Mietta

Born in Taranto on November 12, 1969, as Daniela Miglietta, Mietta emerged as an Italian vocalist and performer whose rich, captivating timbre enabled shifts across soul, electronica, and melodic pop, paired with a striking Mediterranean allure. Early local work with the band Ciak preceded her 1987 acting debut in the radio program Nasce una Stella. Producer Claudio Mattone guided her into music the following year, when she entered the Sanremo Music Festival with “Sogno.” She returned to the event with “Canzoni” in 1989, which won the New Artists section, and again in 1990 with the duet “Vattene Amore” alongside Amedeo Minghi; that track became one of the decade’s standout Italian hits, moving more than 350,000 copies and mirroring the success of her debut album Canzoni, issued the same year. Momentum held through 1991’s Volano le Pagine, featuring the single “Dubbi No,” and 1992’s Lasciamoci Respirare, cut in London under Geoff Westley and containing her first original compositions.

Reappearing at Sanremo in 1993 with “Figli di Chi,” supported by the I Ragazzi di Via Meda ensemble, Mietta began steering away from conventional Italian melodic pop. The shift surfaced first in the funky, blues-inflected Cambia Pelle of 1994, continued with the soul- and trip-hop-leaning Daniela è Felice the next year, and reached a further point with the 1998 soul tribute La Mia Anima. In 1996 she supplied the Italian voice of Esmeralda for Walt Disney’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Acting roles in domestic television productions—La Piovra 8, L’Ispettore Giusti, and Donne di Mafia—followed. The 2000 anthology Tutto o Niente gathered earlier material alongside fresh songs, while 2003 brought Per Esempio...per Amore. After joining the 2005 season of Music Farm, her output turned toward concise, accessible pop on 74100 (2006) and Con il Sole nelle Mani (2008).