Gigliola Cinquetti

Gigliola Cinquetti
Gigliola Cinquetti in 1966
Background information
Born	(1947-12-20) 20 December 1947 (age 69)
Origin	Verona, Veneto, Italy
Occupation(s)	Singer-songwriter, journalist, TV presenter
Years active	1963–Present

Gigliola Cinquetti (Italian pronunciation: [dʒiʎˈʎɔːla tʃiŋˈkwetti]; born 20 December 1947) is an Italian singer and TV presenter.

Cinquetti was born in Verona, Veneto. At the age of 16 she won the Sanremo Music Festival in 1964 singing "Non ho l'età" ("I'm Not Old Enough"), with music composed by Nicola Salerno and lyrics by Mario Panzeri. Her win enabled her to represent Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1964 in Copenhagen with the same song, where she claimed her country's first ever victory in the event. The song became an international success, even spending 17 weeks in the UK Singles Chart and ending the year as the 88th best-selling single in the U.K. in 1964, something highly unusual for Italian-language material. It sold over three million copies, and was awarded a platinum disc in August 1964. In 1966, she recorded "Dio, come ti amo" ("God, How I Love You"), which became another international hit.

In 1974 Gigliola Cinquetti took part in the Eurovision Song Contest again, this time held in Brighton, Sussex, England. Her song was called "Sì" (which translates as 'yes' in English, and which became quite controversial in Italy at the time, with a referendum on the legalisation of divorce in the offing, because of the title), and came second to Swedish foursome ABBA with their song "Waterloo". Gigliola Cinquetti scored a bigger UK hit single (in terms of chart placing) than she had ten years earlier, with an English-language version of "Sì" (entitled "Go (Before You Break My Heart)") peaking at No. 8.