Patty Pravo

Patty Pravo went from nightclub singer to one of Italy’s most successful stars in the 1960s. Her 1968 hit La bambola remains one of the biggest-selling hits of all time. 

She was born Nicoletta Strambelli on 9 April 1948 in Venice. While at school she studied music, dance and orchestra conducting, and aged ten, she enrolled in the Benedetto Marcello Conservatory.

At 15 she left home for London. After a few months she returned to Italy, and headed for Rome. She was spotted dancing in the city’s famous Piper club and was asked to perform there. As a result, the young blonde was offered a recording contract with the RCA label.

Billed as the Piper Girl, she released her first single, Ragazzo triste, a cover of Sonny Bono’s But you're mine, at the end of 1966. The single made number 13 in the Italian charts in January 1967.

She performed the rather naff Qui e là at the Cantagiro song festival and the song was consigned to the B-side of the record that was change the public’s perception of the young singer, Se perdo te. The song, a cover of a single by UK-based American singer PP Arnold, The time has come, was released in 1968. It proved her vocal ability and maturity, and made number 18 in the charts.

Her next release made the young singer an international star. Though she didn’t care for La bambola when she recorded it, it topped the charts in Italy and sold well throughout Europe and beyond, shifting around nine milion copies.

The search was on for a follow up, and initially
Gli occhi dell’amore was chosen, but it was
soon flipped to make Sentimento the A-side.
It went on to reach number two in October of
that year. She also released a successful album.

Tripoli 1969, a song she’d performed at
1968’s Canzonissima (finishing fifth), was
issued as her next single and surprised many
fans with its anti-feminist lyrics, which they
knew to be at odds with her own beliefs.
Nevertheless, it made number 13 in the
charts in January 1969.

In the early spring she won the Festivalbar
song contest with Il paradiso, which
provided her with another top ten hit. She
also released the song in German (as Das Paradies auf dieser Welt, though it failed to sell) and British group Amen Corner took their cover version, (If paradise is) half as nice, to the top of the UK charts.

In the autumn, she returned to the Canzonissimo contest with the beautiful José Feliciano composition Rain, which she performed as Nel giardino dell’amore, and which gave her a further top 20 hit.