Mammola Sandon, known by the stage name of Flo Sandon's (29 June 1924 – 17 November 2006), was an Italian singer who was popular in the post-World War II years. She won the

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annua ...

in 1953 with the song " Viale d'autunno".

Career

Sandon was born in

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a thr ...

, in

Veneto it, Veneto (man) it, Veneta (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = ...

. Her musical career began in 1944 when she made her stage début in a

Red Cross The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide. It was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and ...

charity show. Her stage name ''Sandon's'' came by chance - it was an oversight by the illustrator who prepared her first record cover. Her first big break as a professional vocalist came in 1947, when she sang in The Hot Club of France with two jazz legends: guitarist

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Romani-French jazz guitarist and composer. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe and has been hailed as one of its most ...

, and violinist

Stéphane Grappelli Stéphane Grappelli (; 26 January 1908 – 1 December 1997, born Stefano Grappelli) was a French jazz violinist. He is best known as a founder of the Quintette du Hot Club de France with guitarist Django Reinhardt in 1934. It was one of the fi ...

. Celebrity came in 1952 thanks to the movie ''Anna'' directed by Alberto Lattuada and starring

Silvana Mangano Silvana Mangano (; 21 April 1930 – 16 December 1989) was an Italian film actress. She was one of a generation of thespians who arose from the neorealist movement, and went on to become a major female star, regarded as a sex symbol for the 19 ...

Vittorio Gassman Vittorio Gassman (; born Gassmann; 1 September 1922 – 29 June 2000), popularly known as , was an Italian actor, director and screenwriter. He is considered one of the greatest Italian actors, whose career includes both important productions ...

and

Raf Vallone The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's Air force, air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal ...

. Flo Sandon's did not appear in the movie itself, but she performed two songs on the movie

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack ...

, "T'ho voluto ben" and "

El Negro Zumbón "El Negro Zumbón" (also known as "Anna") is a baião song written by Armando Trovajoli in 1951 for the film ''Anna'', directed by Alberto Lattuada and starring Silvana Mangano. In the movie, the song is performed in a night club scene by Mangano ...

". Both were great hits.

Nat King Cole Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American singer, jazz pianist, and actor. Cole's music career began after he dropped out of school at the age of 15, and continued f ...

liked "T'ho voluto ben" so much that a few years later he recorded it with the new title "

Non Dimenticar "Non Dimenticar" ("Do Not Forget"), originally titled "T'ho voluto bene" ("I loved you so much"), is a popular song with music by P. G. Redi (Gino Redi, a.k.a. Luigi Pulci), the original Italian lyrics by Michele Galdieri, with English lyrics by She ...

". In 1953 Flo Sandon's took part in the

for the first time, and won. The song was "Viale d'autunno" and it was also performed by another singer,

Carla Boni Carla Boni (17 July 1925 in Ferrara, Italy – 17 October 2009 in Rome, Italy), was an Italian singer. Life and career Born as Carla Gaiano in Ferrara, Boni had worked on RAI, the Italian State Radio and television network, as a singer sinc ...

. Both winners were at their first appearance at the popular song contest, and succeeded ahead of the great favorite

Nilla Pizzi Nilla Pizzi, stage name of Adionilla Pizzi (; 16 April 1919 – 12 March 2011), was an Italian singer and actress. Born in Sant'Agata Bolognese, she was particularly famous in Italy during the 1950s and 1960s. She won the first edition of the ...

. The press speculated about a possible plot against Pizzi: allegedly she had been originally chosen to perform "Viale d'autunno" but was then dismissed, possibly out of spite or jealousy, and the song offered to Sandon's and Boni. In 1955 Flo Sandon's married

Natalino Otto Natalino Otto, stage name of Natale Codognotto (24 December 1912 – 4 October 1969) was an Italian singer. He started the swing genre in Italy. Biography Early years Natalino Otto was born at Cogoleto, province of Genoa, in northern Italy. ...

, also an Italian singer.Natalino Otto And Flo Sandon'S On The Day Of Their Wedding
gettyimages.co.uk They had a daughter, Silvia, who was born in 1956. They later toured together in Italy and abroad for several years. They are credited with the discovery of one of Italy's greatest singers of all times - Mina. On the night of 24 September 1958, the Happy Boys, a band of teen-age students was playing in the Rivarolo del Re dance hall, Cremona. Otto and his wife were present, and were greatly impressed by the singer of that group. They went to meet her at the end of the concert and proposed her a trial recording session. One month later, Mina's first single was out.Massimo Emanuelli
FLO SANDON'S
storiaradiotv.it Flo Sandon's competed five more times at the Sanremo Music Festival, but never won again. She however won another song contest, the Festival of Naples in 1960 with "Serenata a Mergellina". Other hits from her repertoire include "Vorrei volare", "Kiss Me", "I Love Paris", "Passa il tempo", "Concerto d'autunno", "Verde luna", ''"Domani"'', "Que sera sera" and "Bevi con me". Flo Sandon's died in Rome at the age of 82.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sandons, Flo 1924 births 2006 deaths People from Vicenza Sanremo Music Festival winners 20th-century Italian women singers