Franca Raimondi (8 July 1932 – 22 April 1990) was an Italian singer.
Biography
Born in
Monopoli
Monopoli (; Monopolitano: ) is a town and municipality in Italy, in the Metropolitan City of Bari and region of Apulia. The town is roughly in area and lies on the Adriatic Sea about southeast of Bari. It has a population of 49,24 ...
,
Province of Bari
The Province of Bari ( it, provincia di Bari, nap, pruvincia 'e Bari, nap, label= Barese, provinge de Bare) was a province in the region of Apulia, Italy. Its capital was the city of Bari.
It has an area of , and a total population of 1,594,1 ...
,
Apulia, Raimondi studied operatic singing and foreign languages.
In 1956, Raimondi was among the winners of a
RAI
RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana (; commercially styled as Rai since 2000; known until 1954 as Radio Audizioni Italiane) is the national public broadcasting company of Italy, owned by the Ministry of Economy and Finance. RAI operates many ter ...
contest of new voices and got the chance to perform at the
1956 edition of the
Sanremo Music Festival
The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annua ...
, which she eventually won with the song "
Aprite le finestre
"Aprite le finestre" ("Open the windows") is an Italian song by Franca Raimondi. It won the sixth edition of the Sanremo Music Festival and subsequently was the first entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1956 (contest rules allowing two entri ...
".
That same year she represented Italy in
the first Eurovision Song Contest with the same song,
alongside
Tonina Torrielli
Tonina Torrielli (born 22 March 1934) is an Italian singer.
In 1956, she represented Italy in the first Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Amami se vuoi", alongside Franca Raimondi with "Aprite le finestre
"Aprite le finestre" ("Open t ...
with "
Amami se vuoi
The Sanremo Music Festival 1956 was the sixth annual Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Sanremo Casino in Sanremo, province of Imperia between 8 and 10 March 1956. The show was presented by actor Fausto Tommei, assisted by television announcer M ...
".
Between 1956 and 1958 Raimondi was leading vocalist in the Gian Stellari Orchestra.
In 1960 she entered the competition at the
Festival di Napoli
The Festival della Canzone Napoletana ("Festival of Neapolitan Song"), commonly known as the Festival di Napoli, is a Neapolitan song contest. The first edition was held in 1952 and the last in 2004. From 1952 to 1970 the show was broadcast on RAI ...
with "Canzone all'antica" ("Old-style song").
In the later years she slowed her activities, focusing her career on live performances.
See also
*
Eurovision Song Contest 1956
The Eurovision Song Contest 1956 was the first edition of the annual Eurovision Song Contest, organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) and host broadcasters the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (SRG SSR) and (RSI). The contest, origin ...
*
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest
Italy has participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 47 times since making its debut at the first contest in . It was one of the seven countries that competed at the first contest, which took inspiration from the Sanremo Music Festival. Italy c ...
References
External links
*
1932 births
People from Monopoli
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for Italy
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1956
Sanremo Music Festival winners
20th-century Italian women singers
Living people
{{Italy-singer-stub