An icon of freedom: Italian singer and actress Raffaella Carrà passed away

First modification: 07/05/2021 – 20:00

The singer, songwriter, actress and presenter from Bologna died at the age of 78, as confirmed by her ex-partner Sergio Japino to the ANSA news agency. Although the exact causes of her death have not been disclosed, she died after an illness that had plagued her for a long time. Between the 50s and 70s, the artist revolutionized European television, becoming since then a symbol for the south and beyond Latin America.

Italy, Spain and the Spanish-speaking world, with great love in Latin America, lost one of their great icons of the show this Monday. Raffaella Carrà, the Italian who crossed all borders with her artistic career and did not allow herself to be distracted by Hollywood, died this Monday at the age of 78.

“Raffaella has left us. He has gone to a better world, where his humanity, his unmistakable laugh and his extraordinary talent will shine forever,” said choreographer Sergio Japino, who was his partner for several years, his “mirror in which look at each other “.

Carrà, who sang hymns such as “explode, explode, explode me!”, Died at 4:20 pm local time, after an illness that “for some time had attacked his small body, but full of energy”, in words of Japino.

The singer and presenter Raffaella Carrà, in one of her television programs during the transmission of the meeting with former Argentine soccer player Diego Armando Maradona, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 24, 2005.

The singer and presenter Raffaella Carrà, in one of her television programs during the transmission of the meeting with former Argentine soccer player Diego Armando Maradona, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, on October 24, 2005. © Channel 13 / AFP

The artist was always remembered for musical hits such as ‘Hot, hot’ or ‘We have to come to the south’, but also for her multifaceted talent that led her to be both an actress and host of multiple television programs on RAI in Italy or in RTVE from Spain.

Born in Bologna in 1943 under the name Raffaella Pelloni, her artistic name was suggested by the film and television director Dante Guardamagna, who thought it would be a good idea to take the surname of the Italian painter Carlo Carrà. The art-related surname seemed to be a good omen and Raffaella thus conquered crowds inside and outside Europe.




But his artistic origins date back to a very young age. At the age of ten she moved to Rome, where she came to learn classical dance. Years later she studied cinematography, which led her to Barcelona to do theater, where she also participated in the Latin Prose Festival.

Completely an icon of freedom

Raffaella was raised by a separated woman from whom she assured that she was educated in an environment of complete freedom, something that she demonstrated all her life.

Between the 50s and 70s, she caused a stir on Italian television with her dance moves and costumes, while singing on a variety show for the whole family showing her belly button, something far-fetched for the time.

All broadcast on the Christian Democrat RAI from which she broke taboos, the Vatican censured her for her style in a sensual choreography of the song ‘Tuca tuca’.

FILE-Italian singer, actress and television presenter Raffaella Carra poses during the presentation of a new music album, entitled 'Ogni volta che e Natale', in Milan, Italy, on November 26, 2018.
FILE-Italian singer, actress and television presenter Raffaella Carra poses during the presentation of a new music album, entitled 'Ogni volta che e Natale', in Milan, Italy, on November 26, 2018.
FILE-Italian singer, actress and television presenter Raffaella Carra poses during the presentation of a new music album, entitled ‘Ogni volta che e Natale’, in Milan, Italy, on November 26, 2018. © EFE / EPA / Daniel Dal Zennaro

In an interview with the newspaper El País in 2019, Carrà admitted that being herself cost her some battles in the past, but that everything was spontaneous: “It is nothing imposed, it is all natural. (…) It was not just showing my body. It was to make people understand that a woman’s body is always attached to her head. Sensuality is not at odds with intelligence, sympathy, irony. “

The success in her country took her to Spain, where she also conquered the local audience with the program ‘La hora de Raffaella’, broadcast between 1975 and 1976, after the Franco dictatorship. This was followed by other great shows in the country.

Later, life took her to Hollywood and, although she made important appearances as a role in the film ‘Colonel Von Ryan’ with Frank Sinatra, she preferred to return to Europe from where she catapulted her style to Latin America.

However, it was a pioneer in the noon programs with telephone contests, interviews and songs, a model that was later replicated in countries of the region such as Argentina, with the Susana Giménez show.




He was a gay icon, admired and loved in the LGBTIQ + community, long before artists like Madonna were, too. In fact, Raffaella received the World Pride Award in 2017.

In 2020, in an interview with the Italian press, she acknowledged that that year was especially difficult for her and that she feared the Covid-19 pandemic. Although, he retained his characteristic humor.

His ex-partner Sergio Japino added that hiding his state of health, without specifying a disease, was his own will, as “the umpteenth gesture of love towards his audience and towards those who have shared affection, so that his personal ordeal does not disturb his memory bright”.

With EFE and local media

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source https://pledgetimes.com/an-icon-of-freedom-italian-singer-and-actress-raffaella-carra-passed-away/