Profile of Caterina Valente on Famous Like Me

Caterina Valente (born January 14, 1931 in Paris) is a singer, dancer, and actress. She comes from an Italian artist family; her father Giuseppe was a well-known accordion player, her mother, Maria Valente, a musical clown. She had three siblings, of whom Silvio Francesco was also active in show business.

Life and career

In 1952 she married juggler Erik van Aro (Gerd Eric Horst Scholz). He recognized her talent and accompanied her in her initial years of worldwide success, although they later divorced. In 1953, she made her first recordings with Kurt Edelhagen. Soon afterwards she achieved great success with songs like "Malagueña", "The Breeze and I", and "Dreh dich nicht um" with the Werner Müller orchestra. In 1955 she was featured on the "Colgate Comedy Hour" with Gordon MacRae. Between 1966 and 1972 she was a frequent guest on the Dean Martin Show. In 1972, she married the British pianist Roy Budd; they had a son, Alexander, but divorced in 1979.

In Germany she was a major performer of Schlager music. There her song "Ganz Paris träumt von der Liebe" (1954) sold 500,000 copies. Like in other countries where she was popular, some in Germany mistakenly consider her a German singer.

Over the years, she has recorded or performed with many international stars, including Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Ella Fitzgerald, Woody Herman, the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra, Buddy Rich, Sy Oliver, Claus Ogerman, and Chet Baker.

In 2001, she released a new album Girltalk with harpist Catherine Michel. She is also the mother of singer Eric van Aro, Jr.

Other information and film career

Valente is a true world citizen and a polyglot, having sung in twelve different languages. After her first musical successes, she acted in the movie "Mannequins for Rio" and has performed in fourteen additional films. She also plays guitar.

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