Ornella Vanoni, an Italian singer, songwriter and actress who had a colorful career spanning six decades, died at her home in Milan on Friday, at the age of 91, after a cardiac arrest.
Born on September 22, 1934 in Milan, Vanoni began her artistic journey in the theater, making her stage debut in 1956. She became known in the late 1950s and early 1960s for her interpretation of canzoni della mala (songs about the Milanese underworld), earning the nickname cantante della mala .
Her commercial success came strongly in the 1960s with hits such as "Senza fine" and "Che cosa c'è", written by Gino Paoli, with whom Vanoni had a long artistic collaboration. She also won the Neapolitan Song Festival in 1964 with the song "Tu si na cosa grande".
Vanoni participated eight times in the Sanremo Music Festival, placing second in 1968 with "Casa Bianca", and fourth in three other editions (1967, 1970, 1999).
She also worked as an actress in film and television and experimented with various musical genres, including collaborations in bossa nova and jazz projects, such as the album "La voglia, la pazzia, l'incoscienza e l'allegria" (1976), which was included among the 100 greatest Italian albums by Rolling Stone magazine.
During the 1980s, she took full control of her artistic career, writing lyrics, creating concept albums, and winning prestigious awards, including the Tenco Award for Best Singer-Songwriter, being the first woman to win this award.
Her albums continued to be released into the 1990s, and in 2004 the song "L'appuntamento" regained worldwide fame after being included on the soundtrack of the film Ocean's Twelve.
In 2008, Vanoni celebrated the 50th anniversary of her career with a concert in Milan's Piazza Duomo in front of 35,000 people. Ten years later, at the age of 83, she surprised everyone by taking to the stage in Sanremo with the song "Imparare ad amarsi".
Vanoni was a frequent guest on the Italian TV show "Che Tempo Che Fa" and in recent years became known for her extreme honesty, humor and irony, connecting even more with her audience.
In an appearance in 2023, Vanoni said she wanted Italian jazz trumpeter Paolo Fresu to play at her funeral, to wear a Dior gown, and for her ashes to be scattered in the Venice lagoon.
