August 1962 – WHAT A YEAR!!!!
Rita and her family are spending their vacation in Mattie, a small Piedmont’s mountain village. In August, 23, she will be 17,even if she’s looking as a twelve years old baby…
Only ten days before, she had received a registered letter from RCA- Rome with an invitation to make an audition for a new voices talent contest. Rita understood that the father had a hand in it and she got very nervous about it, thinking about her mother’s possible reactions.
And she was damn right, for that night Giovanni Pavone and his wife Maria started arguing like they never had done before. It was the “ end of the world “…..!,and it was Rita who was paying the price of that arguing: her father blames her for giving-up to soon all her artistic dreams, accepting the normal
life of a common house wife; he believes that her decision is meant just to make her mother happy and quiet, her mother who is now so terribly furious about all those scooter trips and thinks that buying a train ticket to Rome is a mere wasting
of family’s savings. The Pavone family, back in those years, was very poor just like the average Italian worker’s families, and like everyone else, they still used to store food in an old fashioned icebox, instead of a fridge.
Mama Maria wished so much to buy a new fridge and had kept saving for months on the family needing to reach that goal. That’s why she was s mad on the artistic craziness of her husband and daughter.
Papa Giovanni shut his wife mouth with one sentence: “I really hope that our daughter’s future life , is well worth a new fridge!!!”
After that, Rita and her mother left for Rome .
It was the beginning of an exciting amazing journey towards glory exactly just like Papa Pavone in his heart hade been dreaming of for so many years, an extraordinary opportunity for the career and life of a future big star, Rita Pavone !!!
1962 SEPTEMBER 1st- Ariccia Roman Castles.
Rita Pavone won the first edition of “La Festa Degli Sconosciuti “ (The Rally of the Unknowns ), a very prestigious musical festival to promote young talent organized by Teddy Reno , a very famous singer back in 40’s and 50’s years, but now working as independent producer for the RCA Italian label sponsor of the contest. In fact the first prize of the contest implied for the winner the immediate release of a single record and a five years contract with RCA , the same label that only a year before had not understood Rita’s talent during the first audition.
Teddy Reno became her personal manager and record producer, and Rita’s big dream turned so into reality.
September 1962
After making some demos in late September 1962 ,RCA Italiana released her first single, “La partita di Pallone “, lyrics by Carlo Rossi and music by Edoardo Vianello , the first Italian singer specialized in summer smashing tunes.
Funny enough, another already pretty well known Italian singer Cocky Mazzetti, had previously recorded the same song for another label in a different version.
But when Cocky Mazzetti’s label producers knew about the impending new version sung by a beginner named Rita Pavone , they decided to publish in advance their single in order to avoid any possible struggle between the two artists, by putting a note inside Cocky Mazzetti’s record , written and signed by the composer Vianello which made it clear that..
“La partita di Pallone had been originally conceived just for the voice of Cocky Mazzetti and nobody else..!!
However, this …surreal move did not help to change the decision already made by the big public in favour of Rita Pavone’ s version, which sold within only six months over 1.000.000 single records.
Flip side of the record was ”Amore Twist”.
Both songs were orchestrated by Luis Enriquez Bacalov,
the same one that, years later ,received in America the Oscar- Academy Award for the music of “Il Postino “ (The Postman ) original movie score.
Mister Bacalov gave a new shining and powerful sound to them that conquered immediately the young audience and records buyers, and that was also the beginning of a twenty years fantastic collaboration between him and Rita Pavone.
October 1962
“ Alta Pressione “ marked the first appearance of Rita in RAI TV National Italian program entirely dedicated to a very young audience, the same kind of similar American and English TV. Hosted by the famous comedian Walter Chiari ,with Renata Mauro and directed by Enzo Trapani.
At the certain point, Renata Mauro introduce the newly born singer with these words: “ The all musical world is glad to announce the birth of…RITA PAVONE!!! “
So she came out from a craddle and started singing “ La partita di Pallone “ alone and “ Amore Twist “ in “ duetto “ with another very young and coming up singer Gianni Morandi. The result ?...
A sudden GOAL!!! www.uomoorologiit.com as Rita still says recalling that special event. The record sold 700.000 copies in last than two months probably also owing to the lyrics references to a soccer match, so popular in Italy as well as all over the world.
After this successful first TV appearance, Guido Sacerdote , a very famous TV producer, immediately came up proposing to Rita an another four months contract for the popular Saturday night show “Studio 1” in twelve episodes.
The main idea of director Antonello Falqui , fully supported by Rita’s manager Teddy Reno, was to put around Rita a bunch a very young singing and dancing teenagers assuring a weekly ten minutes space within the show dedicated to the very young TV audience under eighteen. So Teddy Reno creates an eight girls and eight boys team named “ I Collettoni “ who dancing and lips-sync singing, introduced every week Rita and the song subject.
The girls singing were doubled by session studio backing voices while Gianni Morandi and Roby Ferrante doubled the guys group with their own voices.
Later, Gianni Morandi will became one of the most popular teenager idol, loved and followed by audience of all ages.
Roby Ferrante, a young but very talented composer – he signed “ Alla mia età “ third single of Rita Pavone and “Ogni volta “ sung by Paul Anka – unfortunately die soon after a car accident.
November 1962
In preparation of the impending TV show serial, Rita starts recording her first album titled “RITA PAVONE “
which gives two new very successful singles “Come te non c’è nessuno “ with B side “ Clementine chèrie “ and “ Alla mia età “, B side “Pel di carota “ this last one written by Ennio Morricone future Oscar Academy Award and, at the time,already a very well known composer of film
soundtrack as “ Gli intoccabili “ ( The untouchables ) “ Per 
un pugno di dollari “( A fist full of dollars ) “Il buono, il brutto e il cattivo “( The good, the bad and the ugly “ and “ C’era una volt il West “( Once upon a time a West ).
The two singles stayed for months at the top of the charts.
In the first “ Studio 1” episode Rita sung a very peculiar opening song “ Che fifa ..! “ written by Bruno Canfora, the orchestra director of the serial , but the song was not included in the album and used only once just for that TV opening act in prime time.
The unprecedented success of the serial, made Rita jump, in a few weeks, from the condition of a perfect “ nobody “ to a nation wide, and later international, big star
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