Iva Zanicchi

Iva Zanicchi (born 18 January 1940) is an Italian pop singer and politician. She has a mezzo-soprano voice and is nick-named by the press as Eagle of Ligonchio".

Iva Zanicchi was born in Ligonchio, in the province of Reggio Emilia to Zefiro (1909–2004) and Elsa Raffaelli (1914–2010). Her career began in 1962 at the Castrocaro Music Festival, where she earned third place. She won the Sanremo song festival in 1967 with Non pensare a me, in 1969 with "Zingara" and again in 1974 with "Ciao cara, come stai?". Zanicchi remains the only woman singer to have won that festival's prize three times. In 1969, she represented Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest in Madrid with "Due grosse lacrime bianche", finishing 13th. She represented Italy in the V Festival Internacional da Canção in Rio with Tu non-sei più innamorato di me in 1970. A concert at the Paris Olympia and a tour (United States, Canada, South America and the Soviet Union) followed. Zanicchi later also toured Australia and Japan. Has worked with Mikis Theodorakis, Charles Aznavour and Luigi Tenco, and has made numerous recordings. Has performed at Madison Square Gardens, New York (1974) and the Teatro Regio (Parma). In total, Zanicchi released 14 albums during the 1970s, including a Christmas-themed, Neapolitan and Spanish language recordings.