Gianna Nannini Italian Singer Born 1954 in Siena

Early life

Gianna Nannini was born on 14 June 1954 in Siena, Italy. She studied piano and composition in Milan in the late 1970s, shortly before her recording career took off. Later she returned to university in her home city and earned a degree in philosophy from the University of Siena in 1994.

Career

Nannini's first album, titled Gianna Nannini, appeared in 1976. Her first major success in Italy came in 1979 with the single "America" and the album California, which also did well in several other European countries. Her wider breakthrough followed in 1984 with Puzzle, her sixth album, produced by Conny Plank. It reached the top ten of the album charts in Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The lead single, "Fotoromanza", was released with a video directed by the filmmaker Michelangelo Antonioni, and she supported the record with a long European tour that ended with a headline appearance at the Montreux Jazz Festival.

In 1986 she had a hit across Italy, Germany, Austria and Switzerland with "Bello e impossibile". The compilation Maschi e altri, issued in 1987, sold more than a million copies. That same year she took part in a performance of Brecht and Weill's The Threepenny Opera at the Schauspielhaus in Hamburg, appearing with Sting, Jack Bruce and Eberhard Schoener. In 1990 she and Edoardo Bennato sang "Un'estate italiana", the official song of that year's FIFA World Cup, written by Giorgio Moroder.

She released the greatest-hits album Perle in 2004, with older songs rearranged for piano and a string quartet, and toured Europe with that ensemble through 2005. In February 2006 she released Grazie, which reached number one in Italy on the strength of the single "Sei nell'anima". In September of the same year she recorded "Because We Believe (Ama credi e vai)" with Andrea Bocelli. Pia come la canto io followed in April 2007; it collected songs written for a rock opera about the medieval Tuscan figure Pia de' Tolomei, which was staged in 2008. Her song "Meravigliosa creatura" later appeared in a commercial for the Fiat Bravo, and a second Fiat advertisement used "Aria". Among her other collaborations are a duet with the rapper Fabri Fibra on "In Italia" (2008) and the song "Aria" with the vocalist Toše Proeski.

Her work since then includes the albums Hitstory (2015), Amore gigante (2017), La differenza (2019) and Sei nell'anima (2024), along with a long run of singles such as "Cinema", "La donna cannone", "Diamante", "Filo spinato" and, in 2026, "Meraviglioso errore" and "America inc.". Catalogue records count 29 albums and 39 singles between 1976 and 2026. On stage and in the studio she plays piano, guitar and violin besides singing, and her releases are classed as rock music.

Nannini has also appeared on screen in the film Dream of a Summer Night (1983) and, in 2010, in Parents and Children: Shake Well Before Using. In 2024 the streaming film Beautiful Rebel (Sei nell'anima), with Letizia Toni in the lead role, told the story of her rise as a singer.

Recognition

Her honours include the Mangia d'Oro, which she received in 1985, and the Vota la voce prize. Puzzle and its lead single are among the works for which she drew the most attention in the mid-1980s, and "Fotoromanza" went on to win a number of music awards.

Public roles

In 1995 Nannini took part in a Greenpeace protest at the French embassy in Rome, directed against the French government's plan to carry out nuclear tests at Mururoa.

Personal life

Nannini has one child, a daughter, who was born in Milan in November 2010.