This article was published on January 14, 2025, the day Caterina Valente would have celebrated her 94th birthday.
There were few singers whose voice was representative of an entire generation: Caterina Valente was one of these voices. She shaped the era of the “economic miracle” in 1950s Germany like few other singers and sang about it in songs such as Es geht besser, besser, besser (Things are getting better, better, better).
One might even ask oneself whether the German economy would have recovered so quickly after the Second World War if Valente had not put people in Germany in the right mood with the right songs?
Spiel noch einmal für mich, Habanero (Play for me once more, Habanero)
The ideas that music producers came up with back then to achieve the desired effects on a recording were almost limitless: For the song Spiel noch einmal für mich, Habanero (Play for me once more, Habanero), for example, the recording equipment was simply moved into a marble bathroom to take advantage of the natural acoustics of a marble room. Today, digital technology would be used for this – would one hear the same characteristic reverb on the recording with digital technology?
The producers and sound engineers used their craft to get the most out of Caterina Valente’s unique voice. With limited means, which from today’s perspective seem primitive and improvised, they created a unique work of art.
Whether it was a chanson, a jazz standard or a pop song – Valente interpreted them all with bravura.
The seventh generation in show business
Caterina Valente literally was born into show business: she first appeared on stage at the age of five.
The Italian singer Valente came from a well-known family of artists: the later singer and actress was born with a gift for entertainment. In a 1971 Desert Island Discs program, Caterina Valente told BBC presenter Roy Plomley that she was the seventh generation in her family to be active in show business. Her mother was the famous Italian singer and circus clown Maria Valente.
If one wants to perform successfully on a circus stage, one needs a wide range of skills: One of these skills is improvisation and the timing to do what amuses the audience at exactly the right moment. Without these experiences as a child and teenager on the vaudeville stage and in the circus, Caterina Valente would hardly have become the singer whose musical repertoire did not stop at any genre: whether it was a chanson, a jazz standard or a pop song – Valente interpreted them all with bravura.
Talent in the movies
Caterina Valente became well known in Germany primarily through her numerous films, including Und abends in die Scala (In the Evening at La Scala, 1958) and Casino de Paris (1957).
These films were characterized by the fact that Valente showed off her singing talent in several scenes: In Und abends in die Scala, Caterina Valente even slips into the role of variety artist Caterina Duval. Released in 1958, this musical film can be regarded as one of the artistic highlights of Caterina Valente’s career: In the film, Valente not only performs her hit Spiel noch einmal für mich, Habanero, but also the hits Eine Nacht am Rio Grande (A Night at the Rio Grande) and Musik liegt in der Luft (Music is in the Air). The focus of these films is less on the movie plot itself, but rather offered the dedicated artists an opportunity to showcase their versatile talent: Und abends in die Scala succeeded in doing this like no other movie.
Vacation spirit awakened by Caterina Valente
The fact that Valente later became a successful pop singer was by no means a coincidence: French vaudeville, Valente’s artistic home, has many similarities to the artistic direction Valente took later in life.
When she successfully auditioned for Kurt Edelhagen’s then very renowned orchestra in the early 1950s, her unique musical talent was discovered for the German music industry, which was just beginning to flourish again at the time: from then on, Caterina Valente was the voice with which one could dream oneself into foreign lands: It is fair to assume that songs such as Ganz Paris träumt von der Liebe (All Paris Dreams of Love) or Komm ein bisschen mit nach Italien (Come with me to Italy) increased many people’s desire to go on vacation, or even awakened it in the first place.
This does not detract from the almost unbelievable artistic diversity that Caterina Valente still stands for half a century after the release of her best-known songs: Caterina Valente sang her songs in almost a dozen languages, half a dozen of which the Italian spoke fluently: This means that Caterina Valente can be described as a true cosmopolitan.
People longed for a star who was glamorous enough to be called a “star”.
Worldwide phenomenon
At the beginning of the 1960s, Caterina Valente was given her own show on German television, Bonsoir Kathrin. The show was produced and broadcast well into the 1970s.
In her later career, the singer Caterina Valente was a worldwide phenomenon: she was able to celebrate her US breakthrough thanks to regular appearances on the legendary Perry Como show. This meant that the name Caterina Valente was also known to television viewers on the other side of the Atlantic.
Germany, which was being rebuilt after the destruction of the Second World War, was the perfect place for a star like Caterina Valente: People longed for a star who was glamorous enough to be called a “star”. Nevertheless, Caterina Valente always maintained a certain closeness to the audience with her manner, which made her an approachable personality despite her status as a star.
Bongo Cha Cha Cha
Anyone who thinks the music of Caterina Valente would leave people completely cold in the 21st century is wrong: the hit song Bongo Cha Cha Cha from 1958 was used in the 2019 Marvel film Spider-Man: Far From Home. The hit song was subsequently used in various internet memes.
Did the social media audience even realize whose voice they were hearing in the almost 250 million videos created with this hit song?
The focus of such posts on social networks was probably more on the frolicking dog that was supposedly dancing to Caterina Valente’s music. The music and the art are by no means the main focus of these posts. As a result, there was interest in creating remixes of the 1950s hit – despite Caterina Valente’s rejection, the process was implemented profitably.
The “jet of fantasy”
After the Second World War, Caterina Valente gave the German cultural landscape what was otherwise reserved for American culture at the time: over the years, Italian-born Caterina Valente became a world-class star, something that was otherwise only known in this form from Hollywood stars.
In her essay on Caterina Valente, which was published alongside a re-release of her recordings for the Polydor record label, author Kathrin Brigl describes the artist as a “perfect stewardess in the jet of fantasy”. This is exactly what Caterina Valente was for many German record listeners at the time: traveling to southern Europe or even Brazil – unthinkable for most people at the time. But Caterina Valente sang about the splendor of those vacation destinations and took the listener on a journey in the “jet of fantasy”. A touch of this nostalgia still resonates in her music today.

Main sources: The accompanying book to “Bear Family Records: Polydor Recordings 1954-1958 (8-CD Box Set)” with an essay by Kathrin Brigl, excerpt from an interview with Caterina Valente in the BBC radio series “Desert Island Discs”.
Cover picture: Caterina Valente in 1962 at Amsterdam Schiphol airport, Nationaal Archief, CC0, Fotograf: Nijs, Jac. de / Anefo