One of Italy’s favorite singers and TV presenters, Raffaella Carra, who became almost as renowned in Spain and South America as a symbol of sexual liberty as in her nation, dies on Monday at 78.
The Italian Premier Mario Draghi said Carra “accompanied generations of Italians and named Italy around the globe with her joy and her kindness.”
During their sensuous dance and the expose of clothes and sexually bold songs in the 1970s, Carra, whose true names were Raffaella Pelloni, soared to be famed as a pop singer.
She achieved great hits in tracks like “Tuca Lucas” and her most famous single “A far l’amore comincia tu,” which prompted women to take a sexual lead with the lyrics. “Let him know what you want, show him this is not a game,” she says.
A remix of the track in the 2013 Oscar-winning film The Great Beauty of Paolo Sorrentino.
Carra began her career in the 1960s as an actor, she was feared as a singer and appeared in several films including the 1965 World War Two picture Von Ryan’s Express starring Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard.
Sergio Japino, the former partner and director of Carra, said that she died after a disease, “striking her body so diminishing yet so overwhelming.”
Within a minute the news was prevailing in Italy’s leading newspapers with a photo from Carra with a distinctive blonde Bob haircut paid tribute to “Raffa, Queen of TV.”
