As a girl growing up in northwestern Italy during the ’30s and ’40s, young Renata Scotto was always surrounded by song.
Her earliest memories were of her seamstress mother working away with cloth and thread while singing. That maternal influence would have a profound effect upon her life and career.
“Since I was four or five years old, I sang all the time,” Renata told The Village Voice. “My mamma was a seamstress and she was working all day long, she was singing, just because she had heard songs, and she repeated those songs and I was going along with her. That is how I began.”
Through the joy of song, Renata decided exactly what her goal in life would be: “Professionally I said my life is going to be a singer. A singer absolutely.” But as Renata explained further, “Not a little singer … but a big singer! I wanted to be someone and I was very determined.”