Italian singer Iva Zanicchi was born 84 years ago in Valie, Ligonchio and has a daughter. She is also an actress, TV host and former politician.
Iva appeared for the first time in a TV games show and later took singing lessons and toured some local dance halls. In 1960, she made her singing debut in a festival and the following year participated in a singing competition, making it to the final and placing second. The year after, Iva enrolled in a national festival, once again arriving to the final without winning, however, some record companies were so impressed by her voice that she was offered a contract, followed by the release of her first 45 rpm and another one a few months later.
She went on to participated in the Italian Song Festival, achieving high marks and later was even offered to sing in a prestigious hall in New York, to which she gladly accepted and was very much appreciated by the audience. She fell in love with the jazz, soul and blues music genres and went on to release her first hit single ‘Come Ti Vorrei’, selling 400,000 copies plus topping the charts.
In 1965, she competed in the yearly San Remo Festival with ‘I tuoi anni piu` belli’ and months later in ‘Un Disco’ per l’Estate’ with the track ‘Accarezzami Amore’, failing to reach the final in both events. Her first album was then released. At the time, she had a ‘rival’, namely singer Mina, who was already very popular in her native Italy, so Iva faced some hard times to become famous, however, she continued in her path and when Mina decided to change her record company, Zanicchi’s work was certainly given more consideration and she became the third most popular singer in Italy.
In Italy alone, Iva had 30 albums, 12 EPs and 70 singles, whilst with regards to productions abroad, she had 69 studio albums, 12 EPs and 77 singles. She participated in over 45 singing events and is the only female singer to have won thrice the San Remo Festival of the years 1967, 1969 and 1974. She was also twice guest of honour, Quality Jury and Columnist in same festival. Iva embarked on numerous tours all over the world and has even performed in some of the most significant international theatres. Many artists, both Italian and international, contributed to the writing of some of her songs including Mogol, Zucchero Fornaciari, Paolo Conte, Giuni Russo, Shel Shapiro and many others. Iva also received several awards and honours for her work.
Apart from music, Iva appeared/took part in various TV variety shows, movies, series, TV commercials, theatrical plays and radio programmes. Most probably she will be remembered for presenting the famous Italian game show ‘Ok, il prezzo e’ giusto!’ for a good 13 years, from 1987 to 2000. She has also published 6 books and contested in the European elections with several political parties.
Nicknamed ‘The Eagle of Ligonchio’ and with her unique contralto voice, Iva will remain as one of the most influential and successful Italian female artists of all time.
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