This singer and television presenter lives in the Swiss canton of Ticino with its Mediterranean climate. Rita Pavone was born in Turin in 1945 to family impoverished after the war. At a very young age, she worked as a seamstress for a meager 50 Swiss francs a week. Rita Pavone was little, but she had big dreams of becoming a famous singer.
By 15, she had already won the Festa degli Sconosciuti talent contest for undiscovered young artists in Ariccia, near Rome. The organizer Teddy Reno gave her the opportunity of a lifetime when he brought her to Rome's prestigious studios. With her small size and young age, she was an instant hit. She quickly rose to the top of the charts and in 1965 she was invited to appear on the leading American music show, the Ed Sullivan Show. She recorded hit after hit, in particular Bye Bye Blue Jeans in 1964 and Arrivederci Hans in 1968. In the late sixties, she performed at New York's Carnegie Hall and the Olympia in Paris. In 1971, she had already sold over 12 million albums. She sang throughout Europe, especially in Berlin where she was nicknamed the littlest singer of schlager in the world.
But Rita Pavone didn't limit herself to singing. She made her film debut with Rita, la figlia americana (Rita, an American girl) in 1965. Starting in the seventies, she also acted in plays and appeared on television, presenting shows such as Studio 1 and Ciao Rita.
Married since 1968 to Teddy Reno, who is still her manager, Rita lives in Chiasso, in the canton of Ticino. Their two sons, Alessandro and Giorgio, also live in Switzerland. Alessandro is a presenter on Swiss Italian television, while Giorgio is a rock singer and guitarist. Rita Pavone also owns a second home near Castelgandolfo beside a property belonging to the Pope.