Biography
Gigliola Cinquetti is an Italian singer, born in Verona. She began her career at the age of fifteen, when she won the Castrocaro Music Festival. Her debut single “Penso all cose perdute” was released in late 1963. With the song “Non ho l’età (per amarti)” Cinquetti then participated in the Sanremo Festival 1964 and won the competition. The song represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest and Gigliola Cinquetti won the contst. The song became a huge European hit. It was followed by other singles such as “Il primo bacio che darò” and “Caro come te”. In 1965 Gigliola participated in Sanremo again, now with “Ho bisogno di vederti”.
In about the same period, she starred in a few music films. She also did some television work.
She repeated her victory in Sanremo in 1966 with “Dio, come ti amo”. The following year, her single “La rosa nera” was successful. After the 1968 Sanremo festival, she changed her style a little. The singer wanted to break away from her clichéd role and already worked in with Maurice Chevalier for a French album1969 ; In 1971 and 1972, she released two albums, “Cantando con gli amici” and “Su e giù per le montagne”, “Stasera ballo liscio” in 1973 contained light dance music.
With the song “Alle porte del sole” Cinquetti was able to win the 1973 Canzonissima competition. That gave her a second ticket to the Eurovision Song Contest where she sang the song “Si”. The broadcast of Cinquetti’s performance was censored in Italy, however, in order not to influence the ongoing referendum on the introduction of divorce.
The album “Pensieri di Donna” Cinquetti presented in 1978 did not achieve success. She then shifted her activities to television for a few years before returning to the Sanremo Festival in 1985 and again in 1989. In 1991 she co-hosted the Eurovision Song Contest in Rome together with Toto Cutugno, and in 1995 she was one of the participants of the Sanremo Festival for the last time.
In 2014, she presented the autobiographical book
“In viaggio con lei”. The following year, the singer also released a new album.
