There may come a moment in the life of an artist when, despite great success, he decides to bring the curtain down on his public image. Who knows what Mina Anna Maria Mazzini, aka, might have thought Minathat August 23, 1978when, leaving the audience stunned and applauding her, at the end of the concert, after singing “Grande Grande Grande”, she announced her definitive retirement from the stage.
It is a Wednesday evening when the singer, at the time the most famous in Italy, performs in the historic Bussoladomani tent theatre, in Marina di Pietrasanta, in Versilia. The end of summer is in the air, fans and passing tourists try to enjoy the last remnants of the summer, but they are unaware that, after listening to the notes of “Mille bubble blu” and “L’uomo per me”, they will have to say goodbye to the face of the great artist. As her son Massimiliano Pani will later recount, that evening present at his mother’s last show, before going on stage, the Cremona tiger catalyzes the attention of the audience, everyone hangs on her lips, while she is anxious, but very skilled to hide your state of mind. A curiosity: among those present, there is also a man who will become a prominent figure for our country, the current President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella.
Let’s go back to Mina. After the last notes, no second thoughts, the curtain closed, people are in disbelief. The choice to kick fame seems incomprehensible, whereas today, in an era in which people jostle to get noticed on social media or on TV, it turns out to be revolutionary. Among the most iconic voices of Italian and international music, Mina had already expressed the desire to retire from the scene in 1972, only to later change her mind and communicate it, amused, to journalists. There were many urban legends about his “escape”, in particular about his decision to move permanently to Switzerland, at that time, all unfounded. Instead, it is precisely the desire for an autonomous private and artistic life that drives her to Luganoin the Canton of Ticino, where in 1967 he founded his own business with his father record companythe PDU.
Farewell to TV and retirement to private life
The last time Mina appeared on television was May 11, 1974, in the Saturday evening variety show “Milleluci”, hosted together with Raffaella Carrà. Then, the final farewell to the stage four years later. Having abandoned sequins and sequins, the singer retired to private life probably also with the aim of achieving the emotional stability that she had lacked in her moments of greatest artistic success. In fact, Mina had a rather intense love life. The first man linked to her, who made the headlines, was the actor and voice actor Corrado Pani (who died in 2005), whom the artist loved almost clandestinely. We are in the 1960s, the man has just ended his relationship with his wife, but since divorce has not yet been legalized in Italy, he and Mina are forced to hide. When their firstborn Massimiliano was born, the singer feared going around with a stroller because she was afraid of being criticized and insulted by the fans she passed on the street. The love story with Pani ends in 1963, shortly after the singer falls in love with the composer Augusto Martelli, their bond will last until 1970. Subsequently, she establishes a romantic relationship with the Roman journalist Virgilio Crocco, who she will marry in Trevignano, on the lake of Bracciano. Their union, however, lasts just two years and at the birth of theirs daughter Benedettawhich took place in November 1972, the couple is already separated. The man died a few months later in a car accident in the USA. After a three-year relationship with the record producer Alfredo Cerruti, the interpreter meets the man of her life, the Cremonese heart surgeon Eugenio Quaini, to whom she is still close. In these years of absence from the scene, no official photos of the singer have ever been released, but only shots stolen by some paparazzi. In the few images we have of her, the artist is usually immortalized with dark clothes, tied hair and sunglasses.
The partnership with the firstborn
Her son Massimiliano, 61, now a producer, composer and arranger, collaborates with his mother, but is not the only one in the family, since her son Axel, 37, also wrote some songs for his grandmother. The singer is very close to young people, so much so that she continues to update herself on the latest musical trends and appreciate the new generations of Italian music. At the beginning of the millennium he performed “Oggi sono io”, a song with which in 1999 Alex Britti won the youth section of the Sanremo Festival.
Also thanks to that song, in 2001 the singer appeared publicly for the first time after many years, this time on the website of the Wind telephone company, where footage of some recording sessions were broadcast, including the one in which she played, precisely , Britti’s song. It seems that the singer showed up at the studio to do a test, but after the first attempt, the technicians told her that it was perfect, there was no reason to do it again. Because she has always been the artist of “Happy first time!”. From these images the DVD Mina in studio was taken, which achieved record sales. In these years away from the scene, Mina has collaborated with Zucchero Fornaciari, Claudio Baglioni, Miguel Bosè, Ornella Vanoni and many others.
In 2023, he duetted with the young singer Blanco, although it is rumored that the two never met, recording in different studios and at different times. At 84, she is still in the midst of her career, ready to amaze with her iconic voice and that aura of mystery that has accompanied her over the years, making her even more fascinating.