Olga Maria de Souza (born 16 July 1968) is a Brazilian-Italian singer, model and dancer. She is best known as the frontwoman of the Italian group

Corona Corona (from the Latin for 'crown') most commonly refers to: * Stellar corona, the outer atmosphere of the Sun or another star * Corona (beer), a Mexican beer * Corona, informal term for the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which causes the COVID-19 di ...

, produced by Francesco "Checco" Bontempi, a.k.a. "Lee Marrow".

Early life

Souza was born in the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of

Vigário Geral Vigário Geral is a neighborhood in the Rio de Janeiro#North Zone, North Zone of Rio de Janeiro with a large ''favela''. It is infamous for the Vigário Geral massacre that occurred here in 1993. ;Popular culture The movie ''Favela Rising'' follo ...

in 1968, into a musical family. Her father was a musician and her mother was a cook. She worked as a clerk at the

Caixa Econômica Federal Caixa Econômica Federal (, ''Federal Savings Bank''), also referred to as Caixa, is a state-owned Brazilian financial services company headquartered in Brasília, Brazil. It is the fourth largest banking institution in Brazil, as well as the ...

bank for a few years before deciding to travel around the world. She arrived in Italy in 1990. There, in 1993, after supposedly being discovered performing in a club by producer Emanuele Asti, he made her part of Italian music project

, where she was hired to lip sync to the vocals of Jenny B. and

Sandy Chambers Sandra Chambers (born 11 April 1967), also known as Sandy Chambers or simply Sandy, is a British dance music vocalist based in Italy. Career Chambers moved to Italy in 1992 and her voice has been used in many Italian Electronic dance music produ ...

Career

Works with Corona

Corona released their first single, "

The Rhythm of the Night ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

" in 1993, which featured the vocals of Italian singer Jenny B. The song remained at No. 1 in the Italian charts for 13 weeks. An album of the same name was released in 1995 in Europe and topped the charts in several countries, gaining a platinum disc after selling more than 1 million copies. The group began its first world tour, and the album was released in the United States. All the other tracks on the album were recorded by

. Corona's second album ''Walking On Music'', was released in 1998 (the last album which featured

as the lead vocalist). In 2000, a third album, ''And Me U'', was released. A new sound, new vocals. This time the vocals for this new album were provided by sisters Bernadette "Brandy" Jones and Bambi Jones (who died of cancer in 2010). Corona participated as a guest in a concert named ''Angel Live'', dedicated to

John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

in 2006, and in that same year she released her comeback single called "Back In Time", which was the first single that featured Olga de Souza as the original vocalist. Souza returned to America in 2007, where she continued her tour with the band. Corona released its fourth album named ''Y Generation'' in 2010, on POP Records.

Television work

In 1996, Souza debuted as a host on the Italian television singing competition

Festivalbar The Festivalbar was an Italian singing competition that took place in the most important Italian squares during summer, such as the Piazza del Duomo, Catania or Piazza Bra, Verona. The first edition took place in 1964 and was broadcast by RAI. ...

. She was a successful TV performer and was later invited to host a show named "Dance Machine" in France. Since May 2014, she has appeared as a contestant on the game show "Hora do Faro" aired on Brazilian TV channel

Rede Record RecordTV (), formerly known as Rede Record, is a Brazilian free-to-air television network. It is currently the second largest commercial TV station in Brazil, and the 28th largest in the 2012 world ranking. In 2010, it was elected by the adverti ...

Personal life

Souza married a Brazilian in Italy in 1990, but they divorced in 1992. In 1998, the magazine ''IstoÉ Gente'' cited her as the Brazilian who paid the most taxes in Italy, in reference to her fortune. In 2002 she was married in Miami to the Italian businessman Gianluca Milano, with whom she lives today. In 2010, the Italian newspaper ''

Corriere della Sera The ''Corriere della Sera'' (; en, "Evening Courier") is an Italian daily newspaper published in Milan with an average daily circulation of 410,242 copies in December 2015. First published on 5 March 1876, ''Corriere della Sera'' is one of It ...

'' quoted that Souza's fortune was 10 million

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s. In 2013, she said that "they already have their sock" with a house in the neighborhood of Morumbi in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

, a place within the same state, a house in Rome, a house in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

, a house in

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, a house in Spain and a "good financial life". "My husband taught me how to save, but I like to buy rare and branded things, sometimes I buy shoes and bags and hide them in the garage, I put talcum powder to disguise it," she said. Souza also has her own label in Italy, 1st Pop, a subsidiary of

Universal Records Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch–American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its ...

Discography

References

External links

Music Control

DiscogsCorona - The Rhythm of the Night (Official Music Video), 1995. Rhino.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Souza, Olga 1968 births Living people Brazilian dance musicians Afro-Brazilian women singers Singers from Rio de Janeiro (city) Brazilian expatriates in Italy Italian people of Brazilian descent