Patty Pravo

Biography

Strambelli studied at the conservatory institute of Benedetto Marcello and was acquainted with American poet Ezra Pound and the Pope John XXIII. At the age of fifteen she left home to live in London and then Rome, where she began her career singing in the Piper Club.

In 1966, Pravo released her first single, "Ragazzo triste" (English: "Sad Boy"), the Italian version of the song "But You're Mine" by Sonny & Cher. It was met with chart success and would later become the first pop song broadcast on Vatican Radio. "Ragazzo triste" was followed by other popular singles in 1967, "Sto con te" ("I'm with You") and "Se perdo te" ("If I Lose You"), the latter written by English songwriter Paul Korda. In 1968, Pravo released what would become her most popular single and a number 1 hit, "La bambola" ("The Doll"), as well as her debut LP, Patty Pravo. The album topped the Italian albums chart and "La bambola" was awarded a gold disc.

In following years, the singer released other successful top 10 singles: "Gli occhi dell'amore" ("The Eyes of Love") and "Tripoli 1969", both released in 1968, "Il paradiso" ("Paradise", 1969), written by Lucio Battisti and performed at Festivalbar, and "La spada nel cuore" ("A Sword in the Heart", 1970), performed in duet with Little Tony, which came fifth at Sanremo Music Festival. Her albums Concerto per Patty (1969) and another LP simply titled Patty Pravo (1970) were all commercially successful and reached the top 10. In 1971, Pravo departed from RCA Records and went on to record three albums for Philips, which presented more complex, less-accessible sound, beginning with Di vero in fondo (To the Truth Inside, 1971). In 1972, Pravo married Italian designer Franco Baldieri, but they soon separated.

In 1973, Pravo reunited with her previous label RCA and released what would become one of the biggest hits of her career, the number 1 single "Pazza idea" ("Crazy Idea"). The song's parent album, also titled Pazza idea, peaked at the top of the Italian albums chart. It was followed by another chart-topping LP, Mai una signora (Never a Lady, 1974) which spawned a popular single "Come un Pierrot" ("Like a Pierrot") and the Festivalbar song "Quale signora" ("Which Lady"). Albums Incontro (The Meeting) and Tanto (So Much), released in 1975 and 1976, respectively, both placed within the top 10 and included successful singles of the same names. Tanto was a collaboration with Vangelis, who arranged and played keyboard on the album.

In 1978, alongside Amanda Lear and Grace Jones, Pravo appeared in a controversial Italian TV show, Stryx, where she performed a song in each episode. Songs from Stryx would appear on her next album, Miss Italia, which also included "Pensiero stupendo" ("Wonderful Thought"), a track that turned out one of her most successful and highest-charting singles to date (#2 in Italy). In 1979, the singer had another top 20 hit with "Autostop" from her LP Munich Album.

The singer moved to the USA at the beginning of the 1980s, what was prompted by the hostility of the Italian press towards her. She posed nude for the Italian edition of Playboy in 1980 and married American guitarist John Edward Johnson in 1982. Her next record, Cerchi (Circles), was one of her lowest-charting albums to date, but the 1984 single "Per una bambola" ("For a Doll") was a modest chart success and won the critics' award at Sanremo Festival. Nonetheless, subsequent albums failed to match the success of their predecessors from the previous decade, and for the rest of the 1980s Pravo struggled to score another hit release. In 1987, she again took part in Sanremo Festival, this time with the song "Pigramente signora" ("Lazy Lady"). However, the singer was accused of plagiarism of the song "To the Morning" by Dan Fogelberg, and the track was unsuccessful at the festival. The controversy led to the cancellation of her new contract with Virgin Records. Her 1989 album Oltre l'Eden... (More Than Eden...) met with positive critical reception, but was not a chart success. The title track took part in the song contest at Festivalbar. In 1990, Pravo was to perform the song "Donna con te" ("The Woman with You") at Sanremo, but shortly before the event, she refused to sing it over its lyrics. The song was then given to Anna Oxa to perform at the festival. In the same year, Pravo released an album of re-recordings of her classic hits.

In 1992, Pravo was arrested for possessing hashish, but was released after only 3 days. In 1994, the singer traveled to China, where she would make history as the first Italian artist to perform in that country. Chinese music and culture provided inspiration for her next album, Ideogrammi, entirely produced in China. In 1995, Pravo returned to Sanremo with the song "I giorni dell'armonia" ("Days of Harmony"), which was met with lukewarm reception at the festival, but peaked within top 20 in Italy.

The singer celebrated the 30th anniversary of her musical debut in 1996, embarking on a greatest hits tour, and in 1997 once again performed at Sanremo Festival. This time around it was a triumph, and her song "...e dimmi che non vuoi morire" ("...and Tell Me You Don't Want to Die") won the critics' award and came 8th in the general voting competition. The single was a big chart success, peaking at number 2 in Italy (her highest-charting song since the 1970s), and her first live album Bye Bye Patty charted in the top 5 as well. On her next studio album, Notti, guai e libertà (Nights, Trouble and Freedom), Pravo worked with some renowned Italian songwriters, including Ivano Fossati, Franco Battiato and Lucio Dalla. The album was another commercial success (her first top 10 album in two decades), and was followed by a tour. The songs "Les etrangers" and "Strada per un'altra città" were performed at Festivalbar.

Her next album, Una donna da sognare (2000), peaked at no. 6, thus becoming one of her highest-charting albums ever, and the title song became a hit single. Released in 2002, Radio Station also charted within the top 10, and the first single, "L'immenso", was Patty's return to Sanremo Festival, where the song took the 16th place. The singer embarked on a tour and collected a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2003. Her 2004 album, Nic-Unic, was a collaboration with young songwriters and presented an innovative, avant garde sound, with most songs co-written by Patty Pravo herself. The single "Che uomo sei" ("What Kind of Man Are You") was a chart success. In 2007, she released the album Spero che ti piaccia... Pour toi (I Hope You Like It... For You), a homage to Dalida, with a selection of her songs performed in French, Italian and Arabic. Later in the year, Pravo released an autobiography Bla, bla, bla....

To commemorate the fortieth anniversary of her hit "La bambola", the singer released a new version of the song, "La bambola 2008". She embarked on another tour, what would result in a successful double live album Live Arena di Verona – Sold Out, recorded at Verona Arena. She took part in Sanremo Festival with the song "E io verrò un giorno là" ("And I'll Be There One Day") in 2009, without much success, and in 2011, performed "Il vento e le rose" ("The Wind and Roses"), but the song was eliminated from the contest. 2011 saw the release of her new album, Nella terra dei pinguini (In the Land of the Penguins), which charted within Italian top 20. In 2012, she released the single "Com'è bello far l'amore" ("How Nice It Is to Make Love") from Fausto Brizzi's film of the same name, and the song went on to win an Italian Golden Globe".

She made a brief cameo appearance, playing herself, in the 2014 Greek film Xenia, directed by Panos H. Koutras. The film is about two brothers who are obsessed with her music.

Pravo performed the song "Cieli immensi" ("Immense Skies") at Sanremo 2016, placing at the 6th spot and winning her third critics' award at the festival. The song was a top 20 hit in Italy and the accompanying album, Eccomi (Here I Am), debuted and peaked at #6.