Biography

Both classically trained and a pop singer, Petra Magoni (born in Pisa, Italy on July 28, 1972) studied at the Livorno Conservatorio and Milan's Istituto Pontificio di Musica Sacra. Her first important experiences in the rock field were with the band Senza Freni, with which she took part in the 1995 edition of the Arezzo Wave festival. In 1996 and 1997 she participated in the Sanremo Music Festival with the songs "E Ci Sei" and "Voglio un Dio," and in the same years she released her first two albums, Petra Magoni and Mulini a Vento. In 1997 she took part in a theatrical tour with comedy actor Giorgio Panariello, guesting also in his movie Bagnomaria and its soundtrack. Then, with the pseudonym of Artepal, she recorded some dance tracks (one of them, "Don't Give Up," was used as the soundtrack of a Sasch TV commercial), collaborating in the meantime with jazz musicians such as her future husband Stefano Bollani and Ares Tavolazzi. In 2000, under the moniker of Sweet Anima, she released an album of the same name, including songs from Lucio Battisti's English repertoire. After some other theatrical experience, in 2003 she started Musica Nuda, a successful collaboration with Avion Travel's double bass player, Ferruccio Spinetti. Musica Nuda, the first album of the duo -- although they consider themselves to be a "band" -- was released in 2003 to a huge critical acclaim. Composed of jazz-tinged renditions of classics of the Italian and international pop tradition (such as the Beatles' "Eleanor Rigby," Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive," and Fred Buscalgione's "Guarda Che Luna") rearranged for double bass and voice only, the record sold more than 15,000 copies in Italy and a similar number in the rest of Continental Europe. Its follow-up, the double CD Musica Nuda 2 (2006), composed of more cover versions in the same vein, confirmed the success of the duo, who at the end of 2006 also released a collection of sacred hymns, Quam Dilecta, followed in 2007 by the live album Live à Fip, recorded in France. In the meantime, Magoni started a more electro-pop-oriented project called Aromatic with Giampaolo Antoni; the group's eponymous debut was released in 2004. In 2007, together with Monica Demuru, Paolo Benvegnù, and Ares Tavolazzi, Magoni released Cime Domestiche, a collection of traditional alpine women's songs. ~ Aurelio Pasini, Rovi