- Gigliola Cinquetti
Gigliola Cinquetti (born
20 December 1947 ) is an Italiansinger ,TV presenter andjournalist .Biography
She was born in
Verona . At the age of 16 she won theSanremo Music Festival in 1964 singing "Non Ho L'Età " ("I'm not old enough"), with music composed byNicola Salerno and lyrics by Mario Panzeri. Her victory enabled her to representItaly in theEurovision Song Contest 1964 with the same song, and she went on to claim her country's first ever victory in the event. This became an international success, even enteringUK Top 75 , traditionally a no-go area for Italian material. In 1966, she recorded "Dio, come ti amo " ("God, How I Love You"), which became another world-wide hitFact|date=June 2007.anremo performances
In the following occasions, Gigliola Cinquetti performed at the Sanremo Music Festival
*1964 "Non ho l'età (Per amarti)" - coupled with Patricia Carli
*1965 "Ho bisogno di vederti" - coupled withConnie Francis
*1966 "Dio come ti amo" - coupled withDomenico Modugno
*1968 "Sera" - coupled with Giuliana Valci
*1969 "La pioggia" - coupled withFrance Gall
*1970 "Romantico blues" coupled with Bobby Solo
*1971 "Rose nel buio" - coupled withRay Conniff
*1972 "Gira l'amore (Caro bebè)"
*1973 "Mistero"
*1985 "Chiamalo amore"'
*1989 "Ciao"
*1995 "Giovane vecchio cuore"Censored in 1974
She returned to big fame in
1974 Eurovision Song Contest , again representing Italy. Performing the song "Sì" ("Yes"), the music and lyrics of which were written by Mario Panzeri,Daniele Pace ,Lorenzo Pilat andCarrado Conti , she finished second behind "Waterloo", sung bySweden 'sABBA .According to author and historian John Kennedy O'Connor's The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History, the live telecast of her song was banned in her home country by the Italian national broadcaster
RAI as the event partially coincided with the campaigning for the 1974Italian referendum on divorce which was held a month later in May. [O'Connor, John Kennedy. The Eurovision Song Contest - The Official History. Carlton Books, UK. 2007 ISBN 978-1-84442-994-3]RAI censored the song because of concerns that the name and lyrics of the song (which constantly repeated the word "SI") could be accused of being a
subliminal message and a form ofpropaganda to influence the Italian voting public to vote "YES" in the referendum. [http://www.keithm.utvinternet.ie/Webmaster50Top.htm] . The song remained censored on most Italian state TV and radio stations for over a month.An English version of the song, "Go (Before You Break My Heart)" reached eighth position in the British charts in June 1974 [http://www.esctoday.com/annual/songinfo.php?contest=290&song=17] .
Later career
One of her other songs, "Alle porte Del sole" (released in 1973), was re-recorded in English and Italian by
Al Martino , 2 years after its initial release, and reached #17 on "Billboard "'sHot 100 in the United States.Cinquetti went on to co-host the
Eurovision Song Contest 1991 withToto Cutugno , who had brought the event toItaly with his victory inZagreb the previous year - the country's first win in the contest since her own twenty-six years earlier.In the
'90s she became a professionaljournalist and a respectedTV presenter . She currently hosts the current affairs programme "Italia Rai" onRAI International .elected discography
ingle A-sides
* [http://www.diggiloo.net/?1964it "Non ho l'età"] (1964)
* [http://www.diggiloo.net/?1966it "Dio, come ti amo"] (1966)
*"Alle porte del sole" (1973)
* [http://www.diggiloo.net/?1974it "Sì"] (1974)ee also
*
Sanremo Music Festival
*Eurovision Song Contest
*Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
*Eurovision Song Contest 1974
*Sì (song) References
External links
* [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0162486/ IMDB entry]
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