Representative Albums: "Stairway to the Stars: The Complete Polydor Recordings, 1954-1958," "The Hi-Fi Nightingale," "The Greatest in Any Language"
Representative Songs: "Fiesta Cubana," "Out of Nowhere," "Secret Love"
Biography
Caterina Valente (b. January 14, 1931, Paris, France) was born into an Italian circus family. Her mother was a clown and her father was an accordion player; as a child she worked in the circus as well. She performed in Europe as a singer for several years, but her career as an internationally known vocalist began in 1953 when she joined Kurt Edelhagen's band in Germany. She was soon signed to Polydor and made her recording debut for them the same year. Her first big hits came soon after that. Two songs written for her by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona charted in Europe and eventually England and the U.S. "Malaguena" was her first big hit, followed by "Analucia" which when re-released in an English version as "The Breeze and I" became a top ten hit in both the U.K. and the U.S. Valente by this time had become a truly multi-lingual artist, performing her cabaret act and issuing recordings in six languages: French, German, Italian, English, Spanish and Swedish. During the early '60s she switched alliances to Decca Records and scored several hits with them, including "Itsy Bity Teenie Weenie Honolulu Strand Bikini," and "Quando, Quando, Quando." Her version of "La Golondrina" appeared on one of the first charity albums, 1963's All Star Festival. The proceeds from that album went to aid refugees. In the mid '70s, Valente married her musical director, British jazz pianist Roy Budd, though the marriage was short lived. She continued recording until the mid '80s, issueing Caterina 86, a recording made with the Count Basie Orchestra in 1988. ~ Stacia Proefrock, All Music Guide
Caterina Valente (born 14 January 1931, Paris) is a singer, dancer, and actress. She was born into an Italian artist family; her father Giuseppe was a well-known accordion player, her mother, Maria Valente, a musical clown. She had three siblings, of whom Silvio Francesco was also active in show business.
In 1952 she married juggler Erik van Aro (Gerd Eric Horst Scholz). He recognized her talent and accompanied her in her initial years of worldwide success, although they later divorced. In 1953, she made her first recordings with Kurt Edelhagen. Soon afterwards she achieved great success with songs such as "Malagueña", "The Breeze and I", and "Dreh dich nicht um" with the Werner Müller orchestra. In 1955 she was featured on the "Colgate Comedy Hour" with Gordon MacRae. In the mid 1960s, Valente worked with Claus Ogerman and recorded material in both Italian and English that he arranged/conducted and/or composed on the Decca [1] and London [2]labels. Between 1966 and 1972 she was a frequent guest on the Dean Martin Show. In 1972, she married the British pianist Roy Budd; they had a son, Alexander, but they divorced in 1979.
In Germany she was a major performer of Schlager music. There she recorded Cole Porter's I Love Paris i.e. Ganz Paris träumt von der Liebe, which sold more than 500,000 copies in (1954.)
Valente was a regular on the short-lived CBS variety series The Entertainers (1964-65).
A briglia sciolta, the Italian jazz CD recorded in 1989 and re-released in later years under the titles Fantastica and Platinum deluxe is Valente’s best selling CD worldwide. In 2001, she released a new album Girltalk with harpist Catherine Michel. She is also the mother of singer Eric van Aro, Jr.
Other information and film career
Valente is a true world citizen and a polyglot, having sung in twelve different languages. After her first musical successes, she acted in the movie Mannequins for Rio (1954) and has performed in fourteen additional films. She also plays the guitar and tap dances.
Awards (not complete)
1961 Bravo Otto Bravo Category „Female singers“ Gold (also 1960, 1962 and 1963 in Silver)
1964 "Europremio" European TV Award, Venice,Italy
1965 „O Globo“ (Brazil) best foreign singer of Latin American music
