28/03/2026
Mina was regarded by Frank Sinatra as one the finest singers in the world. The tigress of Cremona sang with balls and bravado and with a sensuality, that in my view is unparalleled. When she sang she gave her heart and soul away keeping nothing for herself, and yet as often happens, she was ripped to pieces by the very same people that now celebrate her. The Italian media, the paparazzi and even the public shamed her for not being the stick insect she had been a decade earlier. They criticized everything about her : Her nose, her double chin but forgot to mention her greatness. And so, on the 23rd of August 1978 aged just 38, Mina decided to retire from the public eye. She chose her friend Sergio Bernardini's newly built 10.000 person capacity performance tent as the setting for her last goodbye to the hundreds of thousands that adored her. Sergio Bernardini also owned another club a mile down the road called The Bussola (The Compass) a legendary refined music night club which he created back in the 1950's that by the 1970's had hosted Renato Caruso, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, The Platters, Marlene Dietrich, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and too many more to mention. Mina herself had performed there a few times, both at the start of her career and in 1972 immortalised in this video. That night though in 1978 people that saw her (including my ex boyfriend who was a mere child and his father) say that she downed a bottle of champagne, smoked a cigarette and went on stage. At the end of it everyone including the orchestra members were in tears. She hugged them all and then disappeared. I unfortunately never saw her or heard her sing live, but I had the honour of meeting Sergio Bernardini at 14 and later again when I performed there at 16 . He was a true gentleman and treated my mother and I with great respect and courtesy. He seemed quite taken by my voice and name and a few years later I learnt he had had a daughter and called her Chantal. And now the City has named the entire avenue after him. Mina after her last performance left italy for good. She and her partner,who became her husband sold up and moved to Switzerland where they lived their lives in peace and where she continued to record in her home studio. Brava Brava Brava!!
Mina Live alla Bussola '72➤MINA: https://minamazzini.itShop: https://shop.minamazzini.it/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mina_mazzini_official/Facebook:...
