Carmen Villani

Carmen Villani (born 21 May 1944) is a former Italian pop singer. She had a recognisable voice and an outstanding musical sense. Villani was a versatile performer, featuring elements of gospel and blues. She is considered among the finest examples of the early beat music in Italy. She also collaborated with some of the top film scorers in Italy. Villani's fame was limited to her homeland, where she charted records and gave several performances broadcast nationwide by RAI. After her failure to chart hits in the early 1970s, she became an actress in commedia sexy all'italiana films. Villani's solo career continued with Bluebell issuing two more singles in 1961. She made her acting debut as The Singer in the film A Man for Burning by Valentino Orsini, Paolo and Vittorio Taviani. As the film received the Italian Film Critics Award at the Venice Film Festival, the Bluebell used the opportunity for launching a nationwide campaign for Villani's singles off the soundtrack. This led to Villani's first Italian chart hit "Brucia" (Burning).

Beat music (1964–1966) The year 1964 marked Villani's shift to beat music starting off with "Congratulazioni a te". The single failed to reach the Italian charts as did her next beat records. This prompted her record label for a makeover to go with her new sound. She changed her girl-next-door brunette for a blonde hairdo and lost weight. Her clothes styling, however, failed to catch the Mod fashion integral for the beat style and the result was more of office wear. The new look was due to be presented at the Sanremo Music Festival in 1965, scheduled to perform Armando Trovaioli's "La verità" (The Truth) alongside Paul Anka (these times in the Sanremo Festival, each entry was performed twice, by two interpreters). Anka's record label pulled out of the competition as a protest, leaving Villani without a place in the contest. She went on to record the theme of The Avengers TV series with a group credited as Avengers. Villani also participated in the Naples Festival with "Io ca te voglio bene" sung in Neapolitan. The naughty text and the cheeky beat made teenage Italian girls identify themselves with the character and to turn on the volume in the spirit of the track. Villani continued in the protesting spirit, recording the track "Mille ghitarre contro la guerra" (A Thousand Guitars Against the War) and performing it at the Festival delle Rose. to appear only on a compilation album of Battisti more than thirty years later. Villani's last recording with the RCA was the title track of the thriller film L'ultimo uomo di Sara (Sara's Last Man) composed by Ennio Morricone.

Acting career Thanks to her film director husband Mauro Ivaldi, Villani moved into acting full-time, enjoying a string of starring roles in Italian sexy comedy films, such as Substitute Teacher (1975), My Mother's Friend (1975) and Emmanuelle's Silver Tongue (1976). In late 1970s, she also modelled for Playboy and Playmen magazines. She attempted a few musical comebacks in the 1980s, though without success. In the 1990s, she starred in the stage musical Roma birbona, and in 2004 she made a guest performance on the album Weekend al Funkafè by the group Ridillo.

Legacy A number of Villani's tracks have been included in compilation albums of the 1960s Italian pop music, among them Beat in Cinecittà and Women in Lounge.