Giuni Russo

Giuseppa Romeo (7 September 1951 – 13 September 2004), known professionally as Giuni Russo (Italian pronunciation: [ˈdʒuːni ˈrusso]), was an Italian singer who specialised in experimental music after a short successful stint as an art-pop singer in the early 1980s. With her five-octaves range, she could produce extremely high notes and experimental sounds. She sang in Italian, English, Sicilian, Neapolitan, Japanese, French, German, Chinese, Spanish, Hebrew, Arabic, Persian and Latin.

Biography

Giuseppa Romeo was born in Palermo, Sicily, on 7 September 1951, the eighth of nine siblings. Busy with several family matters, her father Pietro registered her three days later, on 10 September.

As a child, singing was more important to Russo than playing or studying. She was often asked to perform at school. Her teacher offered her own desk to Russo to be used as a stage, but she was so shy she preferred to perform while hiding behind the classroom door. Her first public appearance was on a small stage actors from the Politeama Theatre in Palermo.

Without her family's knowledge, Russo took singing lessons from Master Ettore Gaiezza, paying him with the money earned from her local shows.

At age 15, she sang at the Castrocaro festival, reaching the semifinal. The following year she won the festival by unanimous vote, singing "Hurt" by Timi Yuro and "A chi" by Fausto Leali. The following year she competed in the Sanremo Festival under the name of Giusy Romeo, singing "No amore".