Mara Del Rio, stage name of Maria Di Paolo (Rocca Santa Maria, 20 September 1928 – Milan, 2 August 2019) was an Italian singer and record producer.

Biography

After studying opera singing in Teramo, he moved to Rome in 1944 and began performing under the stage name of Maria Stella at the Manzoni Theater.

Soon, thanks to the success obtained live in clubs such as La Rupe Tarpea or the Jackie Club, she obtained the record deal: at first she was made to believe, by her Spanish record company, and she recorded some records of songs in Spanish; even when she is hired as a singer of the RAI orchestra of Turin, she appears in television shows dressed as a Spaniard.

In the following years, even if she recorded in Italian and also often in Neapolitan, she was still believed by many to be Spanish; he will collaborate, among others, with the orchestra of maestro Cinico Angelini and with that of Mario Migliardi.

He records throughout the 1950s, for many record companies; participates in the Naples 1956 Festival, in which he presents Piccerella in combination with Claudio Villa and Giacomo Rondinella, Pota, a little with Aurelio Fierro, combined with Franco Ricci and Pina Lamara La palummella, also with Fierro, combined with Antonio Basurto and Grazia Gresi , and Three red roses, combined with Antonio Basurto.

After meeting the maestro Franco De Paolis, to whom he is romantically linked, he slowly abandons his activity as a singer, dedicating himself to the recording one: with De Paolis he founded Lord, with whom he launched Paolo Mosca, and Magic, for which Lolita and Solidea recorded. .

In addition, the two take over part of Vis Radio and, recently, Carlo Alberto Rossi’s CAR Juke-Box.

At the end of the 1970s he retired to private life.

In 2001 he won the Paliotto d’Oro prize, awarded by the city of Teramo.

Partial discography

33 RPM

• 1954: Sonorama (Cetra, LPA 18; con l’orchestra di Mario Migliardi e Piero Gosio)

78 RPM

• 1953: Viale d’autunno/Sussurrando buonanotte (GM Record, SR 150)
• 1953: Tutto è possibile/Desiderio ‘e sole (GM Record, SR 151)
• 1954: Fiori/Slow nuziale (Cetra, DC 6095)
• 1956: Mambo della luna/Rosa Morena (Cetra, DC 6489)
• 1956: Rio verde/Ba-Bajon (Cetra, DC 6490)
• 1956: Guaglione/Tre rose rosse (Fonit, 15365)
• 1956: ‘E rrose d”o core/Nun me guardà (Fonit, 15366)

EP

• 1956: Besame Una Vez/Sera…Quizas/Cerasella/Cachito (Belter, 50.242; pubblicato in Spagna)

45 RPM

• 1958: Pecado/El Humauaqueno (Liberty Records, G 7012)
• 1960: Senza di te/Ascoltami (The Red Record, 10059)
• 1960: Non piove più/Scriverò (The Red Record, 10069)
• 1960: Amiamoci così/Sottovoce (Astraphon, Y 1792)
• 1960: Ascoltami/Baci baci (Astraphon, PN 4084)
• 1960: Coccolina/Da un giorno all’altro (Astraphon, PN 4085)
• 1960: Un tango cha cha cha/che sensazione (Astraphon, PN 4086)
• 1961: La pioggia ha la tua voce/Cha cha cha in Paris (Meazzi, M 01088)
• 1961: E la vita continua/Mai più cow-boy (Meazzi, M 01089)
• 1961: Non tentarmi/Bolero gitano (Meazzi, M 01111)
• 1961: Prezzemolino/Baci baci baci (Meazzi, M 01115)
• 1962: Romeo/La candela (Meazzi, M 01155)
• 1963: Non ti voltare/Due (Lord, LRN 110)
• 1964: Plaza de toros/Poquitito (Lord, LRN 113)