The "Queen of Screamers"

Mamma mia!

Our Patron Saint of Extreme Eye-Shadow, Signorina Mina Mazzini is 85 years old today!

From the first time I featured her over at my Give 'em the old Razzle Dazzle blog back in 2010:

A pioneer in many ways, Signorina Mazzini escaped the poverty and conventional society of her native Cremona in the late 50s to become a rock'n'roll singer, touring Italy and the Mediterranean. In a scandalous media frenzy for its day, Mina's attempt to hit the big time on TV was almost scuppered by conservative Catholic outrage at her unmarried pregnancy, and for a while she was banished from the screens. But you can't keep a good diva down for long, and by the mid-1960s the "Queen of Screamers", as she was known, became a chart-topping phenomenon.

Mina's songs were hugely significant in European pop - she pioneered several of Bacharach & David's numbers (translated into Italian, natch), becoming an equivalent of Dionne Warwick (or maybe Cilla Black) in her homeland as a consequence. Even Dusty Springfield acknowledged her as one of her influences!

Her Grande Grande Grande became Shirley Bassey's anthemic Never Never Never, Piano became Softly As I Leave You and was a hit for both Matt Monro and Frank Sinatra, and Dalida (no less!) scored a massive hit when she recorded a French version of Mina's Paroles, Paroles with Alain Delon...

Having retired from hosting and appearing on numerous Italian TV shows, Mina is currently living out her retirement in Switzerland. She remains adored in Italy, and her music is widely used in film soundtracks to this day.

Not one to be kept silent, however - though she was ostensibly "retired" back then, she actually never stopped recording and releasing albums (almost every year), the most recent of which she released last November!

How can anyone possibly even try to do justice to a career that has spanned eight decades? Let's just stick to a few selected highlights...

Mina - Tintarella di luna

Mina - Grande Grande Grande

Mina - Io vivrò senza te

Mina - Se telefonando

Mina - Ta-ra-ta-ta

Tanti felici ritorni, Mina Anna Mazzini (born 25th March 1940)!

It's sprung!

In the Spring a fuller crimson comes upon the robin's breast;
In the Spring the wanton lapwing gets himself another crest;

In the Spring a livelier iris changes on the burnish'd dove;
In the Spring a young man's fancy lightly turns to thoughts of love.

- Alfred, Lord Tennyson, from Locksley Hall.

Yes, today marks that long-awaited moment: the Vernal Equinox, known in some parts as "The First Day of Spring"!

Everything's on the up from now on, dear reader...

The End of an Era

Sad news. Icon of the UK drag scene, one of the oldest performing drag queens in the world, Maisie Trollette has departed - feathers, sequins, high heels and acid tongue in hand - at the age of 91, to reign supreme in the Gay Pride Drag Tent on Fabulon!

Born David Raven in the oh-so-twee artistic haven of St Ives in Cornwall, raised in the rural flatlands of Suffolk, he finally left the closeted life behind in 1960 for the bright lights of London. There he met fellow entertainer James Court and founded the legendary Trollettes, who ascended to become a dominant force in blacked-out-window gay venues like The Black Cap in Camden and the Royal Vauxhall Tavern for decades.

Like so many queens in that oppressive era, David/Maisie and his life partner, banker Don Coull, gravitated to the much more gay-friendy environs of the south coast resort of Brighton and opened a bed-and-breakfast guesthouse (that ran for many years), all the while travelling up and down the country with the Trollettes, with another faboo old drag queen Phil Starr, and as a solo act.

She was still performing well into her 80s - a career of more than 50 years - and, in recognition of her longevity, a biographical film was released in 2021.
[We still haven't yet seen it, as it only seems to be on subscription services and has never been released on DVD or on terrestrial TV.]

Maisie trailer

We saw Maisie perform on many occasions, and she was a stalwart of Gay Prides in Brighton and London (raising thousands for charities supporting people with AIDS and other causes through such performances). Here are some classic moments from the old girl:

Maisie Trollette at the Vauxhall Tavern Circa 1987

Phil Starr (with Maisie Trollette) - The Old Bazaar at Cairo:

David Raven (AKA Maisie Trollette) on trolling

Maisie Trollette - When I Fall In Love

Another glittering star has dimmed, and the loss is palpable.

There'll never be another! - RIP, Maisie Trollette (David Raven, 16th August 1933 – 12th March 2025)

On the Jukebox this weekend at Dolores Delargo Towers

Bell'arte del canto, in verità

The lovely operatic diva Mirella Freni would have been 95 years old last week. She was widely lauded throughout her 50-year career for her near-perfect bel canto soprano voice, specialising in roles such as "Mimi" in Puccini's La Boheme and "Juliette" in Gounod's Romeo et Juliette, rather than the more dramatic coloratura roles that many of her mid-20th century contemporaries chose to tackle.

Perhaps for this reason, her name is less familiar to the world outside the operatic milieu than, say, Dame Joan Sutherland or Montserrat Caballe. She should be better-remembered, in my opinion, as these examples of the lady's estimable talents demonstrate:

Mirella Freni - Mi chiamano Mimì [La Boheme, G.Puccini]

Mirella Freni - Io son l'umile ancella [Adriana Lecouvreur, F. Cilea]

Mirella Freni - Un bel dì vedremo [Madama Butterfly, G.Puccini]

Beautiful.

Mirella Freni (born Mirella Fregni, 27th February 1935 – 9th February 2020)