Carmen Villani

The two tracks Villani recorded with the label were noticed by Fred Buscaglione who hired her as the female lead singer for his orchestra called the Asternovas.

[1] Villani took part of the Cantagiro Festival of 1963, performing "Io sono così", a cover of "The Love of a Boy" by Burt Bacharach.

The performance prompted an offer from Bacharach to record the Italian version "Anyone Who Had a Heart" which was turned down by the Bluebell leaving Petula Clark to enjoy the No.

[2] Villani continued with her beat style in "Passo il tempo" (Time passes) which was used to open the Questo e quello TV programme in 1966 and made the Italian top 30 as the B-side of "Anche se mi vuoi", a cover of "Tossin' and Turnin'" by The Ivy League.

"Bada Caterina", lyrics by Franco Migliacci and music by Armando Trovaioli, was the title track of the film Adultery Italian Style.

[2] The song's structure was simple and repetitive, being based on the call and response between the choir and Villani's variations of the main musical theme.

That resulted in a portrait of a rebellious girl who wishes to dance all night long (played by Catherine Spaak) set against the strict rules of the adults represented by the choir.

[5] The naughty text and the cheeky beat made teenage Italian girls identify themselves with the character and to turn on the volume in the spirit of the track.

[6] Villani continued in the protesting spirit, recording the track "Mille ghitarre contro la guerra" (A Thousand Guitars Against the War) and performing it at the Festival delle Rose.

[2] Her final single with Bluebell "Non c’è bisogno di camminare" marked the end of Villani's beat period.

Her debut single, the classy torch song "Io per amore" (I for Love), written and co-performed by Pino Donaggio, became 11th in the Sanremo Festival of 1967 and charted in Italy.

[2][3] The rest of her 1969 output, including "Se" (If) written in the signature style by Conte[3] and presented at the Canzonissima contest, failed to make impact on the charts.

[2] Villani's intention was to make a turn in her career, to shake off the label of light pop tunes and to establish herself as a serious interpreter.

[2] In the 1990s, she starred in the stage musical Roma birbona, and in 2004 she made a guest performance on the album Weekend al Funkafè by the group Ridillo.

[2] A number of Villani's tracks have been included in compilation albums of the 1960s Italian pop music, among them Beat in Cinecittà and Women in Lounge.