Italy took its well deserved third victory - finally! - at the Eurovision song contest 2021. Over the years several other Italian entries would have been worthy winners. In this series I will go through all of them from the worst ranking to the winners.
Wess & Dori Ghezzi were one of the many Italian duos at the Eurovision and took their Era to a well deserved 3rd place out of 19. They got the ticket to Stockholm as Canzonissima 1974 winners with Un corpo un'anima. Sanremo was living its darkest years and was won by Gilda and Ragazza del sud. Totally forgotten, both of them.
Wess aka Wesley Johnson (1945-2009) was an American singer and bassist who moved to Italy in late 1960's in pursuit of a career in music and bringing r'n'b in Italy and Europe and gained some notoriety with his band and covers. After he was put together with Dori Ghezzi in early 1970's they had a string of pop hits but separated in 1979. They did three Sanremos together, placing 2nd in 1976 with Come stai, con chi sei?
Dori Ghezzi (75) first got notoriety in 1966 by winning a regional festival and landing a record deal. She mainly did covers until forming a duo with Wess. In the 1980's she went solo again and did three Sanremos but retired in 1990 by medical advice as she had serious problems with vocal cords. These days she does occasional rare appearances and is dedicated to take care of her late husband's legacy. He is after all one of The Big singer-songwriters in popular Italian music.
In 1974 she started relationship with singer-songwriter Fabrizio De Andrè. In 1979 were kidnapped by Sardinian bandits and were released only four months later after a ransom was paid.
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