The singer Carla Boni, the original Mambo queen, died at the age of 84 in Rome on Saturday.
Born Carla Gaiano in Ferrara in 1925, the young Carla succeeded in becoming a Rai singer after entering a series of competitions. In 1953, she won the Sanremo Song Festival with “Viale d’autunno”, along with Flo Sandon’s, who also sang it. Later Carla recorded the Italian version of “Johnny Guitar” and, singing with her husband, Gino Latilla and Maria Paris, won the Festival di Napoli with “’E stelle ‘e Napule”. But her greatest hit was “Mambo italiano” which she recorded in 1956. In 1957 “Casetta in Canada” was another Sanremo success for her.
Although there were long periods when Carla did not sing publicly at all, her career never really ended. In 2007 she released an album of songs by young songwriters, “Aeroplani e angeli” and in 2009, already ill, she recorded the haunting “Portami in India”, a farewell to her fans.
Carla’s funeral will take place in Rome on Tuesday but I would like to remember this feisty lady as she was. Do take a look at her 1988 version of “Mambo italiano”, which she recorded with the band Flabby Feat. Now that’s how to grow old and that’s how, from now on, I intend to do my housework!
Carla Gaiano (Carla Boni), 14.2.25 – 17.10.09.
