Rita Pavone
Encyclopedia
Rita Pavone is an Italian
ballad
and rock
singer who enjoyed success through the 1960s. Pavone is also an actress.
. 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 the United States
with a record sung in English called "Remember Me", backed with "Just Once More".
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. Pavone enjoyed so much fame in Spain that it was commented, during a 2005 television documentary
from that country, that such success for a foreign singer there is rare.
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
. Barbra Streisand
recorded a duet with her. Pavone sang at Carnegie Hall
in New York city during this era.
Returning to Italy, she made her debut as an actress, working in five films and participating in shows such as Giornalino di Gian Burrasca (a children TV show), Alta Pressione, Stasera Rita ("Tonight Rita") and Studio Uno
, a variety show. In 1982, she participated in Come Alice ("Like Alice"), which became a hit in Italian television.
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 Wertmuller
. 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 re-married each other in Italy in 1971.
Later on during the 1980s she would participate in comedy film
s, such as 2 sul pianerottolo, Risate in salotto and Santarellina.
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
.
She then turned to acting in theater, participating in a William Shakespeare
play. In 2002, Pavone had a concert at Miami
's Dade Auditorium.
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.
The main character in the 2000 Argentine film
, Nine Queens tries to remember a Pavone song throughout the film. The song "Il Ballo Del Mattone" plays as the credits run.
Pavone was a Senate candidate in the Italian general election
of 2006. She participated as candidate for Per l'Italia nel Mondo (For Italy in the World), a centre-right list, led by minister Mirko Tremaglia.
until 1968, then she signed for a brief period with Ricordi
which launched her vanity label, RitaLand, but eventually returned to the label that had launched her, recording three more albums with RCA.
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
ballad
Ballad
A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of British and Irish popular poetry and song from the later medieval period until the 19th century and used extensively across Europe and later the Americas, Australia and North Africa. Many...
and rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
singer who enjoyed success through the 1960s. Pavone is also an actress.
Singing career
In 1962 she participated in the first Festival degli Sconosciuti ("Festival of the Unknowns"), a song competition for amateur artists, winning the contest. Her self-titled 1963 album, led by the hit single "La partita di pallone" ("The Ball 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 discMusic recording sales certification
Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies, where the threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory .Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories,...
. 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 the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with a record sung in English called "Remember Me", backed with "Just Once More".
In 1965, Pavone participated as a musician guest in The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show
The Ed Sullivan Show is an American TV variety show that originally ran on CBS from Sunday June 20, 1948 to Sunday June 6, 1971, and was hosted by New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan....
, becoming a frequent guest there until 1970. Meanwhile, she scored a string of hits, both with ballads and rock songs, in Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
, where she became a teen idol. Pavone enjoyed so much fame in Spain that it was commented, during a 2005 television documentary
Television documentary
Documentary television is a genre of television programming that broadcasts documentaries.* Documentary television series, a television series which is made up of documentary episodes....
from that country, that such success for a foreign singer there is rare.
In the United States she sang alongside Diana Ross
Diana Ross
Diana Ernestine Earle Ross is an American singer, record producer, and actress. Ross was lead singer of the Motown group The Supremes during the 1960s. After leaving the group in 1970, Ross began a solo career that included successful ventures into film and Broadway...
and The Supremes
The Supremes
The Supremes, an American female singing group, were the premier act of Motown Records during the 1960s.Originally founded as The Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, The Supremes' repertoire included doo-wop, pop, soul, Broadway show tunes, psychedelic soul, and disco...
, Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
, Tom Jones
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas John Woodward, OBE , known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer.Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel – and sold over 100 million records...
, Duke Ellington
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington was an American composer, pianist, and big band leader. Ellington wrote over 1,000 compositions...
, Paul Anka
Paul Anka
Paul Albert Anka, is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder"...
and a number of singers of the era. It is said that Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
made a painting of her after she went to Memphis
Memphis, Tennessee
Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....
and he met her at a recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
. Barbra Streisand
Barbra Streisand
Barbra Joan Streisand is an American singer, actress, film producer and director. She has won two Academy Awards, eight Grammy Awards, four Emmy Awards, a Special Tony Award, an American Film Institute award, a Peabody Award, and is one of the few entertainers who have won an Oscar, Emmy, Grammy,...
recorded a duet with her. Pavone sang at Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall
Carnegie Hall is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City, United States, located at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east stretch of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street and West 57th Street, two blocks south of Central Park....
in New York city during this era.
Returning to Italy, she made her debut as an actress, working in five films and participating in shows such as Giornalino di Gian Burrasca (a children TV show), Alta Pressione, Stasera Rita ("Tonight Rita") and Studio Uno
Studio Uno
Studio Uno is an album by Italian singer Mina. Reissued on CD by BMG in 1997.- Track listing :# L'ultima occasione - 2:43# Un anno d'amore - 3:11# Se piangi se ridi - 2:39# Più di te - 2:52# È l'uomo per me - 2:24...
, a variety show. In 1982, she participated in Come Alice ("Like Alice"), which became a hit in Italian television.
Rita Pavone starred in six movies during the 1960s; Clementine Cherie (1963), Rita, la figlia americana
Rita, la figlia americana
Rita, la figlia americana is a 1965 Italian musical film comedy directed by Piero Vivarelli.-Cast:*Totò ... Serafino Benvenuti*Rita Pavone ... Rita D'Angelo*Fabrizio Capucci ... Fabrizio Carli*Lina Volonghi ... Greta Wagner...
(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 Wertmuller
Lina Wertmüller
Lina Wertmüller is an Italian film writer and director of aristocratic Swiss descent. In 1976, she became the first woman ever to be nominated for an Academy Award for Directing with the film Seven Beauties.-Biography:...
. 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
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
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
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
.
During this same period she appeared at the London Palladium.
In 1968 Pavone married in Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
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 re-married each other in Italy in 1971.
Later on during the 1980s she would participate in comedy film
Comedy film
Comedy film is a genre of film in which the main emphasis is on humour. They are designed to elicit laughter from the audience. Comedies are mostly light-hearted dramas and are made to amuse and entertain the audiences...
s, such as 2 sul pianerottolo, Risate in salotto and Santarellina.
In 1992, Pavone returned to the United States, where she sang during a multiple artists concert that included Whitney Houston
Whitney Houston
Whitney Elizabeth Houston is an American singer, actress, producer and a former model. Houston is the most awarded female act of all time, according to Guinness World Records, and her list of awards include 1 Emmy Award, 6 Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among...
, Frank Sinatra
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra was an American singer and actor.Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became an unprecedentedly successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, after being signed to Columbia Records in 1943. Being the idol of the...
, the Bolshoi Ballet
Bolshoi Ballet
The Bolshoi Ballet is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia. Founded in 1776, the Bolshoi is among the world's oldest ballet companies, however it only achieved worldwide acclaim by the early 20th century, when Moscow became the...
and Cher
Cher
Cher is an American recording artist, television personality, actress, director, record producer and philanthropist. Referred to as the Goddess of Pop, she has won an Academy Award, a Grammy Award, an Emmy Award, three Golden Globes and a Cannes Film Festival Award among others for her work in...
at the Sands hotel
Sands Atlantic City
The Sands Casino Hotel was a casino and hotel that operated from August 31, 1980 until November 11, 2006 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. It was formerly known as the Brighton Hotel & Casino. It consisted of a 21-story hotel tower with 532 rooms and a 5-story podium housing the casino and various...
in Atlantic City
Atlantic City, New Jersey
Atlantic City is a city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States, and a nationally renowned resort city for gambling, shopping and fine dining. The city also served as the inspiration for the American version of the board game Monopoly. Atlantic City is located on Absecon Island on the coast...
.
She then turned to acting in theater, participating in a William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
play. In 2002, Pavone had a concert at Miami
Miami, Florida
Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...
's Dade Auditorium.
Pavone and her husband Reno now live in Ticino
Ticino
Canton Ticino or Ticino is the southernmost canton of Switzerland. Named after the Ticino river, it is the only canton in which Italian is the sole official language...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. 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.
The main character in the 2000 Argentine film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, Nine Queens tries to remember a Pavone song throughout the film. The song "Il Ballo Del Mattone" plays as the credits run.
Pavone was a Senate candidate in the Italian general election
Italian general election, 2006
In the Italian general election, 2006 for the renewal of the two Chambers of the Parliament of Italy held on April 9 and April 10, 2006 the incumbent prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the center-right House of Freedoms, was narrowly defeated by Romano Prodi, leader of the center-left The...
of 2006. She participated as candidate for Per l'Italia nel Mondo (For Italy in the World), a centre-right list, led by minister Mirko Tremaglia.
Discography
Pavone recorded a total of thirteen albums. She mainly recorded for RCARCA Records
RCA Records is one of the flagship labels of Sony Music Entertainment. The RCA initials stand for Radio Corporation of America , which was the parent corporation from 1929 to 1985 and a partner from 1985 to 1986.RCA's Canadian unit is Sony's oldest label...
until 1968, then she signed for a brief period with Ricordi
Casa Ricordi
Casa Ricordi is a classical music publishing company founded in 1808 as G. Ricordi & Co. by violinist Giovanni Ricordi in Milan, Italy...
which launched her vanity label, RitaLand, but eventually returned to the label that had launched her, recording three more albums with RCA.
Italian discography
- Rita Pavone (1963, re-released on CD format in 2003)
- Non è facile avere 18 anni (1964)
- Il giornalino di Gianburrasca (1965)
- Stasera Rita (1965)
- È nata una stella (1966, compilation)
- Ci vuole poco (1967)
- Little Rita nel West (1968)
- Rita 70
- Viaggio a Ritaland (1970)
- Gli Italiani vogliono cantare (1972)
- Rita ed io (1976)
- R.P. (1980)
- Gemma e le altre (1989)
US Discography
- Rita Pavone - The International Teenage Sensation (1964)
- Small Wonder (1964)
- This is Rita Pavone (1965)
RCA Singles 1963-1968
- "La Partita di Pallone /Amore Twist" (1963)
- "Come te non c'è nessuno/Clementine Cherie" (1963)
- "Alla mia età /Pel di carota"
- "Cuore/Il Ballo del Mattone" (1963)
- "Non è facile avere 18 anni / Son finite le vacanze" (1964)
- "Che m'importa del mondo /Datemi un martello" (1964) (cover of "If I had a hammer")
- "Scrivi/ Ti vorrei parlare" (1964)
- "L'amore mio / San Francesco" (1964)
- "Viva la pappa col pomodoro /Sei la mamma" (1965)
- "Lui/La forza di lasciarti" (1965)
- "Il Plip /Supercalifragilispiespiralidoso" (1965)
- "Stasera con te /Solo tu" (1965)
- "Il geghegè / Qui ritornerà" (1965)
- "Fortissimo /La sai troppo lunga" (1966)
- "Mamma dammi la panna / Col chicco" (1966)
- "La zanzara / Perchè due non fa tre" (1966)
- "Dove non so / Gira Gira" (1966)
- "Una notte intera /Questo nostro amore" (1967)
- "Una notte intera" promo jolly hotels
- "I tre porcellini/Con un poco di zucchero" (1967)
- "Non dimenticar le mie parole/Da cosa nasce cosa" (1967)
- "Tu sei come / Ma che te ne fai" (1968)