Raffaella Maria Roberta Pelloni (18 June 1943 – 5 July 2021), known professionally as Raffaella Carrà () and sometimes mononymously as Raffaella, was an Italian singer, dancer, actress, television presenter and model. Widely considered a pop culture icon in Europe and Latin America, between the 1970s and 1980s she became a pioneer of feminism in the music and television industries, as well as a music icon, an LGBT icon and an icon of fashion and design.
Carrà released 25 studio albums in 37 countries, particularly in Europe and Latin America, selling over 60 million records worldwide, including "A far l'amore comincia tu", "Fiesta", "Forte forte forte", "Pedro", "Tanti auguri" and "Tuca tuca", singing in Italian, Spanish, English and French.
After an acting debut in Italy, Carrà signed a deal with 20th Century Fox in Hollywood, also starring in French and Spanish films, working with Mario Monicelli, Marcello Mastroianni, Frank Sinatra, Edward Mulhare, Trevor Howard, Jean Marais and James Coburn. She then became a successful TV host and personality in Italy, Spain and Argentina, receiving several awards including 12 Telegatto and two TP de Oro.
In 2021, Carrà was posthumously honored with the Sorriso Diverso Venezia Award at the 78th Venice International Film Festival for her contributions to Italian music and show business.
Early life Raffaella Pelloni was born on 18 June 1943 in Bologna, Stradanove.net. Retrieved 13 October 2017. to Raffaele Pelloni (1912–1996) and Angela Iris Dell'Utri (of Sicilian ancestry; 1923–1987), and had a younger brother named Vincenzo "Enzo" (1945–2001). Her parents, however, separated shortly after the wedding and Pelloni spent most of her childhood between her mother's bar and the ice cream shop in Bellaria – Igea Marina. At the latter establishment, she grew up watching the television programme Il Musichiere, learning by heart titles, ballets, and refrains of the songs.
When she was only eight years old, she left the Romagna coast to continue her studies directly in Rome at the National Academy of Dance. At the age of 14 she dropped out of ballet classes. In 1952 she began her studies at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia until she graduated in 1960.
Career 1950s and 1960s: youth, early career and Hollywood
At the age of 9, while walking with her mother in Rome and through a family friend, Pelloni met the director Mario Bonnard who cast her in his film Torment of the Past, in which she played the character of Graziella.
Pelloni made her debut as a recognized actress in 1960 in the film Long Night in 1943. That same year she worked in the French film La chance et l'amour with Michel Piccoli. She then appeared in many Italian peplum films, including Fury of the Pagans (1960), Atlas in the Land of the Cyclops (1961), Mole Men Against the Son of Hercules (1961), Ulysses Against the Son of Hercules (1962), Pontius Pilate (1962) and Caesar the Conqueror (1962), as well as comedies and action films such as 5 marines per 100 ragazze (1961), The Terrorist (1963), The Organizer (1963), and La Celestina P... R... (1965).
In the mid-1960s the director Dante Guardamagna gave Pelloni the pseudonym Carrà; fond of painting, he combined her real name, Raffaella, which reminded him of the painter Raphael Sanzio, with the surname of the painter Carlo Carrà.
In 1965, Carrà moved to Hollywood after signing a contract with 20th Century Fox and following in the footsteps of her fellow artists Gina Lollobrigida, Sophia Loren and Virna Lisi, Carrà appeared in the film Von Ryan's Express alongside Frank Sinatra, Edward Mulhare and Trevor Howard. In 1966, she guest starred in an episode of the American television series I Spy with Bill Cosby and Robert Culp. Feeling homesick and not liking life in Los Angeles, she decided to return to Italy that same year where she starred in several Italian and French films such as The Saint Lies in Wait (1966), the Our Man Flint parody Il vostro super agente Flit (1966), Why Did I Ever Say Yes Twice? (1969), and Cran d'arrêt (1970), as well as a few television shows.
On 3 March 1967, Carrà was broadcast on the National Programme Tutto per bene, a TV adaptation of the novel of the same name by Luigi Pirandello.
In January 1968, she presented a special broadcast on the second national network, entitled Tempo di samba. In June of the same year, she participated in the play Processo di Famiglia, by Diego Fabbri and, at the end of the following year, she starred in Il sorriso della gioconda.
1970s: international success
In 1970 Carrà participated as a guest actress in the programme together with Nino Ferrer. Shortly after, Radiotelevisione italiana (RAI) hired her to present Canzonissima 70, a Saturday night show in which she was also an actress and dancer. She also presented Canzonissima 71 and Canzonissima 74 in which she released her hit single "Ma che musica Maestro" which sold 200,000 - 250,000 copies in Italy. In 1971, she participated alongside Georges Descrières in the French-produced television series Arsenio Lupin, starring in the episode entitled La donna dai due sorrisi. In 1974 she hosted on Rai Milleluci together with singer Mina Mazzini.
After her success on the Italian market, in 1975 Carrà made her first appearance in Spain on Televisión Española (TVE) when she performed in the variety show ; she subsequently released a compilation album with Spanish versions of her songs. In 1976, TVE hired her to host four episodes of the variety show .
During these years Carrà concentrated more on her singing career, achieving success in countries including Spain, Germany, France, Holland, Belgium, the UK, Greece, and in particular Latin American countries. One of her most resounding successes was the song A far l'amore comincia tu, the English version of which reached ninth place in the UK Singles Chart, besides obtaining several gold and platinum records worldwide.
In 1976 Carrà recorded the album Forte forte forte, which was released in 36 countries around the world, earning her a Gold certification in Canada. The album was followed up in 1977 with Fiesta, which features Eurodisco songs; the title track has been described as "symbol" of the soubrette.
In 1978 Carrà was a guest on the Chilean programme Sábado gigante. That year she released the song "Hay que venir al sur", the Spanish version of "Tanti auguri", and it was another of Carrà's greatest hits.
1980s: return to RAI and success in Latin America In 1980 she starred in the film Bárbara, shot in Argentina and distributed for the South American market and which was her last feature film as a leading actress. That same year she recorded the album Mi spendo tutto which features the song "Pedro", one of her biggest hits.
In 1981 she presented Millemilioni, which was the first experiment in international television cooperation: five specials, each filmed in a different capital: Buenos Aires, Mexico City, London, Rome and Moscow.
In 1982 she presented Fantastico 3 alongside Corrado, and sang the opening theme song, "Ballo ballo", a song that would be the focus of some controversy, as accused by some of plagiarising "Eleanor Rigby" by the Beatles.
Riding the wave of the success of Fantastico, the album Raffaella Carrà 82 was released; it was arranged and composed, among others, by Franco Bracardi and Danilo Vaona, and written by Gianni Boncompagni, Gianni Belfiore, and Giancarlo Magalli. Later that year, Carrà appeared as the guest of honour at the Viña del Mar International Song Festival in Chile.
In February 1983, she was also a guest at the Sanremo Music Festival 1983. "Soli sulla luna" and "Ahi" written by Valsiglio - Pace – Depsa, are songs recorded specifically for the occasion, recorded – "in a hurry" – as stated by the same singer.
From 1983 to 1985, Carrà presented Pronto, Raffaella?, the first midday programme on Rai that cemented her role as a presenter as the show became a success, with more than 14 million viewers tuning in to watch her interview of Mother Teresa of Calcutta. Carrà also sang the theme song of the programme: Fatalità.
The success of Pronto, Raffaella? won her the title of "Female TV Personality at European Level" in 1984, awarded by the European TV Magazines Association. In 1984 she signed a two-year, multimillion-dollar contract with kitchen manufacturer Scavolini, with the slogan "the most loved by Italians". That same year, the renewal of the contract with RAI was at the center of a heated controversy with the then prime minister, Bettino Craxi, who called the amount that the conductor would have earned for an exclusive three years "immoral and scandalous". During this time, Carrà released the albums Fatalità (1983) and Bolero (1984).
In the 1985–86 television season she was the presenter of the supershow Buonasera Raffaella, the first ten episodes of which were broadcast from Rome, while the last five were broadcast live from the studios of the Rai Corporation in New York and thanks to Rai International, visible throughout North and South America. Raffaella also interviewed and duetted with illustrious guests such as Henry Kissinger, Joe Cocker, Riccardo Cocciante, Patty Pravo, Stevie Wonder, Ginger Rogers and Sammy Davis Jr. and sang the theme songs "Fidati!" and "Bellissimo". The opening and closing theme songs of the programme are contained in the album Fidati!, released in the same year. The programme put Carrà once again at the centre of controversy because of high production costs, especially for the episodes transmitted via satellite from the United States. However, the transmission achieved great success, so much so as to arouse the interest of American televisions that invited Raffaella to the most famous talk shows of the time, interviewed by Johnny Carson, Ed Sullivan and David Letterman.
In the 1986–87 season, Carrà presented the programme conceived by Corrado in 1976 Domenica in, and sang both the opening theme song, "Curiosità", and the closing theme song, "Casa dolce casa". In November 1986, during a broadcast, Carrà reacted to an article published by the weekly scandal tabloid Novella 2000, threatening legal action against the newspaper, which had accused her of neglecting her dying mother. Raffaella's mother in fact died in 1987. Raffaella paid tribute during another episode of Domenica in, dedicating her song "I thank you life" to her.
In 1987 she struck a deal with Fininvest, with a multi-million dollar contract lasting two years. The first appearance on Canale 5 of Carrà dates back to 27 December 1987: on late evenings a special titled Benvenuta Raffaella was broadcast, and the Raffaella Carrà Show debuted shortly after on 9 January 1988. It was followed by Il principe azzurro, in the spring of 1989, which was the last programme presented by Carrà for Canale 5.
1990s: work as a presenter
Once the experience at Fininvest was over, Carrà hosted the new programme Weekend of Rafaella in which she appeared with a new mature look abandoning tights and bodysuits. The programme had a sequel entitled Ricomincio da due.
In early January 1990, Carrà returned to Rai to host her new show Raffaella Venerdì, Sabato e Domenica... E saranno famosi.
In June 1990, she co-hosted alongside Gigi Sabani, Ricardo Fernández Deu and Miriam Díaz Aroca, Cuando calienta el sol, a two-part Rai and TVE jointly produced variety show aired live from Saint-Vincent in Italy and Tossa de Mar in Spain and broadcast simultaneously to both countries.
In May 1991, she presented the Telegatto awards with Corrado.
Together with Johnny Dorelli, in 1991, she hosted the Saturday night show Fantastico 12 on Rai 1, which, despite controversy caused by Roberto Benigni's overly sexual antics, obtained ratings below expectations.