Heather Elizabeth Parisi (born January 27, 1960) is an American-born Italian dancer, singer and television personality. She was one of the most popular personalities on Italian television from the late 1970s to the 1990s. As of 2011, she and her family mainly live in Hong Kong.
Life and career
Born in Los Angeles, Parisi worked in the United States for the San Francisco Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre in New York City. During a vacation in Italy, she was noticed by the choreographer Franco Miseria, who made her audition for RAI. In 1979, Parisi debuted on the show Luna Park, hosted by Pippo Baudo.
Her rise as a television star took place in the fall of the same year, with the first edition of the Saturday night show Fantastico, which had very high ratings (an average of 23.6 million viewers). In each episode, Parisi performed a ballet and interpreted the opening song "Disco Bambina." The song became a hit, peaking several weeks at first place on the Italian hit parade.
Parisi was cast in four more editions of Fantastico and in other successful variety shows, and she also had several other musical hits, including the song "Cicale" which ranked first at the hit parade for four weeks between 1981 and 1982. She slowed down her activities in the mid-'90s.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Parisi chose to remain unvaccinated. On her website in December 2021, Parisi logged an entry entitled "Damned for Eternity" in which she told women that they "should be ashamed" of having children vaccinated against COVID-19 and that it was "criminal". In a different post, Parisi stated that "For me, being socially responsible is one of the most overestimated virtues."
Filmography
As an actress
As a director and screenwriter
Other appearances
Discography
Album
1981 - Cicale & Company (CGD, CGD 20276) 1983 - Ginnastica fantastica (Polydor, 815 721 1) 1983 - Il fantastico mondo di Heather Parisi (reprint of Cicale & Company with three new songs) 1991 - HP (Mercury, 846 417-1) 1991 - Io, Pinocchio (Mercury, 510 738-2)
Singles
1979 - Disco bambina/Blackout (CGD, CGD 10200) 1981 - Ti rockerò/Lucky girl (CGD, CGD 10302) 1981 - Cicale/Mr. pulce (CGD, CGD 10349) 1981 - Quando i grilli cantano (CGD, CGD YD 601) promo juke box 1983 - Radiostelle/Alle corde (CGD, CGD 10456) 1983 - Ceralacca/Raghjayda (Polydor, 815-750-7) 1984 - Crilù/No words (Polydor, 881-420-7) 1984 - Ciao ciao/Maschio (Polydor, 821697-7) 1985 - Crilù in Bangkok/Morning in Tokyo (Polydor, 881 924-1, 12") (as Angel Program) 1986 - Teleblù/Videolips (Polydor, 883-952-7) 1987 - Dolceamaro/All'ultimo respiro (Polydor, 887-180-7) 1987 - Baby come back/I'm hot (White Records, 109 428) 1989 - Faccia a faccia/Feelings come and go (Polydor, 871-572-7) 1989 - Livido/Livido (Instrumental Version) (Polydor, 873-192-7) 1991 - Pinocchio/Se te ne vai (Polydor, 866 194 7)