooms), S-Tone Inc. and Madreblu (RAFFAELLA DESTEFANO).
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In the beginning I composed and featured as BASSOCIATION two tracks in english (LIMBO and SEARCHING) for two trip hop/drum’n’bass compilations (AMBIENTE, BASSO E BATTERIA e NATIVI, RESIDENTI E DI PASSAGGIO), then I featured and wrote the lyrics for the track “L’AMORE CI DIVIDERA’†in Ghittoni/Malfatti’s album COLORI. Since these experiments had been satisfying for both them and me, I started working with Ventura and Colombo on my solo album in italian, published by MILANO 2000/EMI.
Their sound, cold as ice, sharp as steel, downtempo or drum’n’bass inspired, matched perfectly with my nocturnal melodies and introspective lyrics. At last, sadness was stylish!
So in summer 1997 was released my first single, "Lunghezza d’onda", featuring the "poet dj" Alessio Bertallot; immediately after followed my first solo album, ONDE. In 2001 I published my second solo album, VITE POSSIBILI.
As even this second album was less successful than the first, I decided not to insist and stop singing. Will I change my mind?
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