Ornella Vanoni, one of Italy’s most distinctive singers, whose voice helped define generations of popular music, has died at her home in Milan at the age of 91.
Italian media, including Corriere Della Sera, La Stampa and the AGI news agency, reported that he suffered cardiac arrest late on Friday.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni paid tribute on Saturday, calling Vanoni’s voice “unmistakable” and saying Italy had lost “a unique artist who leaves us with a unique artistic legacy.”
A defining voice of ‘Musica Legera’
Vanoni was born in Milan in 1934 and grew up in an affluent family that sent him to schools in Italy and throughout Europe.
His first artistic home was the theatre: Milan’s Piccolo Teatro, where the director Giorgio Strehler became his mentor and, for a while, his partner.
Later in life, she wrote that stepping onto Piccolo’s stage for the first time was a moment when she “became her”. [she] What really?”
The turn to music was unexpected, but encouraged by Strehler, Vanoni began performing songs about Milan’s criminal underworld, earning her the nickname “Cantante Della Mala” (“Singer of the Underworld”).
However, his appearances on Italy’s televised song festivals in the early 1960s brought him national attention and introduced audiences to his intimate, smoky vocals that became his signature.
‘Ocean’s Twelve’ brings new viewers
Over the next seven decades, Vanoni released over 40 studio albums and recorded over 100 in total, selling over 50 million copies worldwide.
Among his best-loved hits were “Senza fine,” “L’appuntamiento,” “La musica e finita” and “Una ragione di piu”.
“L’Apuntamiento” found a new global audience when it appeared on the soundtrack of Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Twelve in 2004.
Vanoni’s collaboration across different genres and borders
The Milan-born singer’s musical range – from jazz and Brazilian rhythms to Italian pop ballads – made her a popular collaborator.
Vanoni worked with Gino Paoli, with whom he shared a creative partnership and a long-rumored affair, as well as with international artists including Herbie Hancock, George Benson and Gil Evans.
She appeared eight times at the Sanremo Music Festival, placing second in 1968 with “Casa Bianca”, and in 1999 became the first artist to receive a career award in the festival’s history.
He was also twice awarded the Tenco Award – a prestigious Italian award presented annually since 1974 by Club Tenco to artists who have made a significant contribution to songwriting.
Her list of achievements continued as she became the only woman to win the Tenco Award twice and the only Italian artist to be recognized as both a songwriter and performer.
sharp-witted cultural icon
Beyond music, Vanoni became a cornerstone of Italian cultural life. Her distinctive red curls, elegant style and frank humor made her a popular guest on Italian television in her later years.
She appeared on talk shows, spoke openly about her past relationships and shared stories from her long career, often described by the Italian media as having “complete indifference to political correctness”.
On her 2021 album Unica, released at the age of 87, she reflected on aging, loneliness, and resilience.
In his memoir she is described as “one of those women – fierce, delicate and full of tenderness, with outbursts of nervousness, hidden behind elegant aloofness and sarcasm.”
Vanoni, who once said she wanted her ashes scattered at sea – “probably in Venice” – left behind a musical legacy that shaped Italy’s cultural landscape for more than half a century.
Edited by: Carl Sexton