Rita Pavone born 23 August 1945

Rita Pavone (born 23 August 1945) is an Italian ballad and rock singer who enjoyed success through the 1960s. Pavone is also an actress.

She was born in Turin, northern Italy. She enjoyed performing from an early age and made her first public appearance in 1959 singing an Al Jolson song at the Alfieri Theatre in her hometown. As a teenager she took a job ironing in a clothes factory and supplemented her income by singing at various local clubs.

In 1962 she participated in the first Festival degli Sconosciuti ("Festival of the Unknown"), a song competition for amateur artists, winning the contest. Her self-titled 1963 album, led by the hit single "La partita di pallone" ("The Soccer Game") made her a national star at 17, and international attention soon followed. "La partita di pallone" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Her recording of "Cuore" ("Heart") also sold a million copies in 1963, spending nine weeks at number one in Italy.
 

 

In the summer of 1964 she had chart success in North America with a record sung in English called "Remember Me", backed with "Just Once More". The song reached #26 in the United States and #16 in Canada.

In 1965, Pavone participated as a musician guest in The Ed Sullivan Show, becoming a frequent guest there until 1970. Meanwhile, she scored a string of hits, both with ballads and rock songs, in Spain, where she became a teen idol. In the United States she sang alongside Diana Ross and The Supremes, Ella Fitzgerald, Tom Jones, Duke Ellington, Paul Anka and a number of singers of the era. It is said that Elvis Presley made a painting of her after she went to Memphis and he met her at a recording studio. Pavone sang at Carnegie Hall in New York city during this era.

Rita Pavone starred in six movies during the 1960s; Clementine Cherie (1963), Rita, la figlia americana (1965), Rita la zanzara (1966), Non stuzzicate la zanzara (1967), Little Rita nel west (1968) and La Feldmarescialla (1968). The two "zanzara" movies, together with the Giornalino di Gianburrasca (1965) were directed by Lina Wertmüller. Although her movie career targeted a teen audience and lacked great artistic value, her movies have found today a cult niche.

Pavone was also popular in the UK for a short while in 1966 and 1967. RCA Victor issued two of her singles in quick succession both were hits, "Heart" peaking at #27 and "You Only You" peaking at #21, and in the UK Singles Chart. During this same period she appeared at the London Palladium.

In 1968 Pavone married in Switzerland her talent scout and organizer of the first song contest she won, Teddy Reno. This event caused a scandal in the Italian society of the time because Reno was still married to his first wife, Livia Protti, and in Italy there was no divorce law until 1970. They remarried each other in Italy in 1971.

She continued to release some high-quality records in the 1970s, albeit less frequently and less successfully than before. Further appearances in the San Remo contest and the occasional TV special also kept her in the public eye. In 1979 she tried to represent Switzerland at the Eurovision song contest with Dieci cuori but finished fourth in the Swiss national final.

In the 1980s and 1990s, she took up more acting roles, appearing in various films and theatrical productions, including a role as Maria in Shakespeare’s Twelfth night. In 1992, Pavone returned to the United States, where she sang during a multiple artists concert that included Whitney Houston, Frank Sinatra, the Bolshoi Ballet and Cher at the Sands hotel in Atlantic City. In 2002, Pavone had a concert at Miami's Dade Auditorium.

She retired from the music business officially in 2006. In March that year she stood for the conservative Per l’Italia nel mondo party in the Italian elections, but failed to win a seat.

Pavone and her husband Reno now live in Ticino, Switzerland. They have two sons, Alessandro and Giorgio, both of whom have become involved in show business themselves, Alessandro as a radio show host and Giorgio as a rock singer. (Info edited mainly from Wikipedia)