It has been almost 20 years since the death of a great interpreter of Italian music, with a restless soul and a strong fighting spirit against the hypocrisies of modern society, against the forced standardization imposed by major record labels, against prejudices, and against the illness that led to her death; we are talking about Giuni Russo, the Sicilian singer with an extraordinary voice, who with her energy and her anger transformed into enchanting notes, will remain unforgettable forever.
The life and art as an endless ode to freedom by Giuni Russo
Giuni Russo, stage name of Giuseppina Romeo, was born in Palermo on September 10, 1951; she began studying singing and composition at a young age, refining an exceptional natural talent at an early age.
She was famous, indeed, for her astonishing vocal range that allowed her to cover almost 5 octaves, and she was able to combine undeniable technique, compositional originality, and interpretative sensitivity absolutely out of the ordinary.
Such characteristics make this artist the most peculiar and interesting figure in the Italian and international music scene.
In 1967, she won the Castrocaro Festival (a singing event held annually in Italy, in the town of Castrocaro Terme e Terra del Sole, in the province of Forlì-Cesena) by interpreting “A chi”, a successful song launched by the Italian singer Fausto Leali in the same year (the song is a cover of “Hurt” by the American singer Timi Yuro),
The success achieved at the Castrocaro Festival allowed her to participate in the Sanremo Festival the following year, where she participated under the name Giusy Romeo, presenting the song “No amore”, which would be part of her first 45 rpm record.
In 1968, she released two more 45 rpm records, containing the songs: “L’Onda” and “I Primi Minuti”, the Italian version of “I Say A Little Prayer” by Aretha Franklin”.
In 1969, she moved to Milan, which became her adopted city and where she met Maria Antonietta Sisini, a musician with whom she would share the joys and sorrows of life and art for 36 years in a happy and rare communion.
Over the 1970s, she changed her name to Junie Russo and recorded some limited edition tracks for small record labels.
Giuni Russo released her first album in 1975, entirely in English and entitled “Love Is A Woman”, now highly sought after by collectors. All the songs on the album are signed by Giuni Russo and Maria Antonietta Sisini.
In 1978, using the stage name Giuni Russo for the first time, she achieved success with the successful 45 rpm record “Soli Noi/La Chiave”, which also found success in the French market.
In 1981, Giuni Russo released the highly refined album “Energie”, but the great success came the following year, in 1982, with the single “Un’Estate Al Mare”, a song that earned her the victory at the Festivalbar and topped the charts for months, making her known to the widest audience.
With this song, Giuni Russo gave a significant demonstration of her remarkable vocal range, ranging from low tones to imitating the cries of seagulls by emitting very high notes.
After this success, the album “Energie” was republished. The sensational success of the song, on the one hand, gave great notoriety to the artist, on the other hand, it conditioned her career.
It is not easy, in fact, to maintain the balance between popularity and the operation of research and musical experimentation, which in the case of Giuni Russo’s artistic path was in fact a real constant.
The subsequent recordings of the albums: “Vox” (in 1983), “Mediterranea” (in 1984), “Giuni” (in 1986), and “Album” (in 1987), revealed an artist in continuous evolution capable of merging the easiest singability of her numerous hits (Good Good Bye, Sere d’Agosto, Limonata Cha Cha Cha, Mediterranea, Alghero, Adrenalina) with a truly unique vocal and instrumental experimentation.
In 1988, with the album “A Casa di Ida Rubinstein”, the turning point arrived that definitively closed her adventure in light music with the original and surprising “contamination” of classical music, drawing inspiration from the works of Bellini, Donizetti, and Verdi.
With this album, Giuni Russo gave an important proof of her great ability to interpret different musical genres at such high levels as to seek ideas for new forms of avant-garde musical expression.
This talent, emerging from a natural vocation, consecrated Giuni Russo as the first and only interpreter of “border music”.
Following the release of the album “A Casa di Ida Rubinstein”, the Palermo singer’s commitment to a series of prestigious tours with lyric and cultural institutions followed.
However, Giuni Russo’s propensity for experimentation was viewed with hostility by some record companies, with which relations became increasingly difficult.
In 1992, Giuni Russo released the album “Amala”, a collection of hits that contains two unpublished tracks: “Amala” and “Alla Spiaggia dell’Amore”.
In 1994, a completely unpublished album was released, entitled: “Se Fossi Piu’ Simpatica Sarei Meno Antipatica”, an original reinterpretation of a text by Ettore Petrolini, from which the track “Fortunello” was extracted.
In this period, Giuni Russo began to follow an artistic path by establishing collaborations with writers and poets, studying ancient sacred texts, and holding numerous concerts, without stopping composing new songs.
Approaching spirituality, Giuni Russo began to admire the figures of Santa Teresa D’Avila, Edith Stein, San Giovanni della Croce, whose writings were a constant source of inspiration for her.
In 1997, she performed in the theater, singing verses by Jorges Luis Borges in the contemporary music and poetry show “Verba Tango” directed by the director Giorgio Albertazzi; and in which she released the single “Gabbiano”, a preview of a discographic project entitled “Gelsomini d’Arabia”.
The following year, she released the first live album entitled “Voce Prigioniera”.
In 2002, after four years of absence from the record market, characterized by intense live performance activity, Giuni Russo released “Signorina Romeo live”, a selection of songs performed during concerts held in the previous years.
In 2003, Giuni Russo made a great comeback with her participation in the 53rd Sanremo Festival where she presented the song “Morirò d’Amore”, a track also included in her new eponymous album.
In the same year, the CD “Irradiazioni” was released, featuring singles “Gabbiano”, “Fonti Mobili” including the unreleased track “Voce che grida”, and new versions of her great hits.
At the end of 2003, the album “Demo De Midi” was released, a collection of 14 unpublished tracks recorded in demo version in the 1980s and 1990s.
2004 saw the release of the album “Napoli Che Canta”, a musical suite for the homonymous film by Roberto Leone Roberti from 1926 released on CD and DVD.
On the night between September 13 and 14, 2004, Giuni Russo died in her Milan home due to stomach cancer against which she had been fighting for 5 years, despite undergoing 3 surgeries and the necessary treatments.
From the following year, the enhancement of her immense artistic repertoire began: Maria Antonietta Sisini founded the GiuniRussoArte Association, whose sole purpose is the promotion and protection of Giuni Russo’s artistic heritage.
Almost 20 years have passed since the death of a wonderful, unique, unforgettable artist, much loved by her fans, who still remember her with affection for the energy she transmitted with that extraordinary voice, which became the means through which she expressed her desire for freedom, a voice that, fortunately, will never be silenced.