Raffaella Carrà

Raffaella Carrà made her initial screen appearances as a youngster throughout the 1950s, later taking on roles in dozens of motion pictures during the sixties while issuing her debut pop collection Raffaella in 1970, the identical year she first fronted a variety program on television. The versatile Italian singer, actress, dancer and broadcast figure remained a familiar presence across her homeland as well as Spain and Latin America well into the twenty-first century. She became the first woman to bare her navel on Italian airwaves when she performed “Tuca Tuca” on Canzonissima in 1971, the track that set off a nationwide dance phenomenon; four years afterward the English-language rendering of the continental hit “A Far l’Amore Comincia Tu,” titled “Do It, Do It Again,” reached the British top ten. Her eighth album, the rhythm-driven Fiesta released in 1977, climbed to a career-best fourth place on the Spanish charts. By the early eighties she had largely stepped away from scripted cinema, yet she continued presenting programs in both Italy and Spain across the eighties, nineties and 2000s, meanwhile delivering sets of disco and buoyant Euro-pop such as the 1981 self-titled Raffaella Carrà, which earned gold certification in Spain. Her final acting part in a scripted production came with the 1997 television miniseries Mamma per Caso. In 1999 she returned with Fiesta: I Grandi Successi, a collection of revisited favorites. As her studio output diminished, Carrà served as Italy’s spokesperson for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011 and completed three seasons as a judge on The Voice of Italy by 2016. Working across eight successive decades, she closed her recording career with the 2018 holiday album Ogni Volta Che È Natale and made one last screen appearance in the 2020 jukebox musical My Heart Goes Boom!

Born Raffaella Maria Roberta Pelloni in Bologna on June 18, 1943, the multifaceted artist spent her childhood in the village of Bellaria-Igea Marina in Rimini, absorbing melodies by watching the program Il Musichiere, itself modeled on Name That Tune. At eight she entered the National Academy of Dance in Rome, and at nine she debuted on film in the 1952 drama Torment of the Past. Abandoning ballet for cinema studies at Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia during adolescence, she secured additional acting parts in the late fifties, her profile rising further with a role in the 1960 war film It Happened in ’43. By the time of 1961’s 5 Marines per 100 Ragazze she had adopted the professional surname Carrà, borrowed from painter Carlo Carrà, and gained wider notice through her participation in the 1965 production Von Ryan Express alongside Frank Sinatra. That same year she appeared in the Italian television musical comedy Scaramouche. Among her American credits, a guest role on the NBC series I Spy arrived in 1966.

A 1970 appearance on Io, Agata e Tu introduced the provocative tuca-tuca dance and its accompanying single, and in 1971, while hosting Canzonissima, she performed the number wearing a midriff-baring top. The Vatican newspaper voiced objections to the televised first on Italian television. Beginning in 1970 she hosted multiple series in Italy, among them Canzonissima, Fantastico, Domenica In and Carràmba! Che Sorpresa, and likewise fronted programs in Spain including Hola Raffaella! and En Casa con Raffaella. During this period she maintained a regular schedule of releases, starting with 1972’s Raffaella...Senzarespiro, her third successive RCA album. After signing with CGD she issued Scatola a Sorpresa in 1973 and Milleluci in 1974. The 1974 disco set Felicità Tà Tà yielded the title track and “Rumore,” earned gold status in Italy, and, through translated editions, ultimately sold ten million copies globally. From her 1976 album Forte Forte Forte the single “53.53.456” received gold certification in Canada, while “Do It, Do It Again” gave her sole British top-ten entry; the original Italian version “A Far l’Amore Comincia Tu” reached the top three in Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Its follow-up, 1977’s Fiesta, peaked at number four on the Spanish album chart. CBS then put out her next three albums—1978’s Raffaella, Hay Que Venir al Sur, 1979’s Applauso and 1980’s Mi Spendo Tutto—while she maintained her television commitments. Spanish imprint Hispavox issued the subsequent Raffaella Carrà in 1981 together with Raffaella Carrà 82 and 1983’s Fatalità. Returning to CGD, she released Bolero in 1984, after which Fonit Cetra delivered Fidati! and Curiosità in the following two years. Output slowed in the nineties, yet she still recorded Raffaella for CBS in 1988, Inviato Speciale for Fonit Cetra in 1990 and another self-titled Fonit Cetra album in 1991. Under Germany’s Ariola Records she issued Hola Raffaella in 1993 while appearing on the award-winning Spanish series of the same name. Three years later came Carràmba Che Rumba!, and in 1997 she took a part in the RAI miniseries Mamma per Caso, her last scripted screen role.

RCA/BMG released Fiesta: I Grandi Successi, a set of re-recordings opening with “Rumore” and “Tuca Tuca,” in 1999. Fourteen years passed before she returned with the still buoyant Replay: The Album in 2013. Throughout the recording hiatus she remained visible through hosting duties and special broadcasts, notably serving as Italy’s spokesperson for the Eurovision Song Contest 2011. From 2013 to 2016 she sat on the judging panel of The Voice of Italy for seasons one, two and four. Her final album, Ogni Volta Che È Natale, appeared for the 2018 holiday season, and her last hosting assignment was 2019’s A Raccontare Comincia Tu, in which she interviewed celebrities from their residences. She made a brief appearance in the Spanish musical comedy Explota Explota, also known as My Heart Goes Boom!, in 2020. Raffaella Carrà died in Rome on July 5, 2021, at the age of seventy-eight, from lung cancer.