In this episode, we look at Mina's career at the end of the 1960s and during the 1970s. She was going from strength to strength and starred as the host of Canzonissima in 1968, alongside Walter Chiari and Paolo Panelli, and continued to sell thousands and thousands of copies of her singles and albums. But rumours started to circulate at the start of the 1970s that Mina was going to retire. Yet she would appear in two more television shows: Teatro 10, with Alberto Lupo, and Milleluci, with Raffaella Carra. And she would front more Caroselli, this time as the face of Tassoni soda. All this before one final concert at La Bussola in 1978 and her retirement from live and television performances, as well as media interviews. 

1963 was a watershed year for Mina. In January of that year, she had announced that she was expecting a baby. The father was Corrado Pani, an already married actor with whom she had been having an affair. The scandal was front page news, with lots of magazines and articles criticizing Mina's behaviour and the decision to have a baby out of wedlock in such a public fashion. RAI banned Mina from appearing in any new programmes that year, too. But the birth of baby Massimiliano in the April would bring a new significance to Mina's star meaning: she was now a mother. And this meant the opportunity to embrace an appropriate role in society as an Italian woman. Family would become increasingly important to Mina's star significance during the 1960s. The tragic death of her brother in 1965 received much coverage in the press, with newspapers talking about how the loss would impact the whole family (including Pani) and how the family unit would be a source of strength for Mina during this difficult time. Ideas of family were also part of Mina's advertising of Barilla pasta in the second half of the 1960s. The opulent evening gowns of her musical performances were paired with everyday dresses of the ordinary Italian housewife, as Mina told the wives and mothers watching to prepare pasta for their man and for their kids. But Mina is clearly the star of the show, and her popularity meant RAH would invite her back to host programmes from 1965. That year, she would front yet another series of Studio Uno. She would then host her own programme, Sabato Sera, in 1967, demonstrating her return to dominance and her appeal as a star.

Mina is an icon of Italy, part of everyday life, and, according to her website, 'a part of Italian cultural heritage of which her countrymen and women can and should be proud'. The Many Meanings of Mina podcast celebrates Mina's status and her sixty-year-long career. In this episode, the focus is on the period 1961 to 1963. Rachel Haworth, author of the book The Many Meanings of Mina, explains that in 1961, Mina was on the crest of a wave and, despite a bit of a setback at the Sanremo Festival of that year, her career would go from strength to strength. Host of television series Studio Uno, the face of Italian beer in television advertising, and star of several popular musicarelli movies, Mina was established as the national star of the moment. But an announcement in January 1963 would threaten that status...

The Many Meanings of Mina podcast celebrates the sixty-year-long career of the Italian popstar Anna Maria Mazzini, or Mina as she is known. She rose to fame in 1958 and although she withdrew from public and television performances at the end of 1970s, she still continues to release albums that regularly make it to the number one spot in the charts. Mina is an icon of Italy, part of everyday life, and, according to her website, 'a part of Italian cultural heritage of which her countrymen and women can and should be proud'. In this episode, Rachel Haworth, author of the book The Many Meanings of Mina, explains who Mina is and why she's so important to Italian pop music. The focus is particularly on Mina's early career, and what happened between 1958 and 1960 that helped to establish her as 'Italy's national star'.