For more than six decades, Mina has occupied a rare place in Italian culture: she is at once a singer, a symbol, a voice recognized by virtually everyone, and a public figure who chose, long ago, to step away from public life without ever losing relevance. Few artists anywhere have managed that combination. In Italy, simply saying “Mina” has long been enough: no surname is needed.
Born Mina Anna Mazzini in 1940 in Busto Arsizio, in Lombardy, she grew up partly in Cremona and came of age in a country that was changing quickly after the Second World War: Italy in the 1950s was becoming more urban, more modern, more connected to international trends, and popular music was changing with it.
