Irene Fargo

One of the most beautiful voices in Italian music. The lovely Irene Fargo was a singer (cantante) of balladic Italian pop and folk music. She later also turned to performing on TV and on the stage. She was born Flavia Pozzaglio in the province of Brescia. Her singing career began at the age of eleven when she reached the final at the Festival di Castrocaro, a young talent competition. Irene's debut single was released in 1988 and her first album appeared a year later. Two of her songs won second place at the prestigious San Remo Festival, in 1991 and 1992, respectively. Irene's voice was warm and sensuous, perfect for ballads and love songs. Many of these went on to rank highly in the Italian singles charts, among her best being Dialoghi, La donna di Ibsen, Sabbia d'Africa, Era di maggio, Ma quando sarà and Mediterraneo. In 1992, she appeared for the RAI television network in Domenica in (1976), a six-hour long variety show which aired on Sundays. Around this time, she also released an album of Neapolitan folk songs entitled O core e Napule, which opened with her hauntingly beautiful rendition of Malinconico autunno and which contained classic songs made famous in the 60s by Peppino Di Capri, including I' te vurria vasa, Anema e core and Dicitencello vuje. In 2002, Irene Fargo acted in the first of several stage musicals (Il ritratto di Dorian Gray). Sadly, her later life was marred by a toxic marriage and by illness. With her untimely passing at the age of 59 in July 2022, Italian music lost one of its brightest stars.