Valentina Monetta (born 1 March 1975) is a
Sammarinese
Sammarinese () are citizens and people of the Republic of San Marino.
Language
San Marino recognizes Italian as the official language. The indigenous language, known as Sammarinese, is a variety of Romagnol spoken by approximately 83 percent o ...
singer. She is best known for representing in the , , , and
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
s. She also announced the Sammarinese points at the
Eurovision Song Contest 2015
The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Vienna, Austria, following the country's victory at the with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst. Organised by the European Broa ...
. In the 2014 contest, Monetta became the first Sammarinese entrant to qualify for the final.
Early life
Valentina Monetta was born and raised in
San Marino
San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...
, the youngest of the two children of a Sammarinese mother and an Italian father. A graduate of the Giovanni da Rimini school in
Rimini
Rimini ( , ; rgn, Rémin; la, Ariminum) is a city in the Emilia-Romagna region of northern Italy and capital city of the Province of Rimini. It sprawls along the Adriatic Sea, on the coast between the rivers Marecchia (the ancient ''Ariminu ...
, she played piano and sang from an early age. She began her singing career in 1995 fronting the group Tiberio and was subsequently involved with a number of bands including Parafunky, Harem-B, 2blackBluesmobile, and My Funky Valentine. She competed in the 2001 edition of the televised singing competition ''Popstars''. (
it).
Career
Eurovision 2008
In 2008 Monetta sent in the song "Se Non Ci Sei Tu" for the San Marino national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, but she was not selected by San Marino RTV.
Eurovision 2012
On 14 March 2012, it was announced by
San Marino RTV
Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino, commonly known as San Marino RTV (abbreviated SMRTV), is the public service broadcaster of San Marino. On 13 June 2011, San Marino RTV changed its name to SMtv San Marino. In November 2013, the n ...
, that she would represent
San Marino
San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...
in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2012
The Eurovision Song Contest 2012 was the 57th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Baku, Azerbaijan, following the country's victory at the with the song " Running Scared" by the duo Ell & Nikki. It was the first time Azerb ...
, to be held in
Baku
Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...
,
Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...
with the entry "
Facebook Uh, Oh, Oh". She was internally selected by RTV. However, on 18 March 2012, a few days after the song was announced, the EBU deemed that the song contained an unreasonable commercial message for
Facebook
Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...
, which resulted in the lyrics' disqualification; according to the Eurovision Rule 1.2.2.g, commercial messages within songs are not allowed. San Marino was then given the option of submitting a new song for Monetta, or revising the lyrics to remove any references to Facebook, no later than 23 March 2012 12:00
CET
CET or cet may refer to:
Places
* Cet, Albania
* Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus
* Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Comcast En ...
. On 22 March, SMTV announced that the song and its lyrics has been revised with a new title, "
The Social Network Song (OH OH – Uh - OH OH)", with mostly the same lyrics, except without directly mentioning Facebook.
Monetta performed at the first semi-final but failed to qualify for the grand final. However, she placed 14th with 31 points making it
San Marino's best ever placing in Eurovision Song Contest until 2013.
Eurovision 2013
On 30 January 2013, it was announced by San Marino TV that Monetta would return for a second time in a row
representing San Marino in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2013
The Eurovision Song Contest 2013 was the 58th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Malmö, Sweden, following the country's victory at the with the song "Euphoria" by Loreen. Organised by the European Broadcasting Union (EB ...
in Malmö with the entry "
Crisalide (Vola)", composed by
Ralph Siegel
Ralph Siegel (born 30 September 1945) is a German record producer and songwriter. Siegel is one of the most notable figures at the Eurovision Song Contest, in which he has participated with 24 songs so far, among them the 1982 winner song Ein bi ...
with lyrics by Mauro Balestri. She competed in the second semi final on 16 May 2013 and once more failed to qualify for the grand final, despite her performance having been voted second only to Denmark (the eventual winners) by the Organisation of Eurovision Fans, OGAE. Her performance gained 47 points and was the best of the non-qualifying countries in either of the two semi-finals and consequently improved their previous best placing of 14th in
2012
File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...
. Crisalide (Vola) gained them an eleventh place in Semi Final Two.
New album 2013
In June 2013 Monetta released her new album ''La storia di Valentina Monetta'' which included multiple versions of "
Crisalide (Vola)" and some songs previously available on her 2011 EP.
Eurovision 2014
Monetta once again represented
San Marino
San Marino (, ), officially the Republic of San Marino ( it, Repubblica di San Marino; ), also known as the Most Serene Republic of San Marino ( it, Serenissima Repubblica di San Marino, links=no), is the fifth-smallest country in the world an ...
in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2014
The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European ...
. This made Monetta the first singer to represent a nation in three consecutive Eurovision contests since 1966, the year
Udo Jürgens
Udo Jürgens (born Jürgen Udo Bockelmann; 30 September 1934 – 21 December 2014) was an Austrian composer and singer of popular music whose career spanned over 50 years. He won the Eurovision Song Contest 1966 for Austria, composed close ...
of Austria competed in Eurovision for the third consecutive time. Monetta became the fourth singer to compete in three consecutive Eurovision contests as prior to Jürgens both
Lys Assia
Lys Assia (born Rosa Mina Schärer; 3 March 1924 – 24 March 2018) was a Swiss singer who won the first Eurovision Song Contest in 1956. Assia was born in Rupperswil, Aargau, and began her stage career as a dancer, but changed to singing in 1940 ...
of Switzerland and
Corry Brokken
Cornelia Maria "Corry" Brokken (3 December 1932 – 31 May 2016) was a Dutch singer, television presenter and jurist. In 1957, she won the second edition of the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Net als toen", representing the Netherlands. ...
of the Netherlands competed in the Eurovision contests of 1956, 1957, and 1958. Assia, Brokken and Jürgens each won one of the three consecutive Eurovision contests in which they competed.
Monetta unveiled her third Eurovision song on 14 March 2014. It will be included on her forthcoming album, which will include songs composed by Ralph Siegel and by Monetta herself. The first single from her upcoming album, "L'amore verrà", was released along with the music video on 11 October 2013.
During the Eurovision semifinal Monetta made it to the final for the first time in three attempts, achieving her personal best placing in the contest but also securing San Marino's first, and until 2019, only qualifying song. She finished the final in 24th position.
Eurovision 2015
In a video of the official Eurovision channel on
YouTube
YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...
, Valentina said that she would perhaps represent San Marino for the fourth time in a row, and consequently enter into Eurovision history as the only artist ever to represent their nation four consecutive times. In May 2014, it was confirmed by SMTV that Valentina would not return in 2015.
The singer later confirmed on
Instagram
Instagram is a photo and video sharing social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. The app allows users to upload media that can be edited with filters and organized by hashtags and geographical tagging. Posts can ...
that she would never return to the contest for a long while and it was her own decision not to go to Eurovision again.
On 2 February 2015, it was announced that Monetta would announce Sammarinese votes at the 2015 Eurovision Song Contest in Vienna, Austria. This was met with rather a lot of confusion as Monetta herself said that she had not been asked to do it yet, even though most people expected the microstate to choose Monetta to read out the Sammarinese votes in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
.
Eurovision 2017
On 12 March 2017, it was confirmed that Monetta would
represent San Marino for the fourth time, in the
Eurovision Song Contest 2017
The Eurovision Song Contest 2017 was the 62nd edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Kyiv, Ukraine, following the country's victory at the with the song "1944 (song), 1944" by Jamala.
Organised by the European Broadcasting Uni ...
. Her song, "
Spirit of the Night
San Marino participated in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017, held in Kyiv, Ukraine. The Sammarinese national broadcaster Radiotelevisione della Repubblica di San Marino (SMRTV) internally selected Sammarinese singer Valentina Monetta and Ameri ...
", is sung as a duet with American singer
Jimmie Wilson.
The song placed last in the second semifinal with only 1 point which came from the German televote.
Monetta has tied the record as the woman with the most participations in the
Eurovision Song Contest
The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...
, tied with
Elisabeth Andreassen
Elisabeth Gunilla Andreassen (; born 28 March 1958), also known as just Bettan, is a Norwegian-Swedish singer who has finished both first and second in the Eurovision Song Contest.
Career
Her talent was discovered in 1979 by Swedish musician and ...
and Sue Schell of
Peter, Sue & Marc
Peter, Sue and Marc were a Swiss music group from Bern. The members were Peter Reber (born 1949, vocals / piano / guitar), Sue Schell (born 1950 in New York, vocals), and Marc Dietrich (born 1948, vocals / guitar). They represented Switzerland ...
.
Discography
Albums
Extended plays
Singles
As lead artist
Promotional singles
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monetta, Valentina
Sammarinese women singers
Sammarinese people of Italian descent
Sammarinese pop singers
Eurovision Song Contest entrants for San Marino
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2012
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2013
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2014
Living people
1975 births
Articles containing video clips
Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2017
21st-century women singers