Giuni Russo Biography

Giuni Russo (byname of Giuseppa Romeo; 10 September 1951 - 14 September 2004) was an Italian singer-songwriter, who specialized in experimental music after a short successful stint as art-pop singer in the early 1980s.

During her career she sang in Italian, English, French, Japanese, Spanish, Arabic, Persian and Latin.

Giuni Russo was born in Palermo. She scored her first success as singer in 1967 when she won the Festival di Castrocaro. The following year she took part in the Sanremo Festival as a "new proposal", under the name of Giusy Romeo. After a series of unsuccessful records, she moved to Milan to collaborate with musician and songwriter Maria Antonietta Sisini.

In 1972 she sang in the choirs of Balletto di Bronzo's Ys.

In 1974 she signed a contract for the German label Basf, which gave her the pseudonym of Junie Russo. The following year her first LP, Love Is a Woman (sung in English) was released, but with dismayal results. In this period he also collaborated with Sisini as songwriter for other authors.

In 1978 her song "Soli noi" became a minor hit in France. In 1979 she met the Sicilian singer-songwriter Franco Battiato, who produced her second LP, entitled Energie and released in 1981, containing the work of musicians such as Sisini, Battiato, Giusto Pio, Alberto Radius and others.

In 1982 Russo reached the peak of her popularity with the hit "Un'estate al mare", which went Gold. In 1983 she released the LP Vox (again for CGD), followed by her last work for that label LP Mediterranea (1984).

After divergences with the label's producer, Caterina Caselli, who wanted more commercial works, in 1986 she moved to Ricordi, for which she released the LPs Giuni (1986), ALBUM (1987) and the more experimental A casa di Ida Rubinstein (1988), featuring contaminations of pop and classic music.

In the 1990s Russo devoted to World Music and music-theater. Her first live album, Voce prigioniera, was released in 1998. In 2002 she released the second live album, Signorina Romeo.

In 2003, after another participation to the Sanremo festival, Russo released her last album, Morirò d'amore ("I Will Die of Love"). In this year she released a new album "Demo de midi". In 2004, she releade a new album "Napoli che canta" (a suite musical or soundtrack for the films "Napoli che canta").

She died from cancer in Milan in 14 September 2004.