Lorella Cuccarini Persili (born August 10, 1965) is an Italian dancer, television presenter, singer, and actress.

Lorella Cuccarini
Cuccarini in June 2008
Born
Lorella Cuccarini Persili

(1965-08-10) August 10, 1965 (age 59)
Rome, Italy
Occupations
  • Dancer
  • singer
  • actress
  • television presenter

Life and career

edit

Born in Rome, at nine years old Cuccarini started to attend the dance school of Enzo Paolo Turchi [it] (choreographer and husband of Carmen Russo).[1] After some experiences as a chorus girl, Cuccarini made her television debut at twenty years old alongside Pippo Baudo in the sixth edition of Fantastico, then she worked for RAI and Mediaset in many successful variety shows, including Festivalbar, seven editions of Paperissima and of Trenta ore per la vita, three editions of Buona Domenica.[1][2]

Cuccarini is also a singer, with several top-ten charting singles and albums;[3] in 1995 she entered the Sanremo Music Festival 1995 (she had hosted two years earlier), ranking tenth with the song "Un altro amore no".[1][4]

Beyoncé

edit

Following her performance at the 2011 Billboard Music Awards, American pop star Beyoncé initially received widespread praise from fans and critics.[5] Critics, however, voiced concerns about similarities to Cuccarini's in February 2010 performance at the 60th Sanremo Music Festival.[6] Billy Johnson, Jr of Yahoo! Music wrote: "Kenzo Digital, who spent a month creating Beyoncé's interactive video, told Yahoo! News that Lorella concert footage is only part of the inspiration for Beyoncé's show: "[The Cuccarini artists] are awesome and do incredible work as well, but there are a lot of different inspirations for where our piece came from."[6] Beyoncé responded two days later through an interview with AOL Music, saying she was inspired after finding Cuccarini's performance online:"My makeup artist showed me the performance of Lorella Cuccarini a year ago, and it inspired me so much. I then met with the talented people who worked on it. The technology and concept were so genius. She was inspired after discovering Cuccarini's performance online. Thank God for YouTube or I would have never been exposed to something so inspiring. I never worked so hard on anything in my life as that performance for the Billboard Awards."[7]

Personal life and family

edit

Cuccarini married the composer Silvio Testi in 1991. They have four children.[1]

Discography

edit

Studio albums

edit
List of albums, with release date and certifications
Title Album details Certifications
Lorel
Voci
  • FIMI: Platinum
Voglia di fare

Compilation albums

edit
List of compilation albums, with release date and certifications
Title Album details Certifications
Heather e Lorella (with Heather Parisi)
Nemicamatissima

Singles

edit
List of singles, with selected chart positions and certifications
Title Year Peak chart positions Certifications Album
ITA
"Sugar Sugar/ La rete d'oro" 1985 5 Lorel
"Tutto matto/ Sandy" 1986 6
  • FIMI: Gold
"Kangarù/ Accedimi il cuore"
"L'amore è/ Chi è di scena" (featuring Alessandra Martines) 12
"Io ballerò/ Se ti va di cantare" 1987 3
  • FIMI: Gold
Non-album single
"La notte vola" 1989 7
  • FIMI: Platinum
"Lullabye Mix"
"Magic (Mix Version)"
"Per te Armenia/ Sono caduti" (featuring Vittorio Gassman)
"Ascolta il cuore" 1991
"Oh signorina/ Tarzan" (featuring Francesco Salvi and Marco Columbro) 17 Se lo sapevo
"Liberi liberi" 1992 Voci
"Un altro amore no" 1995 Voglia di fare
"Uno di noi" (featuring Gianni Morandi) 2002 31 Non-album single
"Un'onda d'amore" 2008
"Il mio viaggio" 2010
"Tanto tempo ancora" (featuring Heather Parisi) 2016 Nemicamatissima
"Un pacco per te" (with Il Pagante) 2021 Non-album single
"La notte vola RMX" (with Olly) 2023
  • FIMI: Gold
Gira, il mondo gira

Other appearances

edit
List of non-singles guest appearances, with release year and other artists
Title Year Other artist(s) Album
"This Is the Time" (cover) 1990 None Sentieri d'amore
"Voci" 1992 Buona Domenica
"Tu come me/ Tu como yo" 1993 Micaela
"Parola a chi" 1995 La stangata
"Portami via" Luca Jurman Non-album song
"Mi mancherai" None Il disprezzo
"X Te" 1996 Buona Domenica
"Ran can can" 1999 Campioni di ballo
"Guarda la realtà" 2017 My Little Pony: The Movie
"Magica Doremì" 2022 Cristina D'Avena 40 - Il sogno continua

Filmography

edit

As an actress

edit
Year Title Role Notes
1990 Guiding Light Herself Soap opera, cameo
1992 Piazza di Spagna Annabella Morganti Miniseries
1998 Star Trek: Insurrection Starfleet Crewman Uncredited
2004 Amiche Giovanna Marchi Miniseries
2006 Lo zio d'America Francesca Main role (season 2)
2007 Lissi und der wilde Kaiser Lissi (voice) Italian dub
2012 L'amore è sordo Director Lorella Television film
2017 My Little Pony: The Movie Tempest Shadow (voice) Italian dub
2018 L'isola di Pietro Isabella Sulci Recurring role
2024 No Activity Committee Chair Episode: "Notte numero 17"

Other appearances

edit
Year Title Role Notes
1984 Te lo do io il Brasile Herself/ Background dancer Variety show
1985 Il tastomatto Variety show
1985–1987 Fantastico Herself/ Various Variety show (seasons 6–7)
1987–1988 Festival Herself/co-host Variety show
1988–1989 Odiens Sketch comedy show
1989, 1995, 2000 Vota la voce Competition show (seasons 17, 23, 28)
1990–2004 Paperissima Variety show (seasons 1–2, 4–7)
1991 Bellezze sulla neve Game show (season 1)
1991–1996 Buona domenica Herself/host Variety show (seasons 4–5, 8)
1993 Sanremo Music Festival 1993 Herself/co-host Annual music festival
1995 La stangata: Chi la fa l'aspetti Herself/host Prank variety show
1996; 1999 Campioni di ballo Competition dance show (seasons 1 and 4)
1998 A tutta festa Herself/co-host Variety show
2001 La notte vola Herself/host Musical show
Stelle a quattro zampe Animal competition show
2002–2003 Uno di noi Herself/co-host Variety show
2008 La sai l'ultima? Herself/host Variety show (season 10)
2010–2011 Domenica in Herself/co-host Talk show (season 35)
2011 Un amico è così Herself/host Reality competition show
Star Academy Herself/ Judge Competition dance show
2012 Miss Italia 2012 Annual beauty contest
2014 La pista Competition dance show
2015 Ti lascio una canzone Musical talent show
2016 Nemicamatissima Herself/co-host Variety show
2019–2020 La vita in diretta Talk show (season 30)
2020–present Amici di Maria De Filippi Herself/dance teacher Talent show (season 20)
Herself/singing teacher Talent show (season 21–present)
2022 Striscia la notizia Herself/guest host Variety show (season 34)
2023 Sanremo Music Festival 2023 Herself/guest Guest performer for the 4th night
2024 Sanremo Music Festival 2024 Herself/co-host Co-host for the 4th night
This Is Me Herself/regular guest Amici di Maria de Filippi spin-off

Stage

edit
Year Title Role
1997–1999 Grease Sandy Dobrowski
2005–2007 Sweet Charity Charity
2014–2016; 2022 Rapunzel: The Musical Mother Gothel

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d Redazione (9 August 2005). "Cuccarini, i miei primi 40 anni". TGCOM. Retrieved 25 November 2013.
  2. ^ Giorgio Dell'Arti, Massimo Parrini. Catalogo dei viventi. Marsilio, 2009. ISBN 978-88-317-9599-9.
  3. ^ Dario Salvatori (1989). Storia dell'Hit Parade. Gramese, 1989. ISBN 8876054391.
  4. ^ Eddy Anselmi (2009). Festival di Sanremo: almanacco illustrato della canzone italiana. Panini Comics, 2009. ISBN 978-8863462296.
  5. ^ "Stars React To Beyoncé's Billboard Music Awards Performance". Rap-Up. Devin Lazerine. May 23, 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2011.
  6. ^ a b "Beyoncé's Billboard Music Awards Show Strikingly Similar To Year-Old Performance From Italian Singers". Yahoo! News. Yahoo!. May 24, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
  7. ^ "Beyoncé's Responds To Billboard Music Awards Controversy". Rap-Up. Devin Lazerine. May 25, 2011. Retrieved May 25, 2011.
edit