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Paola Turci
Italian singer-songwriter (born 1964)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Paola Turci (born 12 September 1964) is an Italian singer-songwriter and author. She emerged through the Sanremo Music Festival, where she competed for the first time in 1986 and won the newcomers' section in 1989 with the song "Bambini".[1][2]
Career
1986–1993: Sanremo years and early albums
Turci made her recording debut after appearing at the Sanremo Music Festival 1986 with "L'uomo di ieri", written for her by Mario Castelnuovo.[1] She returned to the festival's newcomers' section in 1987 with "Primo tango", in 1988 with "Sarò bellissima" and in 1989 with "Bambini", winning the newcomers' category with the latter.[2][3] Her first album, Ragazza sola ragazza blu, produced by Castelnuovo and Gaio Chiocchio, was released in 1988; "Bambini" appeared on her self-titled second album the following year.[1]
She competed again at Sanremo in 1990 with "Ringrazio Dio", released the album Ritorno al presente, and followed it in 1991 with Candido, her last album for the It label. That summer she won the Cantagiro competition, and later in the year returned to the charts with "E mi arriva il mare", a duet with Riccardo Cocciante.[1][3]
In 1993 she took part in the Sanremo Music Festival for the sixth time with "Stato di calma apparente", the first song she is credited as having written herself.[1] The album Ragazze was released the same year.
On 15 August 1993, while driving to a concert on the Salerno–Reggio Calabria motorway, Turci was seriously injured in a car crash. She sustained facial injuries and underwent a series of operations to save her right eye. She later described the accident and its aftermath as the turning point of both her personal life and her career.[4][5]
1993–2001: covers and commercial success
Later in 1993 Turci recorded "Io e Maria", written by Luca Carboni, and took part in the Lucio Battisti tribute project Innocenti evasioni with a version of "Ancora tu".[1] Una sgommata e via followed in 1995, its title track written by Vasco Rossi.
The 1996 compilation Volo così 1986-1996 took its name from the song she performed at the Sanremo Music Festival 1996, and closed her contract with BMG.[1] Oltre le nuvole (1997) is her only album made up entirely of Italian-language versions of English-language songs, including material originally recorded by John Waite, Roxette and The Pretenders. Its lead single "Sai che è un attimo", adapted from Jude Cole's "Time for Letting Go", became her biggest-selling single to that point.[3] The album was reissued in 1998 with "Solo come me", presented at the Sanremo Music Festival 1998.
Mi basta il paradiso (2000) repeated the formula, adding original songs co-written with Carmen Consoli. One of them, "Saluto l'inverno", was performed at the Sanremo Music Festival 2001, where it placed fifth, and was added to a reissue of the album.[1]
2002–2015: independent releases
In 2002 Turci left WEA for the independent label NuN Entertainment and released Questa parte di mondo, largely written by herself.[1] The live album Stato di calma apparente (2004) was recorded direct-to-tape and collected re-recorded versions of her back catalogue together with new material.[6] Tra i fuochi in mezzo al cielo followed in 2005, preceded by the single "Dimentichiamo tutto"; the album included "Rwanda", for which she received an Amnesty International Italy award in 2006.[7]
In 2007 she toured with Max Gazzè and Marina Rei as Di comune accordo, and the three appeared together at the Sanremo Music Festival 2008 with "Il solito sesso".[1] Her novel Con te accanto was published in 2008.
Attraversami il cuore (2009) was preceded by the single "La mangiatrice di uomini", written by Francesco Bianconi of Baustelle, and was presented as the first instalment of a trilogy completed by Giorni di rose (2010) and Le storie degli altri (2012).[8] Giorni di rose consists of songs written for Turci by women songwriters, among them Consoli, Nada, Marina Rei and Chiara Civello, and includes a duet with Fiorella Mannoia on Ivano Fossati's "Lunaspina".[8]
Her autobiography Mi amerò lo stesso, written with Enrico Rotelli, was published by Mondadori in September 2014 and was later adapted into a stage monologue.[4][5] The compilation Io sono, containing three new tracks, appeared in 2015.
2017–present
Turci returned to the Sanremo Music Festival in 2017, sixteen years after her last appearance in competition, with "Fatti bella per te", co-written with Giulia Ananìa, Luca Chiaravalli and Davide Simonetta; the song finished fifth.[9] Critics connected the song's theme of self-acceptance to the 1993 accident and to her autobiography.[5] The album Il secondo cuore, released on 31 March 2017 after a five-year gap, was described by Rockol as a career restart.[10]
She joined the seventeenth series of the talent show Amici di Maria De Filippi as a singing teacher in November 2017, and in 2019 competed at the Sanremo Music Festival with "L'ultimo ostacolo", from the album Viva da morire.[11]
Personal life
In the 1990s Turci had a relationship with the tennis player Paolo Canè. In 2010 she married the journalist Andrea Amato; the couple separated in 2012.[12]
In March 2021 Turci discussed her sexuality publicly in an interview with Il Fatto Quotidiano.[13] On 2 July 2022 she entered into a civil union with Francesca Pascale in Montalcino.[14][15]
Turci has worked with non-governmental organisations including Ucodep in Vietnam and the Francesca Rava Foundation in Haiti, an involvement she describes in Mi amerò lo stesso.[4]
Discography
Studio albums
- 1988 – Ragazza sola ragazza blu
- 1989 – Paola Turci
- 1990 – Ritorno al presente
- 1991 – Candido
- 1993 – Ragazze
- 1995 – Una sgommata e via
- 1997 – Oltre le nuvole
- 2000 – Mi basta il paradiso
- 2002 – Questa parte di mondo
- 2005 – Tra i fuochi in mezzo al cielo
- 2009 – Attraversami il cuore
- 2010 – Giorni di rose
- 2012 – Le storie degli altri
- 2017 – Il secondo cuore
- 2019 – Viva da morire
Compilation albums
- 1996 – Volo così 1986-1996
- 2015 – Io sono
Live albums
- 2004 – Stato di calma apparente
Bibliography
- Turci, Paola (2008). Con te accanto (in Italian). Rizzoli.
- Turci, Paola; Rotelli, Enrico (2014). Mi amerò lo stesso (in Italian). Mondadori.