Laura Pausini

Laura Alice Rossella Pausini, omri (born 16 May 1974) is an Italian soul singer-songwriter. She debuted in 1993, winning the newcomer artists' section of the 43rd Sanremo Music Festival with the song La solitudine, which became an Italian standard and an international hit, reaching the top spot on the Italian Singles Chart and the top 10 in France and the Netherlands. Her eponymous debut album was released in Italy on 18 May 1993 and later became an international success, selling two million copies worldwide. Her second studio album, Laura, was released in 1994 and confirmed her success, selling 3,000,000 copies worldwide and spawning the hit singles Strani amori and Gente. In November 1994 she released her first Spanish language album, titled Laura Pausini and composed of ten songs included in her previous works. The album was certified Diamond by the Association of Phonographic and Videographic of Spain, making her the first non-Spanish artist to sell more than 1,000,000 copies in Spain. During her career, she won three Latin Grammy Awards for Best Female Pop Vocal Album, with her records Escucha, Yo canto and Primavera anticipada. On 8 February 2006 she also became the first Italian female artist to win a Grammy Award, receiving the prize for Best Latin Pop Album with Escucha. As of November 2011, she had released 10 Italian-language studio albums, 9 Spanish-language albums and a greatest hits album. In 2004, Allmusic's Jason Birchmeier considered Pausini's sales an impressive feat for someone who'd never really broken into the lucrative English–language market.