Laura Valente
Laura Valente, stage name of Laura Bortolotti (born 3 September 1963 in Milan), is an Italian singer and musician. Early solo career. After winning a songwriting contest with a song about a young victim of drug addiction as a teenager, Valente collaborated with Gianni Bella on his album "G.B. 2" (1984), which led to her getting her first recording contract soon thereafter. In 1985 she met singer Mango, starting a partnership in both music and life: he not only had Valente provide vocals for his albums "Australia" (1985), "Odissea" (1986), "Inseguendo l'aquila" (1988) and "Sirtaki" (1990), but also  produced her first studio album "Tempo di Blues" (1986), which despite not selling well, was met with good reviews by the critics. With Matia Bazar. In 1990 she replaced Antonella Ruggiero as the lead singer of the famed group Matia Bazar; her first album with the band is "Anime Pigre" (1991), marking a switch to a more modern, rocking style. Matia Bazar's participations in the Sanremo Music Festival in 1992 (with "Piccoli Giganti", ranked #6) and 1993 (with "Dedicato a te", ranked #4) were also a critical and commercial success, as well as their next albums "Dove le canzoni  si avverano" (1993), "Radiomatia" (1995) and "Benvenuti a Sausalito" (1997). After the death of Matia Bazar's bassist and main songwriter Aldo Stellita in 1998, however, Valente decided to leave the group to focus on her family. Later solo career. During the 2000s, Laura mainly collaborated with her by-then husband Mango, notably duetting with him on his song "Chissà se nevica" during the third night of Sanremo Music Festival 2007 on 1 March. She has also been active in several theatrical productions. Personal life. Valente was the partner of singer-songwriter Mango since 1985. They were married from 2004  to his death in 2014; their children Filippo (b. 1995) and Angelina (b. 1999) are also in the music business and have collaborated with their parents on several occasions.