Maria Gabriella Ferri (18 September 1942 – 3 April 2004) was an Italian singer from

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

Early life

Ferri was born in Testaccio district, in Piazza Santa Maria Liberatrice. Her father Vittorio, was a peddler of sweets, tourniquets and razor blades and her first fan, with whom she used to sing ditties with him. She was a drop out after Class 4 due to an accident. She worked in a shop where she met Luisa De Santis, daughter of music director Giuseppe and that changed her life.

Career

Ferri's career began in a

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

nightclub in 1963. By 1965, she had broken into the Rome singing scene by singing popular Roman songs, thereby becoming an icon of Romanesco singing. One of her biggest hits was "Sempre" ("Always"). During her career, she also performed

Neapolitan Neapolitan means of or pertaining to Naples, a city in Italy; or to: Geography and history * Province of Naples, a province in the Campania region of southern Italy that includes the city * Duchy of Naples, in existence during the Early and High ...

and

Latin American Latin Americans (; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their Latin American diaspora, diasporas are Metroethnicity, ...

pieces. During the 1970s, she starred in several popular TV shows. By the 1990s, however, she had largely left the spotlight.

Death

She died in

Corchiano Corchiano is a town and ''comune ''in the province of Viterbo, Lazio, central Italy. It was an ancient settlement of the Faliscans and, in the Renaissance and later, a fief of the Farnese family. The local produce is hazelnuts and wine. Annual ...

province of Viterbo The province of Viterbo () is a Provinces of Italy, province in the Lazio region of Italy. Its capital is the city of Viterbo. Geography Viterbo is the most northerly of the provinces of Lazio. It is bordered to the south by the Metropolitan Cit ...

, after falling from a third-floor balcony in an apparent

suicide Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Risk factors for suicide include mental disorders, physical disorders, and substance abuse. Some suicides are impulsive acts driven by stress (such as from financial or ac ...

. Family members dispute this, saying she may have fallen ill after taking anti-depression medication and lost her balance.

References

1942 births 2004 deaths Singers from Rome 20th-century Italian women singers Spanish-language singers of Italy Deaths from falls Suicides by jumping in Italy

External links

Italian singer Gabriella Ferri, 62
- Associated Press

(English) {{DEFAULTSORT:Ferri, Gabriella 1942 births 2004 deaths Singers from Rome 20th-century Italian women singers Spanish-language singers of Italy Deaths from falls Suicides by jumping in Italy