Raffaella Carrà
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
|
Related e |
|
Wikipedia
Featured:  Illustration: Portrait fantaisiste du marquis de Sade (1866) by H. Biberstein |
Raffaella Roberta Pelloni (born 18 June, 1943), better known by her artistic name Raffaella Carrà (in Italy often simply known as la Carrà and in some Latin American countries as Raffaella), is an Italian TV hostess, singer and actress. She is especially popular in her native country and in Spain and Latin America where during the past decades she has hosted numerous popular TV shows, mainly in the Italian (RAI) and Spanish (TVE) national TV networks.
Contents |
Early life
Raffaella Carrà was born as Raffaella Roberta Pelloni, in Bologna [1] , Italy, in 1943. In her native town she was engaged in dance lessons. Her father was Albanian from the town of Krujë.
Career
Singing and Dancing
Since 1961, Raffaella Carrà did television, singing and dancing for the variety shows of the Italian screen. Such shows became Carrà's forte for the rest of her professional career. In particular, since the early 1970s, such televised presentations have been celebrated for many years until the present time, with Carrà's elaborate dancing and the choreography of her dancers, the mesmerizing elaborate themes, and her uninhibited style. In accordance with local tradition, she has been the first television figure who has shown her bellybutton before the cameras. This was met with heavy criticism by the Catholic Pope.
Raffaella Carrà had a hit song with the sensual "Tuca Tuca" (1970), written for her singing and dancing television presentations by her long-time collaborator and former boyfriend, Gianni Boncompagni. Similarly, in 1971 Carrà achieved another hit with "Chissà se Va".
Her greatest international hit single was "Tanti Auguri" ("best wishes"), which also became a popular song amongst the gay community. The song is also known under its Spanish title "Para hacer bien el amor hay que venir al sur" (which refers to the southern hemisphere, which is where her Latin American market is spread). The Estonian version of the song "Jätke võtmed väljapoole" was performed by Anne Veski. "A far l'amore comincia tu" ("To make love, your move first") was another success for her internationally, known in Spanish as "En el amor todo es empezar", in German as "Liebelei", in French as "Parce que tu l'aimes dis-le lui", and in English as "Do It, Do It Again". It was her only hit in the UK Singles Chart, where she remains a one-hit wonder.
In 1985, Carra's Starlight Express video was released featuring characters, costume and set from the show. In 2008, "Do it, Do it Again" was featured briefly in the Midnight episode of the fourth series of Doctor Who (UK). "A far l'amore comincia tu" has also covered in Turkish by a Turkish popstar called Ajda Pekkan as "Sakin Ha" in 1977.
Television Hostess
As a television hostess, Raffaella Carrà has accomplished an important career since late 1970s, mainly in the Italian (RAI) and Spanish (TVE) national TV networks. One of her most celebrated works has been the Pronto Raffaella? gameshow (Italy, 1983-1985), in which she attended the phone calls of her contestants. The format of the show was copied in many countries of Spanish language, both in Spain and in South America (by the Argentine Susana Giménez, in example), with massive success. Carrà hosted one of those, ¡Hola Raffaella! (1992-1994) for the Spanish television.
From 2008, returning by popular demand, Carrà hosts a variety show on Italy's National and International RAI network, "Carramba Che Fortuna". With the show's unique formula, families all over the world are reunited on live television. Carrà creates magic surprising unsuspecting guests, detailing their life history with such intensity and emotion which climaxes in a once in a lifetime reunion with the overseas visitor.
Actress
Raffaella Carrà debuted in cinema at age nine, in Tormento del passato (1952). She did five other movies until 1960 when she graduated from the national film school of Italy. Also in that year, she appeared in Long Night in 1943 (1960). In 1965, she moved to the United States signing up with 20th Century Fox. As Raffaella Carrà, she starred in the motion picture Von Ryan's Express (1965) with Frank Sinatra, Edward Mulhare, and Trevor Howard. In 1966, she costarred in an episode of the American television series I Spy (Sophia, as the title character). Feeling homesick, she decided to return to Italy.
During the 1960s, Carrà starred in about twenty Italian films and a few television shows. However, subsequently her actress career has been scarce with no more than five works mainly for television.
Her Latin Market
After her boom in the Italian market of the early 1970s, Raffaella Carrà moved to Spain, doing television and releasing records, in Spanish language. This helped for her next step, which was to land in South America. There, her records had been heard for some years until, in 1979 she set her headquarters in Buenos Aires, which was particularly excited by the recent 1978 soccer World Cup triumph and the overly optimistic media of its military government. Raffaella Carrà was one of the main figures, from the Argentine official network of television. This generated a massive reaction throughout Latin America, with full stadiums and theaters at which she was presented. In 1980 she filmed the Barbara musical romantic comedy, also in Buenos Aires, with a big production and stars of the southern hemisphere. In that same year, five capitals of the world (Buenos Aires, Mexico DF, Rome, Moscow, Buenos Aires, and London) conjoined to celebrate her in a television special. After appearing in the Festival de Vina del Mar (1982) she returned definitively to Italy.
Personal life
Raffaella Carrà has had a 20 year relationship with Sergio Japino, with whom she is a close friend even nowadays.
Controversially, Carrà is usually deemed as one of the main figures during the Argentinian military regime of the late 1970s, during which she accomplished an important artistic stint at that Latin American country, with important television presentations, movies, and records.
