Grazia Di Michele

Grazia Di Michele (October 9, 1955) has been one of the first female italian songwriter. She started playing clubs (Folkstudio, Rome) at the age of 18, accompanied by her sister Joanna. In 1976 she published her first Long Played (Clichè, MP Records) whose lyrics incorporated political and social commentary of the emacipation women movement. The rise to fame started in 1986 with the release of her third album, "Le ragazze di Gauguin", rich of mediterranean sounds. This album peaked in the top 10 at the Italian hit-parades, but it exists a french version too. In the following years she published many albums. Her song "Gli amori diversi" won the third price at the Festival di Sanremo, the most popular musical festival in Italy. She has written songs for the most important italian female vocalists. One of her songs, "Se io fossi un uomo", has been traslated by Randy Crawford ("If I were in your shoes") and it has become an international hit. Her beautiful, particular voice is sweet and rich of vibrations and colours; it speaks about love, fear, faith and all the human feelings of a woman. Her masterpiece is the album "Rudji" (Sony, 1995), in which she plays a very particular ethnic music. It had a weak promotion by label and nowdays is very difficult to find in the shops. "Respiro" is her last album (2006); it includes the poetic "Habi" (a female kamikaze's tale). It won several literary prices because the beauty of the lirycs (Premio Lunezia, LuccAutori). She is a producer and a talent scout too, and actually works as teacher at "Amici", a popular italian tv show, and at the "Music University of Rome": she cares about the emotional aspect of singing.