Mina (singer)

Mina
Background information
Birth name	Mina Anna Mazzini
Born	March 25, 1940, Busto Arsizio, Lombardy.
Origin	Lugano
Genre(s)	pop, white soul, blues, jazz, rock'n'roll, bossa nova, nuevo tango
Occupation(s)	Singer
Voice type(s)	Mezzosoprano
Years active	1958 -
Label(s)	Italdisc, Ri-Fi, EMI, PDU
Website	minamazzini.com

Mina Anna Mazzini (born in Busto Arsizio on March 25, 1940), known as Mina, is an Italian pop singer. For her lively act, she has been nicknamed the "Tiger of Cremona". Acclaimed for her voice and enormous performing talent, she was a star attraction of popular Italian television variety shows from the early sixties to the mid seventies. Mina dominated the Italian charts with songs from the nation's leading songwriters and reached an unsurpassed level of popularity in Italy. She gave up public appearances in 1978, but has continued to release popular albums on a yearly basis to date.^[1]

Biography

Mina Anna Mazzini was born on March 25, 1940 to a solid working class family in Busto Arsizio. She grew up in Cremona, as her family moved there to find a job. The young Mina Anna listened to a lot of American rock'n'roll and jazz records. She was a frequent visitor at the Santa Tecla and the Taverna Messicana clubs of Milan, known as the temples of Italian rock.^[2] After finishing high school in 1958, she intended to go to college to study book keeping.^[3]

Mina and Baby Gate

While on summer holiday in 8 August, 1958, in Versilia, she gave an improvised performance to amuse her family. The occasion was after a concert by Marino Barreto Jr. at La Bussola, a famous night club in Marina di Pietrasanta.^[4] The song she performed was the pop hit "Un'anima tra le mani". In September her book keeper studies were interrupted by dedicating herself to rock'n'roll and jazz and establishing the band Happy Boys.^[5] Her first concert in September 1958 - before an audience of 2,500 people at the Rivarolo del Re Theatre - was described as "magnificent, unforgettable" by the local press.^[6] Davide Matalon, the owner of the small record company Italdisc, was invited to listen to Mina at one of her regular performances in a club in the commune of Castel Didone.^[7] The first single "Non partir"/"Malattia" was produced under the stage name "Mina" for Italian audience. Simultaneously "Be Bop A Lula"/"When" was issued under the name "Baby Gate" for international audience.^[8] The name "Baby" was chosen by Mina as a contrast to her exceptionally great height for an Italian lady, and "Gate" following the Golden Gate Quartet, one of Mina's favourite bands.^[9] In December 1958 she appeared again before a grand audience at the Sei giorni della canzone festival in Milan.^[10]

Mina's second TV appearance, singing "Nessuno" at "Il Musichiere" pop quiz, on 4 April 1959.

Queen of shriekers

Mina's carieer took off when she recorded a rock'n'roll version of "Nessuno", a well-known Betty Curtis's swing song, which she performed at the first Festival rock in Milan Ice Palace, in February 1959.^[11] On 1st March and 4th April respectively, she was invited to perform the song in Lascia o raddoppia? and Il musichiere National TV pop quizzes. Edoardo Sanguineti recalled her performance on TV as "a memorable experience" and "a revelation".^[12] Using her whole body to visualize the beat, she shook her head, hands and hips in the rhythm.^[13] Mario Riva, the host of the TV program, entitled her as part of the vivid generation of the urlatori (shriekers).^[14][15] The starlet signed with Elio Gigante, an experienced artist manager. In following years he organized her performances in every grand ballroom in Italy.^[16] Chart success followed with "Tintarella di luna", a rock'n'roll song peaking at #1 of Italian charts. She performed the song in her first movie "Juke box - Urli d'amore".

Il cielo in una stanza

Mina's version of "Il cielo in una stanza", a song written by Gino Paoli, was the first of many of Mina's metamorphoses, transforming her from a rock'n'roll shrieker to a muse of cantautori. This introduced the singer to a much more refined genre, that she thereafter never left.^[17] Topping the list of annual sales in Italy^[18] and reaching 1961 US Billboard Hot 100, her unsurpassed interpretation turned the song into a classic of Italian pop music.^[19]

Video performances of the song were included in "Io bacio... tu baci" and "Appuntamento a Ischia" movies. Later it was featured in "Goodfellas" movie. Altogether Mina starred in 17 movies, acting in 10 of them and appearing in 7 cameo roles in 1958-1962.

The success of Mina's first ballad was immediately followed by another - "Piano", published in 1960. One and a half years later "Softly, as I Leave You", the English version of the song recorded by Matt Monro reached #10 in the UK Top 40. In 1964 Frank Sinatra's release peaked at #27 of the US Billboard Hot 100. Unaffected by Mina's lack of success in Sanremo Music Festival of 1960 and 1961, with "È vero" failing to qualify to the final and "Le mille bolle blu" receiving no special attention from the jury, the two contest songs had great chart success. Alongside them, up-tempo dance songs "Moliendo Cafe" and "Renato" hit the Italian Top at, respectively, #1 and #4.^[20]

International success

Mina gained wide popularity abroad, starting from her very first years. She sung in English, French, German, Turkish, Portuguese, Spanish, Catalan, and Japanese, publishing records in the corresponding countries. In addition, her records were published in Argentina, Greece and Soviet Union. She toured Yugoslavia and Tunisia. "Il cielo in una stanza", sung in the original Italian and titled "This World We Love In" for the U.S. market, charted for a week in the US Billboard Hot 100 in 1961. She had the single "Heißer Sand" at #1 in German and Flemish charts.

Growing up

In 1963 Mina's TV and radio career for Italian Broadcasting Service was abruptly brought to an end, as she refused to hide her pregnancy from her relationship with Corrado Pani, a married actor. Mina signed with Ri-Fi record label and manager Tonino Ascoldi. The song "È l'uomo per me" was the first success of the team, being the most sold single of 1964 in Italy.^[21] As her popularity was largely unscathed by the scandal, the Italian Broadcasting Service was forced to end the ban on Mina. The singer returned on 10 January 1964 in La fiera dei sogni TV program, with the serious "Città vuota".^[22] Her new sensual and melodic maner^[23] was demonstrated again in December 11, 1964 TV program "Il macchiettario", performing "Io sono quel che sono". Another grand occasion followed in 1965 with 12 Studio Uno nights of musical variety. The series included sensual, morbid blues songs "Un bacio è troppo poco" and "Un anno d'amore".^[24] The latter was her version of the Nino Ferrer's song "C'est irreparable".^[25] In the series she also performed "Brava", a rhythmic jazz number specially written by Bruno Canfora to demonstrate Mina's vocal range and performing skills.^[26] Her Studio Uno album topped the Italian album chart of the year. Following the success, Mina signed a contract with the Barilla pasta label, starring in ten pasta commercials until 1971. In 2005 the best of Mina's performances, advertising the Barilla products were published on VHS and DVD as "Nei caroselli Barilla".

Performing "Se telefonando" at 1966 TV program "Aria condizionata"

Se telefonando

In Spring 1966, Maurizio Costanzo and Ghigo De Chiara, the authors of the Aria condizionata TV show, wrote the lyrics for "Se telefonando", a theme for the TV program. The famous serialist composer Ennio Morricone was asked to write and arrange the music, and Mina to sing. The encounter of Mina and the three authors took place around an upright pianoforte in a RAI rehearsal room at Via Teulada, Rome. Morricone started to repeat a short musical theme or by his words a "micro-cell"^[27] of just three notes, that he had caught from the siren of a police car in Marseilles. After a few beats Mina grabbed the sheet with the lyrics and started to sing, as if she had known the tune before. The result was a pop song with an unusual vocal range and numerous transitions of tonality, handled flawlessly by Mina.^[28] "Se telefonando" was presented in May 1966 in one of the Studio Uno TV shows, and in August the same year on Aria condizionata.

The single's success was modest in Mina's terms, peaking at #7 of Italian charts. However, the Studio Uno 66 album, featuring the song as one of the standout tracks among "Ta-ra-ta-ta" and "Una casa in cima al mondo", was the 5th most sold album in Italy in 1966.^[29] After the television success another song, "Tu sei un uomo" was written for the Christmas show "Veglia di Natale" and performed by Mina.^[30]

Independence

In 1966, Mina started to co-operate with the Swiss Broadcasting Service In Italian Language and founded PDU, her independent record label. The first record under the label was "Dedicato a mio padre". Mina's growing interest in Brazilian music resulted in "La banda", a Chico Buarque cover, reaching #3. Mina continued to perform on Italian TV, singing "Zum zum zum", a #1 hit in Sabato sera Spring 1967 series, accompanied by NATO naval band, and a duet with Adriano Celentano. On 22 April 1967 during "Sabato sera" she performed "Addio", recorded at the Teatro Regio di Parma. The Senza rete show of 18 July 1968, presented Mina turning the Luigi Tenco's song "Se stasera sono qui" into a rigorous piece of soul music^[31] in the score of Pino Calvi.

Canzonissima '68

Despite the Italian "Hot autumn" of 1968, the Canzonissima grand variety nights from September 1968 to January 1969, hosted by Mina, Walter Chiari and Paolo Panelli, gathered unprecedented 20-22 million viewers. The fifteen Saturday nights presented Mina in her ultimate entertaining condition, accompanied by an orchestra of 400 people and a choir of 130.^[32] The series included several performances of the elegant "Un colpo al cuore" by Giancarlo Bigazzi and Mario Capuano, in Augusto Martelli's magnificent orchestration. "Sacumdi, sacumda", her talking and laughing version of Carlos Imperial's bossa nova "Nem Vem Que Não Tem", was almost banned by RAI because of its unholy lyrics.

Singing "Quelli hanno un cuore", on 20 December 1968, at "Canzonissima" variety program.

The song was performed as a part of a musical fantasy, back to back with "Quelli che hanno un cuore", her most intense version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" in the orchestration of Bruno Canfora.^[33] Another masterpiece interpretation of a Dionne Warwick's hit was Mina's performance of "La voce del silenzio" ("Silent Voices"), especially written for Warwick by Paolo Limiti and Elio Isola.^[34] The show also included "Niente di niente", her original interpretation of the Delfonics soul hit "Break your promise" in Augusto Martelli's orchestration. Performing the song, Mina's gestures and mimics created an overwhelming atmosphere and emphasized Giorgio Calabrese's lyrics, telling the story of a puzzled woman in love. On 6 January Mina starred in eight sequences of the "Balli regionali" folklore ballet, each of them introducing a region of Italy. All of the variety nights were closed by Mina singing "Vorrei che fosse amore", a beautiful piece of atmospheric music scored by Bruno Canfora.^[35] The songs of the variety series were recorded and issued as Canzonissima '68 album. To celebrate the 10th anniversary of her carieer, Mina returned to La Bussola in 1968, to give a concert and record her first live album "Mina alla Bussola dal vivo".^[36] Mina's first independent album to make it to weekly #1 of the charts, was "Bugiardo più che mai...più incosciente che mai..." in 1969. Cooperation with songwriting duo Battisti-Mogol produced sophisticated sensual hits like "Io e te da soli", presented in 1969 La notte della speranza Christmas TV program.^[37] In 1969-72 Mina produced 5 albums, each of them peaking at Italian Top #1 of at least a week and among the Top 7 of the year, albeit taking a break in live performances to give birth to her daughter.

Teatro 10

Mina's comeback took place at Italian Broadcasting Service's variety series Teatro 10, Spring 1972. The shows included Gianni Ferrio's rescore of "Se stasera sono qui", Mina's earlier hit song. "Balada para mi muerte", another special number on Teatro 10 presented Mina taking a shot at nuevo tango, in duet with Ástor Piazzolla at the bandoneón. "Grande grande grande" was a particular success, being the second most sold album of the year in Italy. Covered by Shirley Bassey as "Never never never", the song had international success at the UK Top 10 and #1 of the Australian charts. The short intense collaboration with the Battisti-Mogol songwriting duo resulted in "Amor mio", "Io vivrò senza te", "Insieme" and "E penso a te". The songs were characterized by frequent changes of rhythm, pauses and dialogues between the voice and the orchestra. The musical handwriting of Lucio Battisti was quite shamelessly copied by Luigi Albertelli. His "Fiume azzurro" was however turned into an ultimate success by Mina's virtuous performance.^[38] The final number of all of the eight Teatro 10 variety nights was "Parole parole", a duet with Alberto Lupo. The song was an easy listening dialogue of Mina's splendid singing with Lupo's declamation. The theme of the unusual song were hollow words. It intertwined Mina's lamentation of the end of love and the lies she had to hear, while Lupo simply spoke. She reacted and scoffed at the compliments that he gave her, calling them simply empty words - parole. The single was released in April 1972 to become a top hit of Italian charts.^[39] After the Teatro 10 series Mina declared withdrawal from TV performances to private life. This turned up incredible crowds for her exclusive concerts at La Bussola club in August and September, 1972.^[40][41] About 2,000 spectators per concert struggled their way inside, leaving thousands to listen at the street and the beach.^[42] At the concerts Mina performed selected pieces of her "Teatro 10" shows, with the Gianni Ferrio's Orchestra of grand instrumentalists like Gianni Basso at the tenor saxophone and Oscar Valdambrini at the trumpet.^[43]

"Io vivrò senza te" live at La Bussola club, 1972.

The concert of September 16, 1972 was recorded and published as "Dalla Bussola". Recorded by Polivideo TV company, the video of the massive event in the history of Italian music was aired on Sky Italia as a sequence from January 1 to January 21, 1973. In 2003 the video was published on DVD and VHS by the GSU record company as "Mina alla Bussola Live '72". Having exhausted her contract with Barilla food products in 1973, Mina went on to advertise the Tassoni soft drink, starring in 6 commercials until 1986.

Away from public

Despite the loss of her husband, Mina continued her chart success with "E poi..." and "L'importante è finire". The last of the grand variety shows, hosted by Mina, was March 16, 1974 Milleluci, alongside Raffaella Carrà. The show included "Non gioco più", a splendid blues duet with harmonica player Toots Thielemans.^[44] Her last TV appearance was a censored version of her eroticist performance of "Ancora ancora ancora", as the final number of "Mille e una luce" show in July 1, 1978. Her last concert appearances were in 1978 with a series of thirteen fully-booked concerts at "La Bussola" broken off due to her illness. Mina gave her last ever public performance in August 23, 1978 at the Bussoladomani, the new theatre built by Sergio Bernardini, the owner of La Bussola, to facilitate the crowds like at Mina's 1972 concert at the same place.^[45] The concert was recorded and published as "Mina Live '78".^[46] Mina has continued to release albums on a yearly basis, with her son Massimiliano Pani as producer. Between 1972 and 1995 she published a double album a year. From 1973 her LPs and CDs have been characterized by the surprising and suggestive artistic motives of the designers Luciano Tallarini, Gianni Ronco and the photographer Mauro Balletti. From mid-eighties the design of the album covers was trusted to Balletti alone. Every Mina's record under her PDU label has reached Italian Top 100. A large part of her work has been covering well-known songs, dedicating monographic albums to The Beatles, Frank Sinatra, Renato Zero, the city of Neaples and religious music. In 1985 "Questione di feeling", a duet with Riccardo Cocciante turned into a great success.^[47] In 2001 Mina released a DVD about her recording session, broadcasted over the Wind internet site on March 30, 2001. This resulted in millions of visits on the site at the night only, and additional millions on following days. In the last years Mina's releases have included duets with Mick Hucknall, Fabrizio De André, Piero Pelù, Adriano Celentano, Giorgia and others. Her latest CDs include "Bau", "Bula Bula", "Platinum Collection", "The Platinum Collection 2" and "Todavìa", an album in Spanish.

Personal life

In 1962 Mina fell in love with the actor Corrado Pani. As he was already married, their relationship astonished the whole Italian audience. On April 18, 1963 their son Massimiliano Pani was born. Due to Mina's refusal to hide her relationship, the singer was totally banned by Italian Broadcasting Service from performing on TV and radio. As people continued demanding to see Mina on the air, RAI was forced to end the ban and let Mina triumphantly return to television on January 10, 1964. Soon their love story was, however, over, resulting in a legal battle for baby Massimiliano's custody rights.^[48] Mina's brother Alfredo Mazzini died in a car accident in 1965. A year later she and his father moved to live in Lugano, Switzerland. Mina's intimate relationships still stayed in Italy, as she had a short tie to the Italian TV editor Walter Chiari. A later relationship - with the actor Gian Maria Volontè - was broken, after she found out Volonte's affair with an actress. Mina's great love of the late sixties, that during three years was all but conveyed into a marriage, was the composer Augusto Martelli. In 1970 she met and married Virgilio Crocco, a journalist for the Messaggero newspaper. In November, 1971 their daughter Benedetta Mazzini was born. In 1973 Crocco died in a car accident.^[49] In 1981 Mina started her relationship with the Swiss cardiologist Eugenio Quaini. In 1990 she acquired Swiss citizenship. Mina Anna Mazzini and Eugenio Quaini were married in January 10, 2006. According to the Swiss law, the wife changed to her husbands last name - Mrs. Mina Anna Quaini.^[50] Her audience calls her Mina Mazzini to date. Mina is a passionate cook and a poker player.^[51]

Discography

Albums in Italian charts

Data from HitParadeItalia site Top Annuali Album

Italian #1 album ... quando tu mi spiavi in cima a un batticuore....

Singles in Italian charts

Her latest single "Alibi".

Data from HitParadeItalia site Top Settimanali Single

Selected duets

Evergreen duet with Alberto Lupo, "Parole parole" in 1972 TV variety Teatro 10.

• With Adriano Celentano: Acqua e sale - Brivido felino - Che t'aggia di' - Dolce fuoco dell'amore - Io non volevo - Messaggio d'amore - Sempre sempre sempre - Specchi riflessi
• With Alberto Lupo: Parole parole
• With Alberto Sordi: Fumo di Londra
• With Andrea Mingardi: Datemi della musica - Mogol Battisti
• With Angel "Pato" Garcia: Contigo en la distancia
• With Ástor Piazzolla: Balada para mi muerte
• With the Audio 2: Dentro ad ogni cosa - Rotola la vita
• With Benedetta Mazzini: More Than Words
• With Beppe Grillo: Dottore
• With Enzo Jannacci: E l'era tardi
• With Fabrizio De André: La canzone di Marinella
• With Fausto Leali: Via di qua
• With Fred Bongusto: Medley Non ci lasceremo mai - Frida - Sei proprio tu - Doce doce - A Detroit
• With Gianni Morandi: Reggio Emilia - Meglio sarebbe - L'uva fogarina (Teresina imbriaguna) - Come porti i capelli bella bionda
• With Giorgio Gaber: Medley Porta romana - La ballata del Cerutti - Trani a gogò - Barbera e champagne - Il Riccardo
• With Johnny Dorelli and Renato Carosone: Medley Scapricciatiello - Pigliate 'na pasticca - Pasqualino Marajà - 'Na voce e 'na chitarra
• With Lelio Luttazzi: Chi mai sei tu
• With Lucio Battisti: Medley Insieme - Mi ritorni in mente - Il tempo di morire - E penso a te - Io e te da soli - Eppur mi son scordato di te - Emozioni
• With Lucio Dalla: Amore disperato
• With Massimiliano Pani: Come stai - If I Fell
• With Massimo Lopez: Noi
• With Mick Hucknall: Someday in My Life
• With Miguel Bosé: Agua y sal
• With Milva: Motherless Child - Non arrenderti uomo
• With Mónica Naranjo: Él se encuentra entre tú y yo
• With Piero Pelù: Stay with me
• With Renato Zero: Neri - Tutti gli zeri del mondo
• With Riccardo Cocciante: Amore - Bella senz'anima - Questione di feeling
• With Toots Thielemans: Non gioco più
• With the Voci Atroci: Suona ancora

Filmography

Starring in musical comedy Io bacio... Tu baci.

Mina has acted in the following movies: ^[52]

• Juke box - Urli d'amore (1959)
• Teddy Boys della canzone (1960)
• Urlatori alla sbarra (1960)
• Madri pericolose (1960)
• Io bacio... tu baci (1961)
• Mina... fuori la guardia (1961)
• Das haben die Mädchen gern (1962)
• Appuntamento in Riviera (1962)
• Silvester Show (1964)
• Per amore... per magia... (1967)

Bibliography

"Mina... il fascino della tigre", latest book on her

Data from the publishing houses

• Mina, come sono by Gianni Pettenat (Virgilio 1980)
• Mina, la voce by Mario Guarino (Forte 1983)
• Unicamente Mina by Flavio Merkel and Paolo Belluso (Gammalibri 1983)
• La leggendaria Mina (PDU Italiana Edizioni Musicali S.r.l./Curci 1983
• Mina. Storia di un mito by Nino Romano (Rusconi 1986)
• Mina nelle fotografie di Mauro Balletti (Campanotto 1990)
• Mina - Le immagini e la storia di un mito (Eden 1992)
• Mina - Mito e mistero by Nino Romano (Sperling & Kupfer1996)
• Mina - I miti by Antonella Giola, Daniela Teruzzi & Gherardo Gentili (Arnoldo Mondadori 1997)
• Mina - I mille volti di una voce by Romy Padovano (Arnoldo Mondadori 1998)
• Divina Mina by Dora Giannetti (Zelig 1998)
• Mina by Roberta Maresci (Gremese1998)
• Mina - Una forza incantatrice by Franco Fabbri & Luigi Pestalozza (eds; Euresis 1998)
• Mina - La sua vita, i suoi successi by Gianni Lucini (Sonzogno 1999)
• Mina, il mito (Tempo Libro 1999)
• Studio Mina by Flaviano De Luca (ed; Elle U Multimedia 1999)
• Mina disegnata fotografata -Authors' copyright- 2001
• Mina: Gli anni Italdisc 1959 - 1964 by Marco Castiglioni, Fulvio Fiore, Maurizio Maiotti, Stefania Fiore, Barbara Alari and Maurizio Maiotti (Satisfaction 2001)
• Mina 1958 - 2005 Ancora insieme by Marcello Bufacchi (Riuniti 2005)
• Mina talk. Vent'anni di interviste. 1959-1979 by Fernando Fratarcangeli (Coniglio 2005)
• Mina... il fascino della tigre by Ghea Irene (Lo Vecchio 2006)

References

External links

• Official website