Mina (singer)

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Mina
Background information
Birth name	Mina Anna Mazzini
Born	March 25, 1940 (1940-03-25) (age 68) Busto Arsizio, Lombardy, Italy
Origin	Cremona, Lombardy, Italy
Genre(s)	Pop, white soul, r&b, blues, jazz, rock and roll, bossa nova, nuevo tango
Occupation(s)	Singer
Voice type(s)	Mezzosoprano
Years active	1958–present
Label(s)	Italdisc, Ri-Fi, EMI, PDU
Website	minamazzini.com

Mina Anna Mazzini (born in Busto Arsizio on 25 March 1940), professionally known as Mina, is an Italian pop singer. Admired for her voice and performing talent, she was a star attraction of Italian television variety shows from early 60s to mid 70s.^[1][2] During the years, Mina was a dominant figure of Italian charts and reached an unsurpassed level of popularity in Italy.^[1] She has recorded over 1000 songs, 110 albums, sold 76 million records,^[3] and scored 70 singles in Italian charts.^[4] Mina is the only artist to land an album at the 1st place of the Italian chart in each of the five decades starting from the 1960s. She gave up public appearances in 1978, but has continued to release albums on a yearly basis to date.

Mina's first TV appearances in 1959 presented the first Italian female rocker.^[5] Her way of singing and visualizing the beat with her body earned her the nicknames "Tiger of Cremona"^[5] and "Queen of Screamers".^[6] Mina introduced her new sensual maner with the song "Il cielo in una stanza", the biggest seller of the year 1960 in Italy and a Billboard Hot 100 hit.^[7] Her voice had a distinctive timbre and great power. The main theme of Mina's songs was dramatic interpretation of distressing love stories.^[8] The singer combined the classic Italian melody with soul music, particularly with the songs "Un bacio è troppo poco" (1965), "Se stasera sono qui"(1968)^[9] and her cooperation with Lucio Battisti in 1969 and 1970.^[10] She blended modern styles with Italian music, particularly bossa nova with "Sacumdì sacumdà" (1968), and nuevo tango in her cooperation with Ástor Piazzolla in 1972. Composers working for Radiotelevisione Italiana wrote songs with large vocal range and transitions of tonality to demonstrate her singing skills, particularly Bruno Canfora's "Brava" (1965)^[11] and Ennio Morricone's pseudo-serial "Se telefonando" (1966).^[12] Pieces of music were exclusively composed and re-scored for Mina accompanied by all-star orchestras of the TV variety series Studio Uno, Canzonissima, Teatro 10 and concerts at the Auditorio A of Naples and La Bussola nightclub of Marina di Pietrasanta. The performances gathered unprecedented audiences in Italy.^[13][14][15] Mina alla Bussola dal vivo was the first live album in the history of Italian music,^[16] being the 3rd biggest selling album that year in Italy. Her albums Studio Uno (1965), Bugiardo più che mai...più incosciente che mai... (1969), and Mina Celentano (1998) were the biggest sellers of their respective year in Italy.^[17] Mina was the original female performer of Dalida's and Alain Delon's duet "Paroles... paroles..."^[18] and Shirley Bassey's "Never Never Never", covered by Celine Dion and Luciano Pavarotti as "I Hate You Then I Love You.^[19]

In 1963, Mina was banned from performing on all public Italian television and radio channels. The reason was her refusal to hide her pregnancy and relationship with a married actor. Mina's love affair represented the evolution of women's social status in Italy, which did not accord with the dominant catholic and bourgeois morals.^[20] Her record sales remained unaffected and the audience forced Radiotelevisione Italiana to lift the ban.^[5] The Italian broadcasting service continued to prohibit some of her songs which were forthright in dealing with subjects such as religion ("Sacumdì Sacumdà"),^[21] smoking ("Ta-ra-ta-ta")^[22] or sex ("La canzone di Marinella" and "L'importante è finire").^[23] To the ’bad girl’ image, Mina added her sexy appeal and the cool act,^[6] including public smoking, dyed blond hair and shaved eyebrows.^[24]

Contents 1 Biography 1.1 Baby Gate (1958) 1.2 Queen of Screamers (1959–1962) 1.3 Growing up (1963–1965) 1.4 Se telefonando (1966) 1.5 Independence (1966–1968) 1.6 Canzonissima (1968) 1.7 Mogol-Battisti (1969–1973) 1.8 Invisible, yet omnipresent (1974–) 2 Artistry 2.1 Queen of Screamers 2.2 Grownup 2.3 Mogol-Battisti 2.4 Mina Latina 3 Personal life 4 Discography 5 Filmography 6 Bibliography 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Biography

Mina Anna Mazzini was born on March 25, 1940 to a 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 for promoting rock'n'roll.^[25] After finishing high school in 1958, she intended to go to college to study book keeping.^[26]

[edit] Baby Gate (1958)

While on summer holiday in Versilia, on 8 August 1958 she gave an improvised performance to amuse her family. The occasion was after a concert by Marino Barreto Jr. at La Bussola, a night club in Marina di Pietrasanta.^[1] The song she performed was "Un'anima tra le mani". In September her book keeper studies were interrupted by dedicating herself to rock'n'roll and jazz. She joined her brother Alfredo's band the Happy Boys.^[27]

Her first concert in September 1958 - before an audience of 2,500 people at the Rivarolo del Re Theatre - gained enthusiastic approval by the local critics.^[28] Davide Matalon, the owner of the small record company Italdisc, was invited to listen to Mina at one of her regular performances at a club in the commune of Castel Didone.^[29] 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.^[30] The name "Baby" was chosen as a contrast to her exceptionally great height for an Italian lady, and "Gate" as a tribute to the Golden Gate Quartet.^[31] In December, her performance at the Sei giorni della canzone festival of Milan was greeted by La Notte newspaper as "The birth of a star".^[32]

[edit] Queen of Screamers (1959–1962)

In 1959, Mina recorded a rock'n'roll version of "Nessuno", a Betty Curtis's swing song. She performed it at the first Festival rock in Milan Ice Palace, in February 1959.^[33] On 1st March and 4th April respectively, she performed the song on Lascia o raddoppia? and Il musichiere TV pop quizzes. The starlet signed with Elio Gigante, an experienced artist manager. In the following years he organized her performances in every ballroom in Italy.^[34] 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. In 1960 Mina took part in the Italian Song Festival in Sanremo, turning to the ballad genre with two songs. The best of them, "È vero" was the first left outside the final seven.^[35]

The young singer's eventual transformation from a rock'n'roll shrieker to a feminine inspiration for cantautori, was Gino Paoli's song "Il cielo in una stanza" ("The Sky in a Room").^[36] The lyrics came to Paoli, lying on the bed of a brothel. Looking at the purple ceiling, the idea had come to him: "Love can grow at any moment at any place".^[37] The single release of the song topped the list of annual sales in Italy^[4] and reached Billboard Hot 100. Video performances of the song were included in the movies Io bacio... tu baci and Appuntamento a Ischia. Later it was featured in the Goodfellas movie.

"Piano", another slow song published in 1960, received no special attention in Italy. Recorded by Matt Monro as "Softly, as I Leave You", the single reached #10 in the UK Top 40. In 1964 the song was released in the US by Frank Sinatra, peaking at #27 of the Billboard Hot 100.

In the 1961 Sanremo song festival, Mina performed two songs. "Io amo, tu ami" finished at the fourth place and "Le mille bolle blu" at the fifth.^[38] After the contest dissappointment, Mina declared withdrawal from performing at the Italian Song Festival in Sanremo again. Her contest singles made it to the Top 5 of the weekly Italian charts. Alongside them, the surf pop "Moliendo Cafe" and "Renato" hit the Italian Top at, respectively, #1 and #4.^[4] In the Federal Republic of Germany, her single "Heißer Sand" went to number one and spent over half a year on the charts^[39] in Summer and Autumn, 1962.^[40] Subsequently, Mina recorded the song in French as "Notre étoile", in Spanish as "Un desierto", and in Italian as "Si lo so". Anneke Grönloh recorded it in Dutch as "Brandend Zand", and in English as "Oh, Malaysia".

[edit] Growing up (1963–1965)

In 1963 Mina's TV and radio career was abrupted by Radiotelevisione Italiana, as she refused to cover her relationship with and pregnancy from the married actor Corrado Pani. Her record sales stayed unaffected and due to the public demand Radiotelevisione Italiana ended the ban.^[5] On 10 January 1964, Mina returned to the screen in the La fiera dei sogni program, with the serious "Città vuota".^[41] Mina changed her record label to Ri-Fi and her manager to Tonino Ascoldi. The first release of the team was the single "È l'uomo per me", a cover of Jody Miller's "He Walks Like a Man". The release became the biggest selling record of the year in Italy.^[4] Her new melodic maner^[42] was demonstrated again on 11 December 1964 TV program "Il macchiettario", performing "Io sono quel che sono" ("I Am What I Am"). The first episode of the series of twelve Studio Uno nights of musical variety^[43] presented Mina's new blond look with shaved eyebrows. The shows included morbid blues songs "Un bacio è troppo poco" and "Un anno d'amore".^[44] The latter was her version of Nino Ferrer's "C'est irreparable".^[45] In the same series she performed "Brava", a rhythmic jazz number specially written by Bruno Canfora to demonstrate Mina's vocal range and performing skills.^[46] Her Studio Uno album topped the Italian album chart of the year.

Mina signed a contract with the Barilla pasta label, starring in ten pasta commercials until 1971. In 2005, Mina's performances, advertising the Barilla products, were published on VHS and DVD as "Nei caroselli Barilla".

[edit] Se telefonando (1966)

In Spring 1966, Maurizio Costanzo and Ghigo De Chiara, the authors of the Aria condizionata TV show, wrote the lyrics of the theme for their TV program.^[12] The serialist composer Ennio Morricone was asked to compose the music^[12] for the dark mode lyrics of "Se telefonando".^[6] The encounter of the three authors and Mina took place in a Radiotelevisione Italiana rehearsal room at Via Teulada, Rome.^[12] Morricone started to repeat a short musical theme^[12] or by his words a "micro-cell"^[47] of just three notes at an upright pianoforte. He had caught the piece of melody from the siren of a Marseilles police car. After a few bars 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 eight transitions of tonality building tension throughout the chorus.^[12][6] Morricone's arrangement featured melodic trumpet lines, Hal Blaine-style drumming, a string set, a sixties Europop female choir and intense subsonic-sounding trombones.^[6] "Se telefonando" was presented in May 1966 in a Studio Uno episode, and in August the same year at Aria condizionata.

The single peaked at #7 of the Italian charts and was 53rd in the annual list of sales. Featuring the song as one of the standout tracks among "Ta-ra-ta-ta" and "Una casa in cima al mondo", the Studio Uno 66 album was the 5th biggest selling album of the year in Italy.^[17] Another song, "Tu sei un uomo" was written for the Christmas show "Veglia di Natale" by Diego Fabbri.^[48]

[edit] Independence (1966–1968)

In 1966, Mina started to co-operate with the Swiss Broadcasting Service and Orchestra Radiosa in Lugano. In collaboration with her father, she founded their independent record label, PDU. 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 in Italy. Mina continued to perform on Italian TV, singing "Zum zum zum" in the Sabato sera Spring 1967 variety series, accompanied by NATO naval band. The series also included "La coppia più bella del mondo", a duet with Adriano Celentano. On a 22 April 1967 show she performed "Addio", recorded at the Teatro Regio di Parma. The title of the song "Sono, come tu mi vuoi" ("I Am, as You Like Me") was taken from Luigi Pirandello's play "Come tu mi vuoi". Mina's performance of the song was an allusion to the manic attention of the press at the artist's private life.^[49]

The Senza rete ("Unplugged") TV program of 18 July 1968 was recorded live without playback. The set of the concert was the Auditorio A of the Radiotelevisione Italiana regional headquarters in Naples.^[50] The program presented Mina turning the late Luigi Tenco's song "Se stasera sono qui" into a rigorous piece of soul music^[51] in the score of Pino Calvi. Another combination of soul and Italian melody was the elegant "Un colpo al cuore" in Augusto Martelli's orchestration. The songs were performed again at La Bussola to celebrate the 10th anniversary of her carieer, recording the album Mina alla Bussola dal vivo.^[52] This was the first live album in the history of Italian singing.^[53]

[edit] Canzonissima (1968)

Canzonissima was a series of variety nights from September 1968 to January 1969. The shows were hosted by Mina, Walter Chiari and Paolo Panelli. The Saturday night live events gathered unprecedented 20–22 million viewers per evening. During the shows, Mina was accompanied by an orchestra of 400 people and a choir of 130.^[54] Most of the orchestration was scored by the conductor Bruno Canfora. "Sacumdì Sacumdà", Mina's talking and laughing version of Carlos Imperial's bossa nova "Nem Vem Que Não Tem" narrowly escaped a ban by Radiotelevisione Italiana because of its unholy lyrics.

The song was performed as a part of a musical fantasy, back to back with "Quelli che hanno un cuore", her intense version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart".^[55] Another interpretation of a Dionne Warwick's song was "La voce del silenzio" ("Silent Voices") by Paolo Limiti and Elio Isola.^[56] "Niente di niente" was her interpretation of the Delfonics' "Break your promise" in Augusto Martelli's orchestration. Mina's gestures and mimics of the performance emphasized Giorgio Calabrese's lyrics, the story of a puzzled woman in love. The series also included the songs "Fantasia" and "La musica è finita". 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 piece of atmospheric music by Bruno Canfora.^[57] The songs of the variety series were recorded and issued as the album Canzonissima '68.

[edit] Mogol-Battisti (1969–1973)

After a break of three months, Mina returned by recording and performing the song "Non credere" composed by Luigi Clausetti and Pietro Soffici, and lyrics by Mogol, in April.^[58] The single was the third most sold record of the year in Italy.^[59] This lead to cooperation with Mogol and his fellow composer Lucio Battisti. The team produced a set of songs including "Io e te da soli", "Insieme", "Amor mio", "Io vivrò senza te" and "E penso a te".^[60] The material provided by the songwriting duo was the core for five of Mina's albums. The album Bugiardo più che mai...più incosciente che mai... was Mina's first independent album at the weekly #1 of the Italian charts. It was the biggest selling album of the year 1969 in Italy. ... quando tu mi spiavi in cima a un batticuore... was the seventh in the annual record chart of 1970. Del mio meglio... (My Best...) was the second biggest selling album of the year 1971 in Italy. Mina, her second album of the year was the biggest selling album of 1972 in Italy. The two albums were recorded during her break in live performances to give birth to her daughter Benedetta.

Mina's comeback took place at Italian Broadcasting Service's variety series Teatro 10, Spring 1972. The shows included "Balada para mi muerte", a nuevo tango duet with Ástor Piazzolla at the bandoneón. The performance was accompanied by the musical group Conjunto 9. The song "Grande grande grande" was the second biggest selling single of the year in Italy. Covered by Shirley Bassey as "Never never never", it had international success at the UK Top 10 and #1 of the Australian charts. Céline Dion and Luciano Pavarotti recorded the song as I Hate You Then I Love You in 1998.

The Luigi Albertelli's song "Fiume azzurro" was a copy of Lucio Battisti's handwriting.^[61] The final number of the eight Teatro 10 episodes was "Parole parole", a duet with Alberto Lupo. The song was an easy listening dialogue of Mina's singing with Lupo's declamation. The theme of the 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 parole - words. The single was released in April 1972 to become a top hit of Italian charts.^[62] Dalida and Alain Delon performed "Paroles paroles", the French take of the song.

After the Teatro 10 series, Mina declared retirement from public appearances after an exclusive concert at La Bussola club. The show was due to be held on September 16. This turned up thousands of people at the nightclub's doorstep.^[63][64] About 2,000 spectators struggled their way inside, leaving thousands to listen at the street and at the beach.^[65] Gianni Ferrio's Orchestra featured Gianni Basso at the tenor saxophone and Oscar Valdambrini at the trumpet.^[66]

The concert was recorded and published as "Dalla Bussola". Recorded by Polivideo TV company, the event was aired on Sky Italia as a sequence from 1 January to 21 January 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.

Having lost her husband Virgilio Crocco in 1973, Mina continued her chart success with "E poi..." and "L'importante è finire" both topping the Italian charts.

[edit] Invisible, yet omnipresent (1974–)

Mina's last live TV appearance was the final episode of the Milleluci series, on 16 March 1974. Alongside Raffaella Carrà, Mina was the hostess of the series. With "Non gioco più" ("The Game Is Over"), a blues duet with harmonica player Toots Thielemans, Mina announced her withdrawal from public performances.^[67] Her last video appearance on TV was a censored version of her eroticist performance of "Ancora ancora ancora". The video was the final number of the "Mille e una luce" show on 1st July 1978.^[68] 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 public performance on 23 August 1978 at the Bussoladomani theatre. This had been built as an extension of La Bussola to facilitate the crowds of the like of Mina's 1972 concert.^[69] The concert was recorded and published as "Mina Live '78".^[70] She never commented the reasons for her withdrawal.^[5]

Mina 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. All of Mina's records under the PDU label have reached the 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, Domenico Modugno, the Neapolitan song and classical/religious music. After leaving the stage, her greatest chart success has been gained by duets. In 1985, "Questione di feeling", a duet with Riccardo Cocciante was the 13th most sold single of the year in Italy. The album Mina Celentano, combining Mina with Adriano Celentano, was the biggest selling record of the year 1998 in Italy. Starting from 1989, all of her records included the jazzy fortepiano of Danilo Rea.

The break in Mina's TV appearances lasted until 2001, when Mina released footage of her recording sessions. The videos were broadcasted over the Wind internet site on 30 March. This resulted in millions of visits on the site at the night only, and additional millions on following days. The footagte was released as the DVD Mina in Studio. After the event, Mina's singles started to chart in Italy again. The single "Succhiando l'uva" (2002), written for her by Zucchero, peaked at #3 of the chart, her cover of "Don't call me baby (Can't take my eyes off you)" (2003) reached #4 in Italy, and stayed for four weeks among the 100 singles receiving the biggest airplay in the world (according to Airplay World Official Top).^[71] Mina's latest single "Alibi" (2007) reached #6 in Italy. The triple CD The Platinum Collection, an official Best of, reached #1 of Italian chart. So did Olio (1999), Veleno (2002), Bula Bula (2005) and Todavía. Mina's late releases have included duets with Mick Hucknall, Fabrizio De André, Piero Pelù, Adriano Celentano, Lucio Dalla, Joan Manuel Serrat, Chico Buarque, Tiziano Ferro and Giorgia. In recent years, Mina wrote a weekly column on the front page of La Stampa and a page in the Italian edition of the magazine Vanity Fair, answering to fanletters. In 2008 she will celebrate the 50th anniversary of her singing career.

[edit] Artistry

[edit] Queen of Screamers

Caught by the wave of rock’n’roll sweeping across Italy in 1958,^[5] Mina listened to American records^[25] and was a frequent visitor at the Derby jazzclub,^[72] the Santa Tecla and the Taverna Messicana clubs of Milan. The places were known for promoting rock'n'roll.^[25] Part of Mina’s repertoire in the beginning of her career were clumsy imitations of British and American rock and jazz songs.^[5] The new rhythm called for new artistry. Mina was one of the first singers on Italian TV, who moved her body during her performance.^[5] Earlier in 1958, Domenico Modugno had caused astonishment by raising his hands in the air during, performing Nel blu dipinto di blu („Volare”). Mina’s first TV appearances took a step further in breaking the rule of the motionless artist. Using her whole body to visualize the beat, she shook her head, hands and hips in the rhythm.^[5] The writer Edoardo Sanguineti recalled her performance on TV as:^[73]

“

...for many people a memorable experience...a revelation.

”

For her distinctive timbre and power, Mario Riva, the host of the TV program, entitled her as an urlator ("screamer"),^[74][75] referring to the energetic rock'n'roll generation. Later Mina was considered the Queen of the Screamers.^[6] Her rock’n’roll act brought her another nickname "Tiger of Cremona".^[76]

[edit] Grownup

The song "Il cielo in una stanza" introduced Mina’s new sensual maner.^[77][78] Mina’s lovestory with Corrado Pani represented the evolution of the social status of women in Italy, that did not accord with the dominant catholic and bourgeois virtues.^[20] The scandal developed an image of a ’bad girl’,^[6] which she emphasized later with her song themes. Particularly her performance of "Sacumdì Sacumdà" on air, after Radiotelevisione Italiana had expressed their displeasure with the lyrics about a girl’s encounter with the devil.^[79] The lyrics of "Ta-ra-ta-ta" were considered immoral by the Italian broadcasting service, because they dealt with smoking.^[80] Other songs, that were initially banned by Radiotelevisione Italiana, included "La canzone di Marinella" and "L'importante è finire". The latter alluded to sex without love.^[81] Mina had a sexy appeal and a cool act,^[6] including public smoking,^[82] dyed blond hair, shaved eyebrows and heavy use of eye make-up.^[83]

The main theme of Mina's songs was dramatic interpretation of distressing love stories.^[84] The composer Bruno Canfora wrote the song "Brava" and Ennio Morricone the song "Se telefonando" to demonstrate her singing skills. The pieces had large vocal range and transitions of tonality.^[85][12] Songs were exclusively composed and arranged for Mina accompanied by an all-star orchestra of the TV variety series Studio uno, Sabato sera, Canzonissima and Teatro 10.^[86] Mina combined the classic Italian melody with soul music, particularly in "Un bacio è troppo poco" and "Se stasera sono qui".^[87] She helped to incorporate new styles to the Continental European pop music, particularly latin music with "La banda", nuevo tango with "Balada para mi muerte", and bossa nova with "Sacumdì Sacumdà".

Mina's mimics and body used to live with the story and the athmosphere of the song.^[88] As the music critic Gherardo Gentili said:^[89]

“

With Mina, a word became the word, a note became the note.

”

[edit] Mogol-Battisti

Marking a change in her musical style in 1969, the chameleon-like Mina^[90] changed her look into a new one, featuring long blonde curly hair. The first songs from Mogol and Lucio Battisti to Mina resumed with her soul skills, particularly "Insieme"^[91] and "Io e te da soli".^[92] Along the time of the cooperation with the songwriting duo, Mina turned towards middle-of-the-road pop.^[6] Battisti's melodies were sophisticated and the chord sequence complex. The songs were characterized by frequent changes of rhythm, pauses and dialogues between the voice and the orchestra.^[93] Another characterizing feature was an instrumental introduction without a rhythmic base. Lucio Battisti called Mina an ideal singer for a composer,^[94][91] making the best of the authors' complicated ideas and Italian language skills.^[91][95]

[edit] Mina Latina

A fan of bossa nova, Mina recorded in Spanish and Portuguese from the start of her career. This gave her a fan base in Spain and Latin-America. Pedro Almodóvar used Mina's songs in his movie soundtracks, and translated her "Un anno d'amore" into "Un Año de amor". In 2001 Mina published the compilation album Colección Latina, with standards in Spanish, as well as translations of her Italian successes. In 2003 the musical "Mina... che cosa sei?" was staged in Argentina, based on Mina's songs.^[96] In 2007, Mina published Todavía, an album in Spanish, which reached the Spanish chart. It included duets with Joan Manuel Serrat, Miguel Bosé, Diego Torres, Chico Buarque, and Diego El Cigala.

[edit] Personal life

In 1962 Mina fell in love with the actor Corrado Pani. As he was already married, although separated, 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 from performing on any public Italian television and radio channels. As her record sales stayed unaffected, and people continued demanding to see Mina on the air, Radiotelevisione Italiana was forced to end the ban and let Mina return to television on January 10, 1964. In a year's time her love story with Corrado ended, resulting in a legal battle for baby Massimiliano's custody rights.^[97] 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 Volontè'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 Il Messaggero. In November 1971 their daughter Benedetta Mazzini was born. In 1973 Crocco died in a car accident.^[98]

In 1981 Mina started her relationship with the Swiss cardiologist Eugenio Quaini. In 1990 she acquired Swiss citizenship. Mina Anna Mazzini and Eugenio Quaini got married on 10 January 2006. According to the Swiss law, the wife changed to her husbands last name - Mrs. Mina Anna Quaini.^[98] Towards her audience, she addresses herself Mina Mazzini.^[99]

Mina's passions include cooking and poker.^[98]

[edit] Discography

Main article: Mina's albums

Main article: Mina's singles

Mina's following albums reached annual Top 5 in Italy.[100] 1965: Studio Uno #1 1966: Studio Uno 66 #5 1967: Sabato sera - Studio Uno '67 #3 1968: Mina alla Bussola dal vivo #3 1969: Bugiardo più che mai...più incosciente che mai... #1 1971: Del mio meglio #2 1971: Mina #1 1972: Cinquemilaquarantatrè #5 1973: Frutta e verdura/Amanti di valore #2 1975: Minacantalucio/La Mina #5 1998: Mina Celentano with Adriano Celentano #1

Mina's following singles reached annual Top 20 in Italy.[101] 1959: "Tintarella di luna" #15 1960: "Il cielo in una stanza" #1 1962: "Moliendo cafè" #19 1962: "Renato" #13 1964: "È l'uomo per me" #1 1964: "Città vuota" #19 1965: "Un anno d'amore" #2 1965: "Ora o mai più" #19 1967: "La banda" #18 1969: "Non credere" #3 1970: "Insieme" #2 1970: "Io e te da soli" #17 1971: "Amor mio" #3 1973: "E poi..." #2 1975: "L'importante è finire" #2 1985: "Questione di feeling" with Riccardo Cocciante #13

[edit] Filmography

Mina has acted in the following movies:^[102]

• 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)

[edit] Bibliography

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 & Kupfer 1996)
• 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 (Gremese 1998)
• 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)

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Mina at Ready Steady Girls!