Heather Parisi

Heather Elizabeth Parisi (born January 27, 1960) is an American-born Italian dancer, singer and television personality. She was one of the most popular personalities on Italian television from the late 1970s to the 1990s. As of 2011, she and her family mainly live in Hong Kong.

Life and career

Born in Los Angeles, Parisi worked for the San Francisco Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre in New York City. During a vacation in Italy, she was noticed by choreographer Franco Miseria, who had her audition for RAI. In 1979, Parisi debuted on the show Luna Park, hosted by Pippo Baudo.

Her rise as a television star took place in the fall of the same year in the first edition of the Saturday night show Fantastico, which had high ratings (average of 23.6 million viewers). In each episode, Parisi performed a ballet and interpreted the opening song "Disco Bambina." The song became a hit, peaking several weeks at No. 1 on the Italian hit parade.

Parisi was cast in four more editions of Fantastico and in other successful variety shows, and had other musical hits including "Cicale," which ranked first on the hit parade for four weeks between 1981 and 1982. She slowed down her activities in the mid-'90s.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Parisi chose to remain unvaccinated. On her website in December 2021, Parisi logged an entry entitled "Damned for Eternity" in which she told women that they "should be ashamed" of having children vaccinated against COVID-19 and that it was "criminal". In a different post, Parisi said, "For me, being socially responsible is one of the most overestimated virtues."