Roberta Faccani (born 1 July 1968 in

Ancona Ancona (, also ; ) is a city and a seaport in the Marche region of central Italy, with a population of around 101,997 . Ancona is the capital of the province of Ancona, homonymous province and of the region. The city is located northeast of Ro ...

), is an Italian singer and actress.

Early career

After placing second at the

Castrocaro Music Festival The Castrocaro Music Festival, also known as Concorso per Voci Nuove, is an Italian musical contest which takes place every year in the town of Castrocaro Terme e Terra del Sole, near Forlì, from 1957. The competition is exclusively reserved for ...

in 1990, Faccani studied at the ''Centro Europeo di Toscolano'' (C.E.T.) led by famed lyricist Mogol, graduating in 1995. In 2001, she released her first single, ''Rido'', under the stage name Mata Faccani. A musical theatre actress, Faccani played the role of Joanne in the Italian production of ''

Rent Rent may refer to: Economics *Renting, an agreement where a payment is made for the temporary use of a good, service or property *Economic rent, any payment in excess of the cost of production *Rent-seeking, attempting to increase one's share of e ...

'' from 1999 to 2000, before being cast in ''Pinocchio il grande musical'', directed by

Saverio Marconi Saverio Marconi (born 1 April 1948) is an Italian stage director and actor. Life and career Born in Rome, after his debut as a stage actor, Marconi had his breakout role in 1977 playing Gavino Ledda in the Paolo and Vittorio Taviani's drama f ...

with music by

Pooh Winnie-the-Pooh (also known as Edward Bear, Pooh Bear or simply Pooh) is a fictional Anthropomorphism, anthropomorphic teddy bear created by English author A. A. Milne and English illustrator E. H. Shepard. Winnie-the-Pooh first appeared by ...

in 2002.

With Matia Bazar

In late 2004 Roberta replaced

Silvia Mezzanotte Silvia Mezzanotte (born 22 April 1967 in Bologna), is an Italian singer and song-writer. Early solo career Mezzanotte debuted at the Sanremo Music Festival in Sanremo Music Festival 1990, 1990 with her song ''Sarai grande'', reaching the 4th ...

as the lead singer of the famed group

Matia Bazar Matia Bazar () is an Italian pop band formed in Genoa in 1975. The original members of the group were Piero Cassano (keyboards), Aldo Stellita (bass), Carlo Marrale (guitar, vocals), Giancarlo Golzi (drums), and Antonella Ruggiero (vocals ...

, after signing a five-year contract; her first album with the band was ''Profili svelati'' (2005), preceded by the single ''Grido d'amore'' which earned the band the third place in the Group section at the

Sanremo Music Festival 2005 The Sanremo Music Festival 2005 (), officially the 55th Italian Song Festival (), was the 55th annual Sanremo Music Festival, held at the Teatro Ariston in Sanremo between 1 and 5 March 2005 and broadcast by (RAI). The show was presented by Paol ...

. Two albums revisiting Matia Bazar's earlier repertoire, ''One1 Two2 Three3 Four4'' (2007) and ''One1 Two2 Three3 Four4 – Volume 2'', followed; on 29 April 2010, Faccani departed from the group due to the expiry of her contract.

Later solo career

After leaving Matia Bazar, Faccani resumed her career as a musical theatre actress. In 2007, she wrote lyrics and music (with composer Stefano Calabrese) for ''Streghe, un musical magico'', while in 2010–11 she performed as the Queen of Hearts in ''Alice nel Paese delle Meraviglie – Il musical'', to rave reviews. Other highlights of Roberta's acting career are her roles as Lady Montague in the Italian adaptation of ''

Roméo et Juliette ''Roméo et Juliette'' (, ''Romeo and Juliet'') is an opera in five acts by Charles Gounod to a French libretto by Jules Barbier and Michel Carré, based on ''Romeo and Juliet'' by William Shakespeare. It was first performed at the Théâtre Ly ...

'' (from 2013 to 2015 and again in 2018) and as Life and Death (double role) in

Renato Zero Renato Fiacchini (born 30 September 1950), known by the stage name Renato Zero (), is an Italian singer-songwriter, producer, dancer and actor whose career spans from the 1960s to the 2020s. Zero is the only artist to have reached the top of t ...

's play ''Zerovskij, Solo per amore'' (2017). Apart from acting, Faccani released three solo albums, ''Un po' matt(i)a, un po' no…controtempo live tour'' (live, 2012), ''Stato di grazia'' (2013) and ''Matrioska italiana'' (2017), performing at several venues with her group, ''Mataband''.

Other activities

In 2013, Faccani founded her music academy in

Castelplanio Castelplanio is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Province of Ancona in the Italy, Italian region Marche, located about southwest of Ancona. Castelplanio borders the following municipalities: Belvedere Ostrense, Maiolati Spontini, Poggio San M ...

, ''La fabbrica del cantante-attore'', and a recording label, ''Bandidos Records'' (with Giordano Tittarelli), under which she released the single ''Lazio Generazione'' (2014) as a tribute to the

football team A football team is a group of players selected to play together in the various team sports known as football. Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-st ...

managed by her late grand-uncle Augusto Faccani. On 28 November 2014, she sang for

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

in Rome before a worldwide audience during the ''Terram in pacis'' event.

Discography

With Matia Bazar

* ''Profili svelati'' (2005) * ''One1 Two2 Three3 Four4'' (2007) * ''One1 Two2 Three3 Four4 – Volume 2'' (2008)

Solo

* ''Un po' matt(i)a, un po' no…controtempo live tour'' (live, 2012) * ''Stato di grazia'' (2013) * ''Matrioska italiana'' (2017)

Notes

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Faccani, Roberta 1968 births People from Ancona Actresses from le Marche Italian actresses Living people 20th-century Italian women singers 21st-century Italian women singers