Who Are Those Singers & Musicians? ~ Mina

 

Anna Maria Quaini was born in Busto Arsizio, Varese, Lombardy, Italy on March 25, 1940. Mina is an Italian singer and actress. She was a staple of television variety shows and a dominant figure in Italian pop music from the 1960s to the mid-1970s, known for her three-octave vocal range, the agility of her soprano voice, and her image as an emancipated woman.

Anna Maria Mazzini was born into a working-class family in Busto Arsizio, Lombardy. The family moved to work in Cremona in her childhood. She listened to American rock and roll and jazz records and was a frequent visitor at the Santa Tecla and the Taverna Messicana clubs of Milan, both known for promoting rock and roll. After finishing high school in 1958, she attended college where she majored in accounting.

Caught up in the wave of rock and roll sweeping across Italy in 1958, Mina listened to American records, and she was a frequent visitor at the Derby Club, the Santa Tecla, and the Taverna Messicana clubs of Milan, which promoted rock and roll music. Mina's repertoire at the beginning of her career included clumsy imitations of British and American rock and jazz songs, while her extra-loud and syncopated version of the song "Nessuno" showcased her excellent sense of rhythm.

Mina was banned from TV and radio in 1963 because her pregnancy and relationship with a married actor did not accord with the dominant Catholic and bourgeois morals. After the ban, the public broadcasting service RAI tried to continue to prohibit her songs, which were forthright in dealing with subjects such as religion, smoking and sex. Mina's cool act combined sex appeal with public smoking, dyed blonde hair, and shaved eyebrows to create a "bad girl" image.

Mina's voice has distinctive timbre and great power. Her main themes are anguished love stories performed in high dramatic tones. The singer combined classic Italian pop with elements of blues, R&B and soul music during the late 1960s, especially when she worked in collaboration with the singer-songwriter Lucio Battisti. Top Italian songwriters created material with large vocal ranges and unusual chord progressions to showcase her singing skills, particularly "Brava" by Bruno Canfora (1965) and the pseudo-serial "Se telefonando" by Ennio Morricone (1966).

Mina has scored 77 albums and 71 singles on the Italian charts. She is the only artist to land an album at the top of the Italian charts in each of the six decades from the start of record keeping in 1965. She released an album every year during 1958–2003 and continues to release new albums and singles.

Mina’s been married twice, first to Virgilio Crocco from 1970 to 1973 when he died. She then married Eugenio Quaini ​in 2006.

Mina’s only Spaghetti western song was “Un uomo col cappello” which she sang in the 1967 television musical western “Don’t Sing, Shoot!”.

MINA (aka Baby Gate, Mina Mazzini) (Anna Maria Quaini) [3/25/1940, Busto Arsizio, Varese, Lombardy, Italy -     ] – singer, actress, mother of composer Massimiliano Pani (Massimiliano Enrico Giacomo Pani)  [1963-    ] with actor Corrado Pani [1936-2005], married to Virgilio Crocco (1970-1973) mother of actress Benedetta Mazzini (Benedetta Crocco) [1971-    ], married to Professor Eugenio Quaini [1947-    ] (2006-    ).

Don’t Sing, Shoot! (TV) – 1967 [sings: “Un uomo col cappello”]