Valentina Monetta - video clips, songs, albums online

Valentina Monetta (born 1 March 1975) is a Sammarinese singer. She represented San Marino in the 2012 and 2013 Eurovision Song Contest, and will represent San Marino in the 2014 Eurovision Song Contest. Valentina Monetta was born and raised in San Marino being the younger of the two children of a Sammarinese mother and an Italian father. A graduate of the Giovanni da Rimini school in Rimini, Monetta became self-taught in piano and voice from an early age and developed an especial affinity for jazz and R&B music. Monetta began her singing career in 1995 fronting the group Tiberio and was subsequently involved with a number of bands including Parafunky, Harem-B, 2blackBluesmobile, and My Funky Valentine. Monetta also competed in the 2001 edition of the televised singing competition Popstars (it). In 2008 Monetta sent in the song "Se non ci sei tu" for the San Marino national selection for the Eurovision Song Contest 2008, but she was not selected by San Marino RTV. On 14 March 2012, it was announced by San Marino RTV, that she would represent San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2012, to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan with the entry "Facebook Uh, Oh, Oh". She was internally selected by RTV. However on 18 March 2012, a few days after the song was announced, the EBU deemed that the song contained an unreasonable commercial message for Facebook, which resulted in the lyrics' disqualification; according to the Eurovision Rule 1.2.2.g, commercial messages within songs are not allowed. San Marino was then given the option of submitting a new song for Monetta, or revising the lyrics to remove any references to Facebook, no later than 23 March 2012 12:00 CET.On 22 March, SMTV announced that the song and its lyrics has been revised with a new title, "The Social Network Song (OH OH – Uh - OH OH)", with mostly the same lyrics, except without directly mentioning Facebook. Monetta performed at the first semi-final but failed to qualify for the grand final. However, she placed 14th with 31 points making it San Marino's best ever placing in Eurovision Song Contest. On 30 January, it was announced by San Marino TV that Monetta would return for a second time in a row representing San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in Malmö with the entry "Crisalide (Vola)", composed by Ralph Siegel with lyrics by Mauro Balestri. She competed in the second semi final on 16 May 2013 and once more failed to qualify for the grand final, despite her performance having been voted second only to Denmark (the eventual winners) by the Organisation of Eurovision Fans, OGAE. Her performance gained 47 points and was the best of the non-qualifying countries in either of the two semi-finals. In June 2013 Monetta released her new album "La storia di Valentina Monetta" which included multiple versions of "Crisalide (Vola)" and some songs previously available on her 2011 EP. Monetta will once again represent San Marino in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014. This will make Monetta the first singer to represent a nation in three consecutive Eurovision contests since 1966, the year Udo Jürgens of Austria competed in Eurovision for the third consecutive time. Monetta is scheduled to become the fourth singer to compete in three consecutive Eurovision contests as prior to Jürgens both Lys Assia of Switzerland and Corry Brokken of the Netherlands competed in the Eurovision contests of 1956, 1957, and 1958. Assia, Bokken and Jürgens each won one of the three consecutive Eurovision contests in which they competed (Monetta has and will face a much larger competitive field than did Assia, Bokken or Jürgens).