Rita Pavone is an Italian ballad and rock singer and actress, who enjoyed success through the 1960s.
Singing career
In 1962 she participated in, and won, the first Festival degli Sconosciuti, a song competition for amateur artists. Her self-titled 1963 album, led by the hit single La Partita di Pallone made her a national star at 17, and international attention soon followed. La Partita di Pallone sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. Her recording of Cuore also sold a million copies in 1963 and spent 9 weeks at #1 in Italy. In the summer of 1964 she had chart success in North America with a single "Remember Me", sung in English, backed with "Just Once More". The song reached #26 in the United States and #16 in Canada. In 1965, Pavone made her first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show; she became a frequent musical guest there until 1970. Meanwhile she scored a string of hits, both ballads and rock songs in Spain, where she became a teen idol, enjoying so much fame there that it was commented during a 2005 Spanish-television documentary that such success there for a foreign singer is rare. In the United States she sang alongside Diana Ross and The Supremes, Ella Fitzgerald, Tom Jones, Duke Ellington, and Paul Anka. She also sang at Carnegie Hall in New York City. It is said that Elvis Presley made a painting of her after she went to Memphis and met her at a recording studio. It is also said that she recorded a duet with Barbra Streisand, but this has remained unsubstantiated. There is, however, an indoor photograph of Pavone and Streisand together, apparently shot in New York City in May 1964. Returning to Italy, Pavone made her acting debut, working in five films and participating in shows like Giornalino di Gian Burrasca], Alta Pressione, Stasera Rita, and the variety show Studio Uno. In 1982, she participated in Come Alice, which became a hit onItalian television. Rita Pavone starred in six movies during the 1960s: Clementine Cherie, Rita, la Figlia Americana, Rita La Zanzara, Non Stuzzicate la Zanzara, Little Rita nel West, and La Feldmarescialla. The two "Zanzara" movies and the Giornalino di Gian Burrasca were directed by Lina Wertmüller. Although her movie career targeted a teen audience and lacked great artistic value, today her films have found a cult niche. Pavone was also popular in the UK during 1966 and 1967. RCA Victor issued two of her singles; in quick succession both were hits, "Heart" peaking at #27 and "You Only You" peaking at #21 in the UK Singles Chart. During this same period she appeared at the London Palladium. She also recorded Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Try It And See", which later became "King Herod's Song" in the rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar. In 1968 Pavone married Teddy Reno in Switzerland. He was her talent scout and the organizer of the first song contest she won, but their union caused a scandal in Italian society because he was still married to his first wife, Livia Protti, and Italy had no divorce law until 1970. They remarried in Italy in 1971 and had two sons: Alessandro in 1969 and Giorgio in 1974. During the 1980s Pavone acted in comedy films like 2 sul Pianerottolo, Risate in Salotto, and Santarellina. In 1992 Pavone returned to the United States, where she sang during a multiple-artist concert that included Whitney Houston, Frank Sinatra, the Bolshoi Ballet, and Cher at the Sands hotel in Atlantic City. She then turned to theater acting and participated in a William Shakespeare play. In 2002 she gave a concert at Miami's Dade Auditorium. Pavone and her husband Reno now live in Ticino, Switzerland. Their elder son Alessandro is a radio-show host, and their younger son Giorgio is a rock singer. The main character in the 2000 Argentine film Nine Queens tries to remember a Pavone song throughout the film; the song Il Ballo Del Mattone plays as the credits run. Pavone was a Senate candidate in the Italian general election of 2006. She participated as candidate for Per l'Italia nel Mondo, a centre-right list led by minister Mirko Tremaglia. She participated at the Sanremo Music Festival 2020 with the song Niente.
Discography
Pavone recorded a total of 13 albums. She mainly recorded for RCA until 1968, then signed briefly with Ricordi, which launched her vanity label RitaLand, but she eventually returned to the label that had launched her and recorded three more albums with RCA.
