Cristina Barbieri (born 12 June 1963), best known as Diana Est, is an Italian singer who retired in the mid-1980s.
Life and career
Born in
Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, Barbieri started her career as the vocalist in a new wave group formed by alumni of the Santa Marta Music School in her hometown, first using her birth name Cristina, then adopting a number of stage names.
[Dario Salvatori. "Est, Diana". Gino Castaldo (edited by). ''Dizionario della canzone italiana''. Curcio Editore, 1990–2013. .] In 1981, she was put under contract by
Dischi Ricordi
Dischi Ricordi is an Italian record company founded on by and Guido Crepax, active from 1958 to 1994.
History
Dischi Ricordi had its seat in Milan (Via Giovanni Berchet, 2). In 1994, the company was bought by BMG, who acquired the catalog w ...
and adopted the stage name Diana Est.
Shortly later, she made her record debut with "Tenax", an
Italo disco
Italo disco (variously capitalized, and sometimes hyphenated as Italo-disco) is a music genre which originated in Italy in the late 1970s and was mainly produced in the early 1980s. Italo disco evolved from the then-current underground dance, p ...
song written by
Enrico Ruggeri
Enrico Ruggeri (born 5 June 1957) is an Italian singer-songwriter.
Biography
A native of Milan, Ruggeri made his debut in the 1970s with the punk band Decibel. In 1981 he began his solo career and established himself as a songwriter: his most ...
whose lyrics were partly in Italian and partly in
Latin
Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through the power of the ...
.
In 1983, she got her main hit with the song "Le Louvre", still written by Ruggeri.
Following a further single, and once her contract with Ricordi expired, Est abruptly decided to quit showbusiness in the mid-1980s.
In 2002, the novelist
Matteo B. Bianchi wrote a short story, ''Magnifica ossessione'' (i.e. "Magnificent obsession") about the imaginary life of Est after her retirement.
[Matteo B. Bianchi. "Magnifica ossessione". '' Max''. August 2002.]
Barbieri is the niece of singer-songwriter
Mario Lavezzi
Bruno Mario Lavezzi (born 8 May 1948) is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, record producer and guitarist.
Life and career
Born in Milan, he studied piano and guitar at the Scuola Civica di Milano. He started his career in 1963, as the s ...
.
Discography
;Singles
* "Tenax" / "Notte senza pietà" (1982)
* "Le louvre" / "Marmo di città" / "Le louvre" (instrumental) (1983)
* "Diamanti" / "Pekino" (1984)
Further reading
*Cristian Cizmar. "Diana Est, una meteora dalla scia luminosa". ''Raro!'' (245). July 2012. pp. 59–63.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Est, Diana
1963 births
Singers from Milan
Italian pop singers
Italian women singers
Living people
Italian Italo disco musicians