Mina Anna Maria Mazzini (born 25 March 1940) or Mina Anna Quaini (for the Swiss civil registry), known mononymously as Mina, is an Italian singer and actress.
1958
After finishing high school in 1958, she attended college where she majored in accounting.
While on a summer holiday in Versilia on 8 August 1958, Mazzini gave an improvised performance of the song "Un'anima tra le mani" to amuse her family after a concert at the La Bussola night club.
During the following nights, Sergio Bernardini, the owner of the club, held her back in her attempts to get back on stage.
In September, she started her solo career with the backing of the band Happy Boys.
Her concert in September 1958, before an audience of 2,500 people at the Theatre of Rivarolo del Re, won enthusiastic approval from local critics.
She soon signed with Davide Matalon, owner of the small record company Italdisc.
Her first single, "Non partir"/"Malatia", was produced under the stage name Mina for the Italian audience.
Simultaneously, "Be Bop A Lula"/"When" was issued under the name Baby Gate for the international audience.
Baby was chosen as a contrast to her 178 cm height (5 ft 10 in) – exceptionally tall for an Italian woman – and Gate as a tribute to The Golden Gate Quartet.
In December, her performance at the Sei giorni della canzone festival of Milan was described by the La Notte newspaper as the "birth of a star".
It was Mina's last performance with the Happy Boys, as her family refused to let her skip college for a scheduled tour of Turkey.
Less than a month after the breakup with her previous band, Mina co-founded a new group called Solitari, which consisted of a singer, a saxophonist, a pianist, a contrabassist, and a guitarist.
1959
Mina's TV appearances in 1959 were the first for a female rock and roll singer in Italy.
Her loud syncopated singing earned her the nickname "Queen of Screamers".
The public also labelled her the "Tigress of Cremona" for her wild gestures and body shakes.
Her first hit with the band featured Mina performing an extra-loud, syncopated version of the popular song "Nessuno" ("Nobody"), which she performed at the first rock festival in the Milan Ice Palace in February 1959.
Performances of the song on the TV game shows Lascia o raddoppia? and Il musichiere on 1 March and 4 April were hailed by Italian critics.
1960
She was a staple of television variety shows and a dominant figure in Italian pop music from the 1960s to the mid-1970s, known for her three-octave vocal range, the agility of her soprano voice, and her image as an emancipated woman.
In performance, Mina combined several modern styles with traditional Italian melodies and swing music, which made her the most versatile pop singer in Italian music.
With over 150 million records sold worldwide, she is the best-selling Italian musical artist.
Mina dominated the country's charts for 15 years and reached an unsurpassed level of popularity.
She has scored 79 albums and 71 singles on the Italian charts.
Mina's more refined sensual manner was introduced in 1960 with Gino Paoli's ballad "This World We Love In", which charted on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961.
The singer combined classic Italian pop with elements of blues, R&B and soul music during the late 1960s, especially when she worked in collaboration with the singer-songwriter Lucio Battisti.
1962
When she turned to light pop tunes, Mina's chart-toppers in West Germany in 1962 and Japan in 1964 earned her the title of the best international artist in these countries.
1963
Mina was banned from TV and radio in 1963 because her pregnancy and relationship with a married actor did not accord with the dominant Catholic and bourgeois morals.
After the ban, the public broadcasting service RAI tried to continue to prohibit her songs, which were forthright in dealing with subjects such as religion, smoking and sex.
Mina's cool act combined sex appeal with public smoking, dyed blonde hair, and shaved eyebrows to create a "bad girl" image.
Mina's voice has distinctive timbre and great power.
Her main themes are anguished love stories performed in high dramatic tones.
1965
Top Italian songwriters created material with large vocal ranges and unusual chord progressions to showcase her singing skills, particularly "Brava" by Bruno Canfora (1965) and the pseudo-serial "Se telefonando" by Ennio Morricone (1966).
The latter song was covered by several performers abroad.
1973
Shirley Bassey carried Mina's ballad "Grande grande grande" to charts in the U.S., UK, and other English-speaking countries in 1973.
1974
Mina's easy listening duet "Parole parole" was turned into a worldwide hit by Dalida and Alain Delon in 1974.
1978
Mina gave up public appearances in 1978 but has continued to release popular albums and musical projects on a yearly basis to the present day.
Anna Maria Mazzini was born into a working-class family in Busto Arsizio, Lombardy.
The family moved to work in Cremona in her childhood.
She listened to American rock and roll and jazz records and was a frequent visitor at the Santa Tecla and the Taverna Messicana clubs of Milan, both known for promoting rock and roll.
1982
In 1982 her disco single "Morirò per te" entered in the Billboard Hot Dance/Disco Top 100.
