Profile of Rita Pavone on Famous Like Me

Rita Pavone (born 1950) is an Italian ballad and rock singer who enjoyed success through the 1960s. Pavone is also an actress.

Singing career

Rita Pavone participated in the first "Festa degli Sconosciuti", a prestigious television competition, in 1962, winning the contest. In 1968, at the age of eighteen, Pavone married the contest's organizer, the also well known Italian singer Teddy Reno.

In 1965, Pavone participated as a musican guest in The Ed Sullivan Show, becoming a frequent guest there until 1970. Meanwhile, Pavone scored a string of hits, both with ballads and rock songs, in Spain, where she became a teen idol. Pavone enjoyed so much fame in Spain that it was commented, during a 2005 television documentary from that country, that such success for a foreign singer there is indeed rare.

Nina Pavone in the United States sang alongside Diana Ross and The Supremes, Ella Fitzgerald, Tom Jones, Duke Ellington and a number of singers of the era. It is said that Elvis Presley made a painting of her after she went to Memphis and he met her at a recording studio. Barbra Streisand recorded a duo with her. Pavone sang at Carnegie Hall in New York city during this era.

Returning to Italy, she made her debut as an actress, working in five films and participating in shows such as "Giornalino di Gian Burrasca" (a soap opera), and "Stasera Rita" ("This is Rita"), a variety show. In 1982, she participated in "Come Alice" ("Like Alice"), which became a hit in Italian television.

Later on during the 1980s, she would participate in comedy films, such as "2 sul pianerottolo", "Risate in salotto" and "Santarellina".

In 1992, Pavone returned to the United States, where she sang during a multiple artists concert that included Whitney Houston, Frank Sinatra, the Bolshoi Ballet and Cher at the Sands hotel in Atlantic City.

She then turned to acting in theater, participating in a William Shakespeare play and a Federico Fellini one. In 2002, Pavone had a concert at Miami's Dade auditorium.

Pavone and Reno continue being married. She has two sons, Alessandro and Giorgio, both of whom have become involved in show business themselves, Alessandro as a radio show host and Giorgio as a rock singer.

Rita Pavone has recorded a total of nine albums. All of her vinyl albums have been re-released in CD format, and a number of her recordings have been released in the latter format only.

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