Olga Maria de Souza is a Brazilian-Italian singer, model and dancer. She is best known as the frontwoman of the Italian band Corona, produced by Checco "Lee Marrow" Bontempi.
Early life
Souza was born on the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Vigário Geral in 1968, into a musical family. Her father was a musician and her mother was a cook. She worked as a clerk at the Caixa Econômica Federal bank for a few years before deciding to travel around the world. She arrived in Italy in 1990. There, in 1993, she began her singing career after being discovered singing in a club by producer Emanuele Asti, who made her part of Italian music project Corona.
Career
Works with Corona
Corona released their first single, "The Rhythm of the Night" in 1993, which remained at No. 1 in the Italian charts for 13 weeks. An album of the same name was released in 1995 in Europe and topped the charts in several countries, gaining a platinum disc after selling more than 1 million copies. The group began its first world tour, and the album was released in the United States. Corona's second albumWalking On Music, was released in 1998. In 2000, a third album, And Me U, was released. Corona participated as a guest in a concert named Angel Live, dedicated to John Paul II in 2006. Souza returned to America in 2007, where she continued her tour with the band. More recently, Corona released its fourth album named Y Generation, on POP Records.
Television work
In 1996, Souza debuted as a host on the Italian television singing competition Festivalbar. She was a successful TV performer and was later invited to host a show named "Dance Machine" in France. Since May 2014, she has appeared as a contestant on the game show "Hora do Faro" aired on Brazilian TV channel Rede Record.
Personal life
Souza married a Brazilian in Italy in 1990, but they divorced in 1992. In 1998, the magazine IstoÉ Gente cited her as the Brazilian who paid the most taxes in Italy, in reference to her fortune. In 2002 she was married in Miami to the Italian businessman Gianluca Milano, with whom she lives today. In 2010, the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera quoted that Souza's fortune was 10 million euros. In 2013, she said that "they already have their sock" with a house in the neighborhood of Morumbi in São Paulo, a place within the same state, a house in Rome, a house in Rio de Janeiro, a house in Portugal, a house in Spain and a "good financial life". "My husband taught me how to save, but I like to buy rare and branded things, sometimes I buy shoes and bags and hide them in the garage, I put talcum powder to disguise it," she said. Souza also has her own label in Italy, 1st Pop, a subsidiary of Universal Records.
