Four of the Greatest Female Singers in American Pop Music Are Italian-Americans

Maybe it's the flavorful Italian cooking, or the mother country's cultivation of musical theater craft like Opera, but four of the most popular and financially successful female pop singers of all time are Italian-Americans. Connie Francis ruled the 50's and 60's pop charts. Madonna, with stiff competition from Whitney Houston and Pat Benatar dominated the 80's and 90's. Cyndi Lauper sang brightly on the 80's music charts. Now, Lady Gaga asserts herself as one of the most potent musical forces emerging today. All these lovely ladies are music mega stars, and all are melodic songbirds of Italian American ancestry.

Connie Francis

Born Concetta Rosa Maria Franconero in 1938, Connie Francis didn't project as sexually playful an image, but in some ways she was Madonna of the 1950's and 1960's. With pop classics like Where The Boys Are, and Who's Sorry Now?, she topped the Billboard 100 three times with such pop hits as Everybody's Somebody's Fool and My Heart Has A Mind Of Its Own. In 1984, Francis released her autobiography, Who's Sorry Now? It become a New York Times Bestseller.

Madonna

Madonna still wields considerable influence on the music scene, despite being in the rock and pop game for nearly 30 years. After her debut single, Everybody, became a big dance hit in 1982, the material girl hasn't looked back, and just keeps reinventing herself. Her professional musical resume reads like a world record bonanza, and that's just what she's done by boasting sales of over 300 million records. Guinness World Records crowned her the top selling female recording artist of all time. Madonna isn't just a stage name. The singer was born Madonna Louise Ciccone, with a mother of French Canadian descent, and a father, a first generation Italian American.

Cyndi Lauper

Cyndi Lauper knows Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, but she's also one of the hardest working pop singers around. With her album She's So Unusual, Cyndi Lauper became the first female singer to boast four top-five singles released from the same album. As of 2008, she's sold over 25 million records. She still performs for huge audiences all over the globe, like when in May of 2009, Cyndi sang on the live television finale of American Idol's eighth season. She sang a duet of her popular ballad, Time After Time alongside one of the show's finalists.

Lady Gaga

She's still the new singing sensation on the block, but there's no denying her musical power. Lady Gaga crosses both music boundaries, and cultural ones, and when she appeared on Larry King Live, dressed in suspenders like the veteran host interviewing her, the public really knew just how quirky fun she can be. Born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta in 1986, this musician can go from dazzling to ditzy, to just plain delightful whenever she wants, and she usually does. No matter what you think of her bizarre outfits, or strange stage persona, there's no disputing her impressive musical gifts.

Honorable Mention

Liza Minnelli

She hasn't sold as many records as others, but in ways she's more of an icon than the lot of them. With her mother Judy Garland remembered as one of cinema's great singers and actresses, Liza paved a musical and acting road all her own. She even won an Oscar for her electric portrayal of Sally Bowles for Cabaret 1972.

Sources

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100617170830AAJklFS

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Madonna_(entertainer)

http://detroit.broadwayworld.com/article/Cindy_Lauper_to_Perform_at_Sound_Board_20100801

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Connie_Francis