Gala | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Gala Rizzatto |
| Born | (1975-09-06)6 September 1975 (age 49) Milan, Italy |
| Genres | Eurodance, dance,house, pop,electronica, rock |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Instrument | Vocals |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Labels | Matriarchy Records (2005–2014) Clipper Sound (Spain; 2012–2014) EMI (France / Middle East; 2006) Universal (1999–2002) DIY (Italy; 1996–1998) |
| Website | galaofficial |
Gala Rizzatto (Italian:[ˈɡaːlaritˈtsatto]; born 6 September 1975), knownmononymously asGala, is anItalian pop singer and songwriter. Her debut albumCome into My Life included the multiplatinum singles "Freed from Desire", "Let a Boy Cry" and "Come into My Life" which reached the Top 3 in music charts across Europe, South America, Russia and the Middle East. Gala has sold over six million records worldwide.
In 2014 she was reported to be living inBrooklyn, New York.[1]
In 1996, Gala was votedBest Female Singer of the Year in Italy by the magazineMusica e Dischi.[2] In July 1997, she was awarded theItalian Dance Award as the best pop-dance artist of the year.[3][4] Gala achieved aDiamond recording award in France,[4][5] aPlatinum record in Benelux and aGold record in the United Kingdom.[6] The same year she was nominated for theBest Dance Act at theMobo Awards in the UK alongsideThe Prodigy,Chemical Brothers andOrbital.[7]In July 1997, she wonBest Foreign Artist of the Year at theMidem in Cannes, France.[8]
Between 1995 and 1998, Gala performed on the UK'sBBCTop of the Pops,[9] France'sTaratata,[10] Les Années Tubes,[11]M6's Hit Machine,[12] MTV Germany, as well as performing in venues such asBercy Stadium in Paris andLas Ventas in Madrid.
Her albumCome into My Life was released on 17 November 1997, with 4 singles charting in the Top 20 across Europe,[13][14][15][16] selling over 6 million records worldwide by 1998.
In 1998, while performing "Let a Boy Cry" onTaratata, she metPrince's manager Steve Fargnoli who began representing her. That same year she signed withUniversal Records in Italy. After Steve Fargnoli's unexpected death in 2001, Gala broke her contract with Universal Records and returned to New York.
Settling in Brooklyn, Gala set out to redefine her sound, her life and her career, re-emerging as an independent artist.
In 2005, "Faraway" was released in France and Greece byEMI[17] where it reached No. 1 on the iTunes chart and No. 6 in the national charts.[18] "Faraway" was co-produced byCash Money Records musician/producerKevin Rudolf.[19] It was featured in a Bod Man perfume TV advertisement,[19] aired onMTV,HBO and was covered byTamta in Greece.[20]
In 2005, Gala appeared onPink TV[21] and on M6's Fan De.[22]Sagi Rai made a cover from Gala's Freed From Desire for his album "Emotional Songs".
In 2006, she performed in the Mega PANN party at the Central Studios inUtrecht.[23]
In 2008, Gala formed the label Matriarchy Records, based in Brooklyn, New York. "Tough Love" is Matriarchy Records' debut album released digitally worldwide on 6 September 2009.[24]
Her album "Tough Love" included collaborations with a host of well known producers, including drummerDeantoni Parks,Marcus Bell andKevin Rudolf who in 2008 achieved a No. 5 Billboard (US) hit with his song featuringLil Wayne, "Let It Rock". Gala also collaborated withTamir Muskat, founder ofBalkan Beat Box on her song "I Am The World, The World Is Me". More recently Muskat is responsible for theJason Derulo hitTalk Dirty, which samples the same "Balkan Beat Box" production style.
Gala independently produced four music videos for the "Tough Love" album. The video for the song "I Am The World, The World Is Me" was shot in collaboration with the Italian/Argentinean painter and writer Sebastiano Mauri, incorporating his video installationThe Songs I Love To.
In 2009, she performed two nights at theEthias Arena. In 2010, Gala performed at the Highline Ballroom in New York,[25] at thePalais des Sports and at the Antique Theater in Arles. The same year she was invited to perform as the headliner at24h velo de Louvain-la-Neuve,[26] second-largest beer event in Europe, organized by the students of the Belgian University of Louvain-la-Neuve.
In 2010, "Tough Love" was featured in popular American television seriesThe Millionaire Matchmaker (USA). The same year "Freed From Desire" was used for aNissan television commercial in France and Spain.
In 2011, Gala performed the new single "Lose Yourself in Me" at the showDance in the Summer in Beirut, next toTaio Cruz,T-Pain,Dev andDash Berlin. The event was organised byMixFM Radio and "Lose Yourself in Me" reached No. 2 in the top 10 airplay charts before its release, later ranking at No. 1 in Lebanon RFX Radio for three consecutive weeks.
The worldwide release of the "Lose Yourself in Me" single occurred in May 2012 through Gala's independent label Matriarchy Records. The song has been played, among other stations, onFun Radio andRadio FG in France. It has been on high rotation on Impact FM and Radio Antipode, and entered thenew releases on Belgium'sFun Radio.
The "Lose Yourself in Me" music video was produced independently by Matriarchy Records in collaboration with The Masses. It was directed by Alistair Legrand, brother ofBeach House's Victoria Legrand. The video featured full LED suits and krump dancers from Los Angeles and was choreographed by Gala.
After its release, the video was featured on the home page ofDailymotion, Yahoo France, The Huffington Post, The Mediateseur, andVogue.[27]
In 2013, Gala shot a video for the song "Taste of Me" choreographed by Benoit Swan, artistic director of New York's avant-garde dance companyCedar Lake, and directed by New York-based French directorAlexandre Moors (Kanye West's "Runaway", Blue Caprice). Gala's video features theAlvin Ailey American Dance Theater trained Abdur-Rahim Jackson. The "Taste of Me" video appears as a one single lateral dolly shot that follows five dancers including Gala interacting in an organic dance that constantly moves forward.
Inspired by her favourite directorAlfred Hitchcock, Gala wanted to shoot a video that felt like a single take. Another reference wasEadweard Muybridge and his pioneering work in photographic studies of motion and in motion-picture projection. Different choreographers among Gala's favourites (Parsons,Bob Fosse,Mark Morris) are also subtly referenced in the choreography.
The "Taste of Me" video was featured as an exclusive withDigital Spy, the most popular news and entertainment website in the UK. In Europe the video was revealed exclusively byFun Radio Belgique, sister station toFun Radio France, the largest group of FM radio stations claiming approximately 3.8 million listeners every day. The deluxe version of the EP includes the original production byMarcus Bell and remixes by Bimbo Jones, Hoxton Whores, Starkillers andAlmighty Records. In Belgium the "Taste of Me" video was featured in major newspaperDernier Heure (online)[28] and Gala appeared onRTL morning and evening news to speak about her new single.[29]
In 2013, Gala's various new songs such as "Lose Yourself in Me", "Taste of Me" and "Love Impossible" were featured on MTV networks hit television showsBest Ink,Real World Ex-Plosion,[30] andRoad RulesExtreme Challenge and "Keeping Up with the Kardashians".
"Freed From Desire" was sampled by German band Frida Gold. The song entitled "Liebe ist meine Rebellion" went to No. 4 in the German singles chart. "Freed From Desire" was also covered byNouvelle Star "Dana", live on French television and by Greek-Swedish pop starElena Paparizou at theMAD Video Music Awards 2013.
Gala headlined at the2014 Winter Olympics atMedals Plaza inSochi. The performance was broadcast live onEuropa Plus TV, the largest musical channel in Russia[citation needed]. She performed a one-hour set and debuted her new single, "The Beautiful". Despite the controversy surrounding the Olympics, Gala opened her performance with her 90s hit, "Let A Boy Cry", in support of her gay following.[31] On 20 November InHouse Records label in New York released Gala's EP "The Beautiful", a collaboration with legendary House DJ/ producerTodd Terry, and a Deluxe EP followed, released on Gala's label Matriarchy Records, which includes remixes byTodd Terry, Hoxton Whores, Lodge 21, Ryan and Smitty, Midnight Magic andLauren Flax.
Gala made a cameo appearance atYoussou N'Dour's concert for Dakar Ne Dort Pas inDakar, Senegal on New Year's Day. The event was televised by Tele Future Media. Through her indie label Matriarchy Records she released the album "Singles V1", a collection of her 2012–2015 singles alongside three some previously unreleased songs. The album contains remixes byTodd Terry amongst others.
In 2016, Gala recorded an acoustic version of "Freed from Desire" at Les Studios Saint Germain in Paris, for the movie "Un homme à la hauteur" directed byLaurent Tirard withJean Dujardin (Academy Award Winner for Best Actor 2012 inThe Artist) released in May 2016.
In May 2016, aWigan Athletic supporter uploaded on YouTube an adaptation of "Freed from Desire" titled 'Will Grigg's on Fire', in recognition of the recent goal-scoring feats ofWill Grigg, a Wigan player.[32]
AtUEFA Euro 2016, fans from Northern Ireland, Ireland, Wales and France made their own version of the song for their players.[33][34] Since then, the song has become a viral football chant.[32][35]
Throughout 2017 and 2018, Gala headlined the 'Love the 90s[36]' tour in Spain, with shows for over 20.000 people at thePalau De Les Arts Reina Sofia inValencia, theBizkaia Arena in BilbaoPalau Saint Jordi in Barcelona, theWiziink Centre in Madrid, Parque Hermanos Castro inGijon La Alcazaba inBadajoz and Can Fusteret inMallorca. In that same year Gala also headlined theGay pride party at Teatro Barcelo, as part of theWorldPride festivities in Madrid in July, and the Highway Festival in Fribourg, Switzerland in December 2017
On 30 June 2018, Gala headlined the Gay Pride concert held in the main squarePlaza De España in Barcelona.
Gala wrote and composed two original songs alongside Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Jesse Ruben and Kyle Patrick, "Happiest Day of My Life" mixed by Miles Walker and "Nameless Love" with co-production and mixing byAndros Rodrigues, for the movie Favola[37][38][39] (Fairytale). The movie, a surrealist comedy about gender identity and liberation from social constraints in 1950s America, was written and directed by Sebastiano Mauri[40] and featuredFilippo Timi[41][42] and Lucia Mascino. The costumes are the result of the collaboration with Fabio Zambernardi, the director of design ofMiu Miu andPrada.[43] Premiering at the 2018Torino Film Festival, Favola was screened at the prestigious 45th annualFlaiano Film Festival inPescara in June, where it won the Flaiano Award for best "Opera Prima[44]" The movie soundtrack was released in June 2018.[45] Gala's indie label, Matriarchy Records is releasing the original songs "Happiest Day of My Life" and " Nameless Love" as individual singles on 15 September.
Gala has performed at the last game for the qualifications for theUEFA Euro 2020 (Belgium-Cyprus) live streamed worldwide and was honored byEden Hazard on behalf of the National Belgian Football Team, THE RED DEVILS with a national team jersey after her live performance.[46]
In 2021, Gala released the song "Parallel Lines".[47] The video is a collaboration with American animator, TED speaker, and free culture activist Nina Paley. Paley is the creator of the animated musical feature filmSita Sings the Blues, which has been screened in over 200 film festivals and won over 35 international awards (Berlin International Film Festival, Tribeca Film Festival, Independent Spirit Award, New York Critics pick). Her adventures in our broken copyright system led her to produce a series of animated shorts about intellectual freedom.
"Parallel Lines" explores the relationship of two lovers who are drifting apart while living under the same roof. A short documentary "Behind The Song"[48] was released soon after shot by Francesca Pagani whose work has been published onVice.Us. The documentary speaks about the creative process behind the songwriting and the reason why Gala felt the urge to release the song during current pandemic times. It features parts of Parallel Lines's music video, and of Nina Paley's other award-winning animations.
In March 2021, Gala was interviewed byRolling Stone Italy[49] andRolling Stone Mexico.[50] Both articles discussed her new release and featured the video of "Parallel Lines".
Gala performed "Freed from Desire" at thewomen's footballfinal at the2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.[51]
Gala has also worked as a songwriter for classical musicians likeSalvatore Licitra andMarcelo Álvarez on the albumDuetto[52] andMario Frangoulis.[53]She remains an avid photographer, with many of her photos appearing on her official website.[54]
| Year | Album | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BEL (Fl) [55] | BEL (Wa) [56] | FRA [57] | NLD [58] | SWI [59] | |||
| 1997 | Come into My Life | 28 | 16 | 32 | 20 | 49 | |
| 2007 | Coming into A Decade | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2009 | Tough Love EP | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2009 | Tough Love | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2010 | Tough Love Deluxe | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2015 | Singles V1 | — | — | — | — | — | |
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) | Album | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITA [61] | BEL (Fl) [55] | BEL (Wa) [56] | FIN [62] | FRA [57] | GER [63] | NLD [58] | SPA [64] | SWI [59] | UK [65] | ||||
| 1996 | "Everyone Has Inside" | 1 | — | — | — | 24 | — | — | 1 | — | — | Non-album single | |
| "Freed from Desire" | 3 | 1 | 1 | 17 | 1 | 14 | 6 | 1 | 13 | 2 | Come into My Life | ||
| 1997 | "Let a Boy Cry" | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 1 | — | 11 | 1 | 23 | 11 | ||
| "Come into My Life" | 1 | 6 | 4 | 11 | 10 | — | 36 | 1 | — | 38 | |||
| "Suddenly" | 5 | 43 | 34 | — | 56 | — | 85 | 1 | — | — | |||
| 2005 | "Faraway" | — | — | — | — | 71 | — | — | — | — | — | Tough Love | |
| 2009 | "Tough Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2012 | "Lose Yourself in Me" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Singles V1 | |
| 2013 | "Taste of Me" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2014 | "The Beautiful" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| 2015 | "Rock Your World" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||
| "Love Impossible" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| "Start It Over" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2018 | "Happiest Day of My Life" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Favola (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) | |
| "Nameless Love" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2021 | "Parallel Lines" | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album single | |
Media related toGala Rizzatto at Wikimedia Commons
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