Patty Pravo

Patty Pravo (born 9 April 1948; Nicoletta Strambelli) is an Italian singer. With a career spanning more than four decades, Pravo has become one of the most successful Italian female singers. She debuted in 1966 and remained most successful for the rest of the 1960s as well as throughout the 1970s. Her most popular songs include "La bambola", "Pazza idea" and "Pensiero stupendo". She is credited with thirteen top 10 albums and fourteen top 10 singles in her native Italy. Pravo has participated in Sanremo Music Festival eight times, most recently in 2016. She was also a role model for women of the 1960s, exemplifying their evolution from more established conservative roles.

Strambelli studied at the conservatory institute of Benedetto Marcello and was acquainted with American poet Ezra Pound and with Angelo Roncalli (Pope John XXIII). At the age of fifteen she left home to live in London and then Rome, where she began her career singing in the Piper Club.

In 1966, Pravo released her first single, "Ragazzo triste" ("Sad Boy"), the Italian version of the song "But You're Mine" by Sonny & Cher. It was the first pop song broadcast on Vatican Radio. "Ragazzo triste" was followed by other popular singles in 1967, "Sto con te" ("I'm with You") and "Se perdo te" ("If I Lose You"), the latter written by English songwriter Paul Korda. In 1968, Pravo released what would become her most popular single and a number 1 hit, "La bambola" ("The Doll"), and her debut LP, Patty Pravo. The album topped the Italian albums chart and "La bambola" was awarded a gold disc.

In following years, the singer released other successful singles: "Gli occhi dell'amore" ("The Eyes of Love") and "Tripoli 1969", both released in 1968, "Il paradiso" ("Paradise", written by Lucio Battisti) and "La spada nel cuore" ("A Sword in the Heart"), released in 1969 and 1970, respectively. All those singles were top 10 hits in Italy, and "La spada nel cuore" came fifth at Sanremo Music Festival. Her albums Concerto per Patty (1969), another LP titled Patty Pravo (1970) and Di vero in fondo (The Truth Inside, 1971) were all commercially successful.

In 1973, Pravo earned one of her biggest hits, the number 1 single "Pazza idea" ("Crazy Idea"). The song's parent album, also titled Pazza idea reached number 1 in Italy as well. It was followed by another chart-topping album, Mai una signora (Never a Lady), in 1974, which spawned a popular single "Come un Pierrot" ("Like a Pierrot"). Albums Incontro (The Meeting) and Tanto (So Much), released in 1975 and 1976, respectively, both placed within the top 10 and included successful singles of the same names. Tanto saw Pravo collaborating with Vangelis.

In 1978, alongside Amanda Lear and Grace Jones, Pravo appeared in a highly controversial Italian TV show, Stryx, where she performed a song in each episode. Songs from Stryx would appear on her next album, Miss Italia, which also included "Pensiero stupendo" ("Wonderful Thought"), a song that became one of her most successful and highest-charting singles to date. In 1979, the singer had another top 20 hit with "Autostop" from her LP Munich Album.

The singer moved to the USA at the beginning of the 1980s, what was prompted by the hostility of the Italian press towards her. She posed nude for Playboy in 1981 and married in 1982. Her next record, Cerchi (Circles), was one of her lowest-charting albums to date, however, the 1984 single "Per una bambola" ("For a Doll") was a significant success at Sanremo Festival. Nonetheless, subsequent albums failed to match the success of their predecessors from the previous decade, and for the rest of the 1980s Pravo struggled to score another hit release. In 1987, she took part in Sanremo Festival for the third time, with the song "Pigramente signora" ("Lazy Lady"). However, the singer was accused of plagiarism, what led to the cancellation of her new contract with Virgin Records. Her 1989 album Oltre l'Eden... (More Than Eden...) met with positive critical reception, but was not a chart success. In 1990, the singer released an album of re-recordings of her classic hits. In 1992, Pravo was arrested for possessing hashish.

1994 saw Pravo leaving for China, where she would make history as the first Italian artist to perform in Italian language that country. The trip provided inspiration for her next album, Ideogrammi, entirely produced in China. In 1995, Pravo returned to Sanremo with the song "I giorni dell'armonia" ("Days of Harmony"), which was met with lukewarm reception. The singer celebrated the 30th anniversary of her musical debut in 1996, embarking on a greatest hits tour, and in 1997 once again performed at Sanremo Festival. This time around it was a triumph, and her song "...E dimmi che non vuoi morire" ("...And Tell Me You Don't Want to Die") was warmly received by the audience and critics alike. The single was a big chart success, as well as her first live album Bye Bye Patty. On her next studio album, Notti, guai e libertà (Nights, Trouble and Freedom), Pravo worked with some of the greatest Italian songwriters, including Ivano Fossati, Franco Battiato and Lucio Dalla. The album was another commercial success and was followed by a tour.

An exhibition inspired by the work of Patty Pravo was held in 2000 in Italy. Her next album, Una donna da sognare, was another successful step, and the title song became a hit single. Released in 2002, Radio Station also charted within the top 10, and the first single, "L'immenso", was Patty's return to Sanremo Festival. The singer embarked on a tour and collected a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. Her 2004 album, Nic-Unic, presented an innovative, avant garde sound, with most songs written by Patty Pravo herself. The single "Che uomo sei" ("What Kind of Man Are You") was a chart success. In 2007, she released the album Spero che ti piaccia... Pour toi (I Hope You Like It... For You), a homage to Dalida, with a selection of her songs sung in French, Italian and Arabic. Later in the year, Pravo released an autobiography Bla, bla, bla....

To commemorate the fortieth anniversary of her hit "La bambola", the singer released a new version of the song, "La bambola 2008". She embarked on another tour, what would result in a successful double live album, recorded at Verona Arena. She took part in Sanremo Festival with the song "E io verrò un giorno là" ("And I'll Be There One Day") in 2009, and in 2011, performing "Il vento e le rose" ("The Wind and Roses"). 2011 saw the release of her new album, Nella terra dei pinguini (In the Land of Penguins), which charted within Italian top 20. In 2012, she released singles "Com'è bello far l'amore" ("How Nice It Is to Make Love"), which would win an Italian Golden Globe, and "La luna".

Discography:
1968 - Patty Pravo
1969 - Concerto per Patty
1970 - Patty Pravo
1971 - Bravo Pravo
1971 - Di vero in fondo
1971 - Per aver visto un uomo piangere e soffrire Dio si trasformò in musica e poesia
1972 - Sì... incoerenza
1973 - Pazza idea
1974 - Mai una signora
1975 - Incontro
1976 - Tanto
1976 - Patty Pravo
1978 - Miss Italia
1979 - Munich Album
1982 - Cerchi
1984 - Occulte persuasioni
1987 - Pigramente signora
1989 - Oltre l'Eden...
1990 - Pazza idea eccetera eccetera...
1994 - Ideogrammi
1998 - Notti, guai e libertà
2000 - Una donna da sognare
2002 - Radio Station
2004 - Nic-Unic
2007 - Spero che ti piaccia ... pour toi
2011 - Nella terra dei pinguini

Patty Pravo in the news

	Betta Lemme Releases New Single 'Cry' (23/03/2021)
	Betta Lemme's 'Bambola' Returns To The Charts (26/02/2021)