From FB. Italian singer, actress and guitarist Caterina Valente with her 1967 Mercedes-Benz 230 SL Pagode in Lugano, Switzerland. 1969
Caterina Valente (born 14 January 1931) is an Italian-French multilingual singer, guitarist, dancer, and actress. Valente is a polyglot; While she is best-known as a European performer, Valente also spent part of her career in the United States, where she performed alongside Bing Crosby, Dean Martin, Perry Como, and Ella Fitzgerald, among others.
Of Italian ancestry, Valente was born and grew up in France, she is a French citizen. During her marriage to her first husband she held a German passport. One of four children, she was born into a musical family; her father, Giuseppe, was an accordion player, and her mother, Maria, was a musical comedienne.In 1952, Valente married German juggler Erik van Aro. He recognized her talent and accompanied her in her initial years of worldwide success. They later divorced. Their son is singer Eric van Aro. In 1972, Valente married British pianist Roy Budd. They had a son, Alexander, before divorcing in 1980.A polyglot, Valente speaks six languages (French, Italian, German, English, Spanish and Swedish), all of which she can also sing in. In addition, she is capable of singing in Dutch, Portuguese, Hebrew, Greek and Japanese.Valente is a longtime resident of Lugano, Switzerland.
