Cristina D'Avena

Cristina D'Avena (born 6 July 1964) is an Italian actress, singer and television personality. She has sold nearly 7 million copies of her albums.

D'Avena was selected to join the prestigious Institute of Antoniano choir, following her debut, Lo Zecchino d'Oro, at age three. In the early 1980s, she sang numerous anime theme songs, which were compiled into several successful albums. Around the same time, D'Avena made her debut as an actress. In 1986, she appeared in Love me Licia, an Italian adaptation of the Japanese manga Ai Shite Knight. D'Avena has been performing concerts in Italy since the late 1990s.

In 1987, D'Avena recorded the French version of the Italian theme song "Lovely Sara" (which she performed a few months earlier), intended to accompany the broadcast of Princesse Sarah, the first cartoon produced in Japan to be broadcast on French television network La Cinq.

From the end of the 80s, D'Avena began a more than ten-year and practically uninterrupted series of live performances in numerous places, from large arenas to shopping centres to street parties and small venues. In November 1989 and 1990, she held two concerts at the PalaTrussardi in Milan, which were attended by a total of around 20,000 spectators, while the one in 1992 at the FilaForum in Assago brought together 13,000 people in the room and 3,000 outside.

In 1989, she also began working as a television and radio presenter with the Saturday night variety show on Canale 5 Sabato al Circo, which won the Telegatto in the Children's Programmes category. The programme continued for four years, until 1992, when it changed title, network and programming day and became Il grande circo di Rete 4. Together with Gerry Scotti, Cristina D'Avena presented the 1989 New Year's Eve special on Canale 5, "L'allegria fa novanta", and the one from 1990, "Evviva l'allegria".