She was a staple of television variety shows[5] and a dominant figure in Italian pop music from the 1960s to the mid-1970s,[6] known for her three-octave vocal range,[7] the agility of her soprano voice,[7] and her image as an emancipated woman.

[19] Mina's cool act combined sex appeal with public smoking, dyed blonde hair, and shaved eyebrows to create a "bad girl" image.

The singer combined classic Italian pop with elements of blues, R&B and soul music during the late 1960s,[22] especially when she worked in collaboration with the singer-songwriter Lucio Battisti.

Top Italian songwriters created material with large vocal ranges and unusual chord progressions to showcase her singing skills, particularly "Brava" by Bruno Canfora (1965) and the pseudo-serial "Se telefonando" by Ennio Morricone (1966).

[26] While on a summer holiday in Versilia on 8 August 1958, Mazzini gave an improvised performance of the song "Un'anima tra le mani" to amuse her family after a concert at the La Bussola night club.

1 hit was the up-tempo "Tintarella di luna" ("Moon Tan") in September 1959, which was performed in her first musicarello (musical comedy film), Juke box – Urli d'amore.

[13] Gino Paoli's song "Il cielo in una stanza" ("The Sky in a Room") marked the beginning of the young singer's transformation from a rock and roll shrieker to a feminine inspiration for cantautori.

[41] The presentation of her German single "Heißer Sand" on 12 March 1962 on Peter Kraus's TV show caused a boom of 40,000 record sales in ten days in Germany.

Mina refused to cover up her relationship and resulting pregnancy with the married actor Corrado Pani, so her TV and radio career was interrupted by the Italian public broadcasting service RAI in 1963, as at the time divorce was not yet legal in Italy.

A reminder of her previous adolescent image, her single "Suna ni kieta namida" ("Tears Disappear in the Sand"), sung in Japanese, peaked at No.

[48] The shows included the brooding songs "Un bacio è troppo poco" ("One Kiss is Not Enough") and "Un anno d'amore" ("A Year of Love"),[49] a cover of Nino Ferrer's "C'est irreparable".

Maurizio Costanzo and Ghigo De Chiara wrote the lyrics of "Se telefonando" ("If Over the Phone") as the theme for the TV program Aria condizionata in spring 1966.

[7][51] Morricone's arrangement featured a sophisticated combination of melodic trumpet lines, Hal Blaine-style drumming, a string set, a 1960s Europop female choir, and intense subsonic-sounding trombones.

"Sacumdì Sacumdà", Mina's talking and laughing version of Carlos Imperial's bossa nova "Nem Vem Que Não Tem", narrowly escaped a ban by RAI because of its irreverent lyrics.

[59] Another interpretation of a Dionne Warwick song was "La voce del silenzio" ("Silent Voices") by Paolo Limiti and Elio Isola, presented in a live session during the show.

The series also included the songs "Fantasia", "La musica è finita" ("The Music is Over") and the elegant "Un colpo al cuore" ("Heart Attack").

[59] After a break of three months, Mina returned and recorded the song "Non credere" ("Disbelieve"), composed by Luigi Clausetti and Pietro Soffici, with lyrics by Mogol, in April.

[62] Mogol and his fellow composer Lucio Battisti, along with the Premiata Forneria Marconi on backup instrumentals, worked with Mina on several songs as a result of the success of "Non credere".

The shows also included "Balada para mi muerte" ("Ode to My Death"), a nuevo tango duet with Ástor Piazzolla at the bandoneón, backed by the Argentinian group Conjunto 9.

Mina's later releases included duets with Mick Hucknall, Fabrizio De André, Piero Pelù, Adriano Celentano, Lucio Dalla, Joan Manuel Serrat, Chico Buarque, Miguel Bosé, Tiziano Ferro, Giorgia and Seal.

[36] Three years later, her love affair with Corrado Pani challenged the moral foundations of Italy, a country where divorce was illegal and single motherhood was considered shameful.

[8] The subsequent ban from performing on Italian TV and radio channels further developed Mina's image as an independent bad girl,[8][15] which she emphasized with her choice of song themes.

[59] Other songs that RAI initially banned as immoral were "Ta-ra-ta-ta" (dealing forthrightly with smoking),[79] "La canzone di Marinella", and "L'importante è finire" (alluding to sex without love).

[80] Mina's cool act[15] featured sex appeal, public smoking,[79] dyed blonde hair, shaved eyebrows, and heavy use of eye make-up.

"[81] To demonstrate Mina's vocal range, the composer Bruno Canfora penned the song "Brava", and Ennio Morricone wrote "Se telefonando" with numerous transitions of tonality.

[15][51] More songs were composed exclusively for Mina and arranged for RAI's all-star orchestras for performance on the TV variety series Studio uno, Sabato sera, Canzonissima and Teatro 10.

[22] She helped to incorporate new styles into Italian pop music, including nuevo tango, as seen in her duet "Balada para mi muerte" with Ástor Piazzolla.

[citation needed] When she altered her musical style in 1969, Mina changed her hairdo from short and straight to long blonde curls, and started to wear a black minidress.

[93] 1958 1959 1960 1961 1963 1964 1965 1966 1968 1987 2001 – Grand Officer Order of Merit of the Italian Republic: Awarded the second highest civil honour in Italy, by President Carlo Azeglio Ciampi on 1 June 2001.

[97] 2015 In her early teens, Mina was a competitive swimmer for the Canottieri Baldesio sports club in Cremona, attended by the elite of the Cremonese bourgeoisie at the time.