Anna Oxa
Born in Bari to an Albanian father and Italian mother, Anna Oxa burst onto the scene at age 16 at the 1978 Sanremo Festival with the punk-tinged Un'emozione da poco. Over four decades she has reinvented herself constantly — new wave, pop, soul — winning Sanremo twice and becoming one of the most recognizable voices of Italian pop.
Annalisa Minetti
A singer and Paralympic athlete, Annalisa Minetti won Sanremo in 1998 with Senza te o con te in the Newcomers section. Blind since her twenties due to a degenerative condition, she has built parallel careers as a vocalist and as a world-record-holding runner.
Antonello Venditti
A Roman through and through, Venditti is one of the great singer-songwriters of the cantautore generation that emerged in the 1970s. His songs blend romantic ballads with social commentary and an unwavering love for his home city — Roma is practically a character in his discography.
Arisa
Born Rosalba Pippa in Genoa, Arisa won Sanremo Newcomers in 2009 with the quirky Sincerità and the main competition in 2014 with Controvento. She is known for a clear, expressive voice and a willingness to take stylistic risks — from jazz standards to pure pop.
Chiara Civello
A Roman jazz-pop singer-songwriter who studied at Berklee and has collaborated with Burt Bacharach, Esperanza Spalding, and Ana Carolina. Her music sits at the crossroads of bossa nova, jazz, and Italian melody.
Claudio Baglioni
For Italians of a certain age, Baglioni is romantic pop. Questo piccolo grande amore was voted song of the century by Italian listeners in 1985, and he has been filling stadiums ever since. His writing is tender, literate, and deeply Roman.
Domenico Modugno
The father of modern Italian pop. His 1958 Nel blu dipinto di blu — better known abroad as Volare — won the first two Grammy Awards ever given and became one of the best-selling singles in history. Dio Come Ti Amo! won Sanremo in 1966 with Gigliola Cinquetti.
Espresso Milano
A contemporary lounge / easy-listening project that reinterprets Italian classics in a chilled, café-jazz style. Perfect background music for anyone learning the songbook of Italian pop.
Raffaella Carrà - A far l'amore comincia tu (Libelei) (1977) • TopPop
Italian singer Raffaella Carrà has died July 5, 2021 at the age of 78. Carrà became known, especially in the Netherlands, for her song 'A Far L'amore Comincia Tu'. This song was a big hit in Holland, especially because of her performance in TopPop!
Nobody in the Netherlandse understood what the song was about because nobody speaks Italian. Perhaps that's why the enigmatic chorus stuck, and Raffaella Carrà's 'A far l'amore comincia tu' became a huge hit. When the Italian singer performed in the studio of Avro's Toppop, the whole country sang along: 'Scoppia scoppia mi sco...', and then that double explosion of the bass drum. And although Carrà would turn out to be a one-hit wonder in the Netherlands with her song, the song became a cult hit here too, which would continue to pop up everywhere, from carnival to hipster parties.
Carrà ((1943-20210, who passed away on Monday July 5, 2021, sang about love in her 1976 hit, and especially about the physical pleasures that come with it. And Carrà certainly didn't speak in secret. "When you start making love to me, my heart explodes, explodes, explodes," she sang. And in the unforgettable choreography accompanying the song, she swung her head perilously from front to back, dressed in a glittery dress with a historically low cleavage. When Carrà appeared on television, something happened!
The song became a massive hit in many countries selling more than 20 million copies. In the Netherlands it reached #3 in the Top 40 and in Belgium #1 in the BRT Top 30. In The UK it became a hit much later. In april 1978 it charted in the UK Singles Chart with a peak position of 9 and under the title: 'Do it do it again.' This is the chroma-key version. Also check out the original version on the TopPop channel!
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YnBs1MuGSAA
Fiorella Mannoia
One of Italy's great female interpreters — not a writer of her own songs in the early years, but a singer whose smoky, lived-in voice transforms whatever she touches. Quello Che Le Donne Non Dicono, written for her by Enrico Ruggeri, is a quiet feminist anthem.
Francesca Alotta
Sicilian singer who shot to fame at Sanremo 1992 winning the Newcomers section in duet with Aleandro Baldi (Non amarmi). Her version of the Neapolitan classic 'O surdato 'nnammurato shows the depth of her vocal tradition.
Gianni Morandi
A national treasure. Morandi has been recording since 1962, weathering trend after trend with a sunny voice and an even sunnier public persona. Canzoni stonate, written by Lucio Dalla, is a wistful late-career gem about songs that "miss the note" yet still touch the heart.
Mara Sattei
Roman singer-songwriter (real name Sara Mattei) who emerged from the thaSup / 333 Mob crew alongside her brother, producer tha Supreme. Her style blends moody R&B with vulnerable Italian pop.
Maria Antonietta & Colombre
Maria Antonietta (Letizia Cesarini) and Colombre (Giovanni Imparato) are two indie singer-songwriters from Italy's Marche region who occasionally collaborate. La felicità e basta is a gentle indie-folk duet.
Mia Martini
Possibly the most heartbreaking voice in Italian music. Domenica "Mimì" Bertè faced cruel superstition and industry mistreatment throughout her career, yet left behind some of the most piercing performances ever recorded — Almeno tu nell'universo and Gli uomini non cambiano remain anthems.
Mietta
Daniela Miglietta from Puglia won Sanremo Newcomers in 1989 with Canzoni and returned the following year with the unforgettable Vattene amore in duet with Amedeo Minghi — a song that gave Italians the verb trottolino amoroso. Warm, theatrical, and instantly recognizable.
- Vattene amore (duet with Amedeo Minghi)
- Canzoni
- L'amore
- Vorrei vederti felice
- Dopo di me
- Bang
- Per Avere Me
- Il gioco delle parti
- Mille Bugie
Mietta & Arhia
Mina
Mina Mazzini, the Tigress of Cremona, is widely considered the greatest Italian female singer of all time — three-and-a-half octave range, fearless phrasing, and a career that defied every rule of show business (she retired from live performance in 1978 and has never looked back, yet still releases hit albums from Switzerland).
Ornella Vanoni, Elodie & Ditonellapiaga
A three-generation collaboration: Ornella Vanoni, the elegant grande dame of Italian song (born 1934, still releasing music); Elodie, contemporary pop superstar; and Ditonellapiaga, indie-pop newcomer. Ti voglio bridges their eras beautifully.
Peppino di Capri
The pianist-singer from the island of Capri who brought rock 'n' roll and bossa nova flavors to Italian music in the 1960s. Two-time Sanremo winner, beloved for his cool, sun-drenched melodies.
Piji & Simona Molinari
Piji (Pierluigi Siciliani) is a Roman swing/jazz singer and songwriter who often collaborates with the silky-voiced Simona Molinari. Their Swing politik is a witty, big-band-flavored duet.
Riccardo Fogli
A founding member of the seminal prog-pop band Pooh in the late '60s, Fogli went solo in 1973 and won Sanremo in 1982 with Storie di tutti i giorni, written by Mogol and Guido Morra. His voice is warm, slightly nasal, and unmistakable.
Sergio Endrigo
A poet of Italian song. Born in Pula (then Italy, now Croatia), Endrigo won Sanremo in 1968 with Canzone per te. His melodies are deceptively simple, his lyrics quietly devastating; Io che amo solo te has been covered by everyone from Mina to Ornella Vanoni.
Simona Molinari
Roman jazz-pop singer-songwriter with a smoky, agile voice and a flair for crossover material — from American standards to bossa nova to swung Italian originals. Frequent Sanremo participant since 2009.