Valentina Monetta

Early life and education

Valentina Monetta was born on 1 March 1975 in San Marino, to an Italian father and a Sammarinese mother. She is the youngest of two children. She studied piano and singing from an early age, and graduated from the Giovanni da Rimini school in Rimini, Italy.

She later studied at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Bologna for two years, and completed a three-year jazz singing course at the under the supervision of Martina Grossi.

Career

1995–2011: Career beginnings

She began her singing career in 1995 fronting the group Tiberio, and was subsequently involved with a number of bands including Parafunky, Harem-B, and My Funky Valentine. She competed in the 2001 edition of the televised singing competition . In 2006, she participated in the discography project 2black, releasing the single "Vai" with Papa Winnie.

In 2008, Monetta submitted the song "Se Non Ci Sei Tu" for the inaugural for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, but was not selected to represent the country. In 2011, she released her first EP, Il mio gioco perferito, as part of the band My Funky Valentine*.*

2012–2017: Eurovision Song Contest

On 14 March 2012, San Marino RTV announced that Monetta would represent in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Her entry, "Facebook, Uh, Oh, Oh (A Satirical Song)", was released two days later. On 18 March, the European Broadcasting Union deemed the song ineligible to compete, concluding that the song, which heavily featured the Facebook trademark, contained a commercial message that breaches contest rules. The broadcaster was given until 23 March at 12:00 CET to revise the song to remove the incriminating material, or to deliver a new song. On 22 March, the broadcaster presented a revised version of the song, titled "The Social Network Song (OH OH – Uh – OH OH)". Monetta was drawn to perform in 11th at the first semi-final, but failed to qualify to the grand final, placing 14th with a total of 31 points.

In August 2012, Monetta starred as the protagonist in the UNICEF-sponsored musical Camelia.

On 30 January 2013, it was revealed that Monetta would return to represent at the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. Her entry, "Crisalide (Vola)", was released on 15 March. The song, which was composed by Ralph Siegel, was written during the summer prior and was selected by Monetta herself. Despite placing second in the annual OGAE poll, Monetta failed to advance to the grand final after competing in the second semi-final, finishing in 11th with 47 points. After the contest, she released her debut studio album, La storia di Valentina Monetta.[[File:Valentina Monetta - Maybe presentation (English).webm|thumbnail|Monetta presenting herself during the [[Eurovision Song Contest 2014]]]]

Following her participation in the , Monetta was contacted by Carlo Romeo, Director General of San Marino RTV, to consider participating in the forthcoming held in Copenhagen, Denmark. After discussion with Siegel, she accepted the offer, and her participation as the Sammarinese entrant was announced later that year on 19 June. She became the first singer to participate in three consecutive contests since Udo Jürgens in 1966, and the fourth singer overall. Her competing entry, "Maybe (Forse)", was released on 14 March. Monetta performed in 12th during the first semi-final, where she qualified to the grand final, placing 10th with a total of 40 points. It marked San Marino's first qualification in the contest since their debut in . She later placed 24th in the grand final with 14 points. While preparing for the contest, her second album, Sensibility, was released.

On 2 February 2015, rumours began circulating that Monetta would act as the Sammarinese spokesperson for the . She debunked the story, stating that she had not been approached by San Marino RTV, but was later revealed to be the Sammarinese spokesperson.

On 12 March 2017, it was announced that Monetta would once again return to represent in the Eurovision Song Contest 2017. It marked Monetta's fourth appearance at the contest, tying a record held by Elisabeth Andreassen and Sue Schell of Peter, Sue and Marc. Her competing entry, "Spirit of the Night", was performed as a duet with American singer Jimmie Wilson, and was released on the same day. The duo failed to qualify to the grand final, placing 18th in the second semi-final with 1 point.

2019–present: After Eurovision

In 2020, she participated in the Rai 5 documentary "L'isola di San Marino". On 6 March 2021, Monetta joined Radio San Marino, where she began co-presenting Saturday Morning Live weekly alongside Federico Vespa.

On 13 February 2022, in celebration of San Marino National Day at the Expo 2020, Monetta performed at the Al Wasl Plaza at the Dubai Exhibition Centre.

Personal life

In September 2023, Monetta married her long-time boyfriend Sbura King-Siso.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

Promotional singles

References

with "Stand By"

with "I Didn't Know" 2017 with "Who We Are"

References

1. "Valentina Monetta". [[European Broadcasting Union]] (EBU).
2. (2013-04-01). "Valentina Monetta representa a San Marino en Eurovisión 2013 con la canción 'Crisalide'".
3. Aderemi, Deban. (2014-08-03). "Exclusive: Valentina Monetta takes us inside her San Marino home".
4. (2014-04-17). "Valentina Monetta: "Tengo la esperanza de poder estar por fin en la final"".
5. "Valentina Monetta". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
6. (2018-08-31). "Istituti Culturali: Valentina Monetta in Questa donna insopportabile". [[San Marino RTV]].
7. Uluçay, Serkan. (2012-03-14). "Valentina Monetta to Represent San Marino in Baku – Song Presentation is Tomorrow".
8. (30 January 2013). "It's Valentina Monetta again for San Marino". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
9. (2013-07-11). "Review: Valentina Monetta – Crisalide: La Storia di Valentina Monetta".
10. (2012-03-14). "Valentina Monetta to represent San Marino". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
11. (2012-03-16). "Valentina Monetta to sing "Facebook Uh,Oh,Oh"". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
12. (2012-03-18). "EBU: San Marino song lyrics in breach of Rules". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
13. (2012-03-22). "'The Social Network Song' for San Marino". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
14. "First Semi-Final of Baku 2012". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
15. (2012-08-31). "Unicef: alla Cava dei Balestrieri "Camelia" il due agosto con Valentina Monetta". San Marino RTV.
16. (2013-03-15). "Valentina Monetta presents "Crisalide" tonight". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
17. (2013-05-11). "Valentina: This time it's more me!". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
18. Cobb, Ryan. (2021-04-20). "Rediscovering 14 years of OGAE voting results: We analyse and reminisce".
19. "Second Semi-Final of Malmö 2013". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
20. (2014-03-14). "It's Maybe for Valentina Monetta". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
21. (2013-06-19). "Valentina Monetta to represent San Marino in 2014". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
22. Vatmanidis, Theo. (2014-01-29). "Valentina Monetta to present Eurovision entry for San Marino on 14th of March".
23. Jiandani, Sanjay. (2014-03-14). "San Marino: Valentina's Eurovision entry premiered".
24. "First Semi-Final of Copenhagen 2014". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
25. Royston, Benny. (2014-05-09). "Eurovision fairytale for Europe's smallest nations".
26. "Grand Final of Copenhagen 2014". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
27. (2014-04-25). "Interview: Valentina Monetta: 'I don't want to worry about getting into the final'".
28. Aderemi, Deban. (2014-06-02). "San Marino: Valentina Monetta soars on Sensibility".
29. Tarbuck, Sean. (2015-02-02). "Valentina Monetta to announce Sanmarinese votes".
30. Ko, Anthony. (2015-02-05). "Valentina Monetta: No one has approached me to be Eurovision spokesperson".
31. (2015-04-28). "Anita & Michele: "Valentina Monetta is going to support us in Vienna" (San Marino 2015 – Exclusive Interview)".
32. Vranis, Michalis. (12 March 2017). "San Marino: Valentina Monetta and Jimmie Wilson to Kyiv".
33. (2021-07-09). "San Marino: If at first you don't succeed... 🇸🇲". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
34. "Second Semi-Final of Kyiv 2017". European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
35. (2020-10-03). ""L'isola di San Marino": un documentario in onda su Rai5". San Marino RTV.
36. (2021-03-06). "Radio San Marino: parte Saturday Morning Live, nuovo programma con Federico Vespa e Valentina Monetta". San Marino RTV.
37. (2022-02-13). "Congresso di Stato: "San Marino al centro del mondo"". San Marino RTV.
38. "La Storia di Valentina Monetta di Valentina Monetta su Apple Music".
39. "Sensibilità (Sensibility) di Valentina Monetta su Apple Music".
40. (11 July 2014). "Sensibilità (Sensibility) – EP di Valentina Monetta".