Patty Brard @ Sanremo Festival 1985: 35th anniversary

Pippo Baudo & Patty Brard

35 years ago, on February 7th, 8th and 9th 1985, Patty Brard co-hosted the Sanremo Festival (the most popular Italian song contest broadcast on RAI 1) with the legendary TV presenter Pippo Baudo. At that time, the ex-Luv' singer was married to Carlo Nasi (a Los Angeles-based music publisher and record producer as well as one of the heirs to the FIAT empire). Because of her connections with the influential Nasi-Agnelli family and the composer-lyricist Alberto Testa, the Indo Dutch entertainer (who was unknown in Italy) had the privilege to present the Sanremo Festival. Italian band Ricchi e Poveri won the competition with the song "Se m'innamoro".  Matia Bazar won the Critics Award with the track "Souvenir". Cinzia Corrado won the Newcomers award with the song "Niente di più".

In addition to the contestants, international pop acts performed during the 1985 edition of the festival. Among them were Duran Duran, Sade, Bronski Beat, Jermaine Jackson & Pia Zadora, Frankie Goes To Hollywood, Village People, Spandau Ballet and Chaka Khan. 

Pippo Baudo, José Luis Moreno and Patty Brard

Patty's appearance on a high-rated TV program (which drew 15 million viewers) was part of the strategy to organize her breakthrough in Dante's country. 

Dutch and Italian press clippings

De Telegraaf - January 25th, 1985

Pippo Baudo and Patty Brard on the cover of "Gente" magazine (Thanks René van Ooijen for the scan)

Patty released a Dance-pop single entitled "Woman in Love" that she performed during the festival. The official "Sanremo '85" LP compilation even featured this song:

Patty Brard - Woman In Love (audio)

Patty performing Woman In Love during the Sanremo Festival

Woman In Love was also included in Patty's third album (Red Light) and the original soundtrack of the movie L'Attenzione. This track also caused a little controversy. Patty Brard, the songwriters of the track (Mario Flores, Pino Donaggio, Trevor Veitch) and the producer (Carlo Nasi) were accused of plagiarism. Woman In Love sounded like another single entitled "Maybe One Day" performed by the Italian band The Creatures. 

Maybe One Day (written by Mario Flores and Maurizio Sengisy) came out in 1984, peaked at #11 on the Italian singles chart and sold 150.000 copies.

The Creatures: Maybe One Day (1984)

Mario Flores was mentioned in the credits of both singles. Click here to read an article about this scandal published in the Italian newspaper La Repubblica on February 15th, 1985. 

The Sanremo Festival was a painful experience for La Brard. In 2014, she appeared on Linda de Mol's talk show Linda's Zomerweek on RTL 4 and told how her recruitment happened. "I lived in LA. Alberto Testa (a friend of my former husband) asked me to present the Sanremo Festival. I told him that I didn't speak Italian. I had to learn it in one month. I was selected from 300 beautiful applicants because of my humour...It was a difficult experience. Pippo Baudo (a kind of half Berlusconi) was very irritating," the diva said. 

Patty on her "Sanremo" experience on RTL 4's talk show Linda's Zomerweek (2014)

In 1995, Carlo Nasi discussed Patty's participation in the festival on Bart de Graaff's TV show "Onder de B van Brard". "If I had to go back, I would suggest not to do it. She was the first non-Italian host of Sanremo and that created a big, big problem," he explained. 

Last autumn, in an article about his successful career in the music industry, posted on the website of the Italian edition of Rolling Stone, Carlo once again mentioned the tragedy of his ex-wife in Sanremo. Click here to read the article. 

Moreover, in his autobiography entitled "Ecco a voi, Una storia italiana" co-written with Paulo Conti and published in 2018, Pippo Baudo dissed his former colleague by telling that she was not very talented and that she did not speak Italian very well.  

After the Sanremo Festival, the ambitious Miss Brard (supported by her wealthy husband) tried to build a career in Italy. In late 1985, she released another dance-pop single entitled "Red Light" whose music video was shot in Frascati (near Rome) and featured extras who appeared in Federico Fellini's movies. 

Red Light by Patty Brard - music video

Patty sang Red Light on RAI 1's music show Discoring. Despite this exposure, her record flopped. The singer did not achieve her goal. She gave up her projects in Italy and focused her efforts on the Netherlands. La Brard later found her salvation on Dutch television. 

Patty Brard on Discoring (1986)

Source: Wikipedia, Luv weblog archives, Marco Rens, Italie.nl, La Reppublica, Rolling Stone Italia, Indiscreto.info, Davidemaggio.it, Corriere.it, Sorrisi.com, YouTube, Discogs...