Loredana Bertè

Loredana Bertè is an Italian singer, songwriter, and actress known for her genre-spanning music, which encompasses rock, reggae, funk, and pop. Over the course of her career, she has collaborated with prominent Italian songwriters including Pino Daniele, Ivano Fossati, Mario Lavezzi, Mango, and Enrico Ruggeri. In addition to her musical work, she is recognized for wearing eccentric clothing during her stage performances.

Bertè was born on 20 September 1950 in Bagnara Calabra, located in the Province of Reggio Calabria in Southern Italy. The third of four daughters, she was born three years after her sister Domenica. Her parents, Giuseppe Radames Bertè and Maria Salvina Dato, were school teachers. She spent her childhood in Porto Recanati and Ancona before moving to Rome with her mother following her parents' separation, where she attended the local Art Institute.

In the early 1970s, Bertè worked as a go-go dancer on television and radio programs like Bandiera gialla and Stasera Rita! before joining the dance troupe at the Piper Club in Rome, where she met Renato Zero. In 1969, she performed alongside Zero and Teo Teocoli in the Italian production of the musical Hair. In 1970, she and her sister performed as backing vocalists for Chico Buarque de Holanda. She continued to act in theatre productions such as Ciao Rudy and Orfeo 9 in 1972. Encouraged by producers Alfredo Cerruti and Enrico Riccardi, Bertè released her debut album, Streaking, in 1974. Her second album, Normale o Super, produced her first domestic hit single, Sei Bellissima. In 1978, she began a relationship with Ivano Fossati, who produced her single E la luna bussò, an early mainstream reggae release in Italy.

During the early 1980s, Bertè lived in New York for a year to record an album. While there, designer Elio Fiorucci introduced her to Andy Warhol at the Factory, leading to a collaboration on the music video for her song Movie. In 1982, she won Festivalbar with Non sono una signora. She released the album Carioca in 1985 with Djavan and competed in the Sanremo Music Festival in 1986 with Re. Outside of music, Bertè met tennis star Björn Borg in 1988, and the couple was married from 1989 until 1993.

In 1993, Bertè recorded the duet Stiamo come stiamo with her sister, Mia Martini. Following Martini's death in May 1995, Bertè experienced a devastating period in her life. In the early 2000s, she returned to theatre work alongside Carla Fracci in Gerusalemme at the Baths of Caracalla in Rome. She directed three music videos for her 2002 mini-CD Dimmi che mi ami and appeared on the reality television show Music Farm in 2004, using the show's earnings to self-produce her 2005 album Babybertè.

After recovering from a fall and surgery in 2010, Bertè returned to the Sanremo Music Festival, finishing fourth with Respirare alongside Gigi D'Alessio, and toured internationally through St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2015, she served as a judge on Friends of Maria De Filippi, and in 2016, she hosted the multi-artist concert Amiche in Arena at the Verona Arena. Her song J'adore Venise was featured in the 2017 film Call Me By Your Name. In 2018, she topped Italian charts with Non ti dico no alongside Boomdabash. At the Sanremo Music Festival 2024, Bertè performed Pazza, finishing seventh and receiving the Mia Martini Critics' prize, before placing second with the same song in Una voce per San Marino 2024.