Bongo cha cha cha singer Caterina Valente has died

Before the world was globalized, she was our first global star, world famous in the 60s and 70s. Her most famous hit today, thanks to a remix four years ago, is Bongo cha cha cha. Caterina Valente passed away at the age of 93 in Lugano, Switzerland, where she had lived for about twenty years. The news was announced by her family in a post on Facebook. “The Italian-French singer, guitarist, and dancer nominated for a Grammy passed away peacefully of natural causes at her home in Lugano, Switzerland,” it read. “In accordance with the wishes of the deceased, the funeral was held in the utmost privacy and there will be no further ceremonies or memorials. We ask that you respect the privacy of the family and friends at this very delicate time.”

Caterina Valente had duetted with giants like Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong And Dean Martinbut she was first and foremost a television personality, she hosted popular programs in Germany and Italy such as Study one And An hour with Caterina Valente with Mina. Born in Paris in 1931 to Italian parents, Caterina was the fourth daughter of Maria and Giuseppe Valente, Italian artists who had moved to France. She managed to establish herself in the world of music and entertainment worldwide between the 50s and 60s. Not only music and dance, but also cinema (she acted in various films) and television, when in 1959 Mario Riva launched her on TV with The Musician and her records also entered the Italian charts, after the French and German ones. In the 1960s she made her debut as a presenter on Rai.

Among his greatest successes Till And Personalitya rhythmic song that reached number one in the charts and was later reinterpreted by Mina and Adriano Celentano, HI, Very hastily, Tonight like every night, No one in the world, Twistin’ the twist. In 2001, the year of her retirement from the scene, she had recorded over 1500 songs, and in thirteen different languages. In 2021, the English DJ duo Goodboys relaunched a remixed dance version of the song Bongo Cha Cha Chasong published by Valente in 1959.