Nella Martinetti (21 January 1946 – 29 July 2011) was a Swiss singer, songwriter and actress, affectionately known as "Bella Nella". She was born in Brissago,

Ticino Ticino ( ), sometimes Tessin (), officially the Republic and Canton of Ticino or less formally the Canton of Ticino, is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eight districts ...

, Switzerland. In 1986, she became the first winner of the Grand Prix der Volksmusik with the song "Bella Musica", which she composed. In 1987, along with

Atilla Şereftuğ Atilla Şereftuğ (born 16 November 1950) is a Turkish-Swiss songwriter, born in Istanbul. Career In 1986, Şereftuğ participated in the Swiss heats of the Eurovision Song Contest as composer of the song " Pas pour moi". The song's co-composer w ...

, Martinetti approached a then unknown young Canadian singer

Céline Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion (born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Referred to as the " Queen of Power Ballads", Dion's powerful, technically skilled vocals and commercially successful works have had a significant impact on popular musi ...

, asking her to represent Switzerland in the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest. Dion won the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "

Ne partez pas sans moi "Ne partez pas sans moi" (; "Don't Leave Without Me") is a song recorded by Canadian singer Celine Dion with music composed by Atilla Şereftuğ and lyrics by Nella Martinetti. It in the Eurovision Song Contest 1988, held in Dublin, winning ...

." Martinetti entered into a civil union with her longtime partner Marianne Schneebeli in 2009. The couple lived in Jona. In later life, Martinetti suffered from

fibromyalgia Fibromyalgia (FM) is a functional somatic syndrome with symptoms of widespread chronic pain, accompanied by fatigue, sleep disturbance including awakening unrefreshed, and Cognitive deficit, cognitive symptoms. Other symptoms can include he ...

. Martinetti died in

Männedorf Männedorf (High Alemannic German, High Alemannic: ''Mänidoorf'') is a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality in the district of Meilen (district), Meilen in the Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Zurich (canton), Zürich in Switzerland. His ...

Canton of Zürich The canton of Zurich is an administrative unit (Swiss canton, canton) of Switzerland, situated in the northeastern part of the country. With a population of (as of ), it is the most populous canton of Switzerland. Zurich is the ''de facto'' Capi ...

in 2011 from

pancreatic cancer Pancreatic cancer arises when cell (biology), cells in the pancreas, a glandular organ behind the stomach, begin to multiply out of control and form a Neoplasm, mass. These cancerous cells have the malignant, ability to invade other parts of ...

, aged 65.

References

External links

Nella Martinetti's official websiteMartinetti's Yahoo.com music page
1946 births 2011 deaths 20th-century Swiss women singers Swiss singer-songwriters Swiss women singer-songwriters Eurovision Song Contest-winning songwriters Deaths from pancreatic cancer in Switzerland People from Brissago Swiss-Italian people Swiss songwriters Swiss women songwriters Swiss folk singers Swiss women folk singers Swiss LGBTQ singers Swiss LGBTQ songwriters Italian-language singers of Switzerland {{Switzerland-singer-stub