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Susy Bellucci – Biography (Versione Italiana)

Susy Bellucci was born in Florence, where she still lives and works. She’s had several experiences in music, acting and teaching. She first started as a singer, recording two albums for the italian RCA, the first one dedicated especially to the world of women, the second one, which she also composed, dedicated to children. Her song “My name is potato”, intepretated by the popular Italian singer Rita Pavone, was a television hit and best-seller. Wishing to experiment all possible vocal styles, at the beginning of the 80s Susy Bellucci became a member of the Tuscan folk group Cartacanta, specializing in old country Tuscan songs. After a long concert tour, the group produced the record “Il tempo delle ciliege” (Vedette Records), which included part of the repertoire the group had been performing live.

At the same time Susy Bellucci explored all possible kinds of vocal expression, partecipating in various workshops, such as with the Danish theatre group Odin Teatret, conducted by the Italian director Eugenio Barba, experimenting vocal and body expression; with the great, unforgotten singer Cathy Berberian, on how to approach all possible kinds of musical styles, from contemporary music to American standards, from opera to musicals; in Florence with the Italian singer and teacher Liliana Poli, experimenting different voice techniques in contemporary music. Susy Bellucci’s songs for children have been the musical themes for several Italian state television programs.

In 1998 Susy called together a large group of friends, musicians and illustrators, and realized the album “Le figurine di Gallo Cristallo”, a CD entirely dedicated to children, which is hardly comparable to any other ever produced in the history of Italian discography, for its quality and the partecipation of great performers, amongst which Flavio Cucchi (guitar), Stefano Bollani (jazz piano), just to name two of a much larger group. Susy Bellucci is now completing a CD of lullabies for children (or, as she prefers to call them, “little pieces of night music”).

She is also preparing the production of an album of Tuscan folk songs, illustrating various typologies of women in the Tuscan popular tradition. In the autumn of 2000 the album “DORMI DO, piccole musiche per la notte” was released, a special selection of lullabies, that includes both songs of popular origin and songs composed by Susy herself, as well as songs by Virgilio Svona, leader of the famous Cetra Quartet. Following the success of these two CD’s the musical show “Le Figurine di Gallo Cristallo in concert” was produced, and was a huge success with the general public and critics in numerous theatres and prestigious festivals.

The album “Le figurine di Gallo Cristallo”, now diffused in all the Fiorentine and almost all the Tuscan schools, is related by the newspapers as a record-happening.

In December 2002 the CD “DONNE DI TOSCANA” was released, co-produced together with the Mediateca Regionale Toscana. It’s an album entirely dedicated to the female figure of past-times Tuscan tradition, of enormous interest for the originality of its texts, for the beauty of the melodies, and for the diverse vocalities. This compilation, edited by Giulio Clementi, with the participation of the solo guitarist Flavio Cucchi, and with the contribution of musicians such as David Bellugi, Raffaello Pareti and many others, aims also at musically enriching tracks that, for their grass-roots origin, are performed with little or simple instrumentation. The concert Donne di Toscana had an enormously enthusiastic reception in various venues, amongst which the Salon du Livre in Paris in March 2005.

In November 2006 “Il pulcino Duduggi …e la sua strana famiglia”, was released, a CD for children that was born as a natural follow-up to “Le figurine di Gallo Cristallo”, made with the customary contribution of extraordinary musicians, once again including Stefano Bollano, who in the meantime had become a jazz star of worldwide renown. At the same time Susy Bellucci has held conferences entitled “Narrar-cantando fiabe e filastrocche” (Telling-singing fairytales andnursery rhymes) with teachers, children, and parents with the aim of stimulating an interest for music and the imagination and to spread the grass-roots heritage of fairy tales and nursery rhymes. From 2006 on, Susy has started to hold her musical encounters also in the halls and toy libraries of the children’s hospitals.

In 2007, her track “MyName is Potato” was chosen by McCain’s (a famous brand of frozen French fries) as the jingle for its advertising campaign, a choice that has also continued into 2008; evidence of Susy Bellucci’s importance as a jingle and television theme tune composer.