Alice

Alice
Background Information
Origin	Forli, Italy
Birth date	26 September 1954
Death date	N/A
Age	70
Eurovision Song Contest
Country	Italy
Year	1984
Song	I treni di Tozeur (with Franco Battiato)
Semi Position	--
Semi Points	--
Final Position	5th
Final Points	70

Carla Bissi, better known by her stage name Alice Visconti, or Alice, is an Italian singer-songwriter and pianist.

As a child, Carla started taking piano lessons in her hometown, and only began singing when she was eight. When she was seventeen, she won the Castrocaro Music Festival with an interpretation of "Tanta voglia di lei";  she won the La gondola d'argento the following year, and debuted in the Sanremo Festival in the Newcomers section. However, little traction came out of that, and her singles didn't debut on the charts.

In 1976, she quit her day job and started using the stage name Alice Visconti when she released her debut album, La mia poca grande età. The singles "Piccola anima" and "Io voglio vivere", both in the fairly traditional Italian easy listening genre, became minor chart successes in late 1975 and early 1976, the latter also a modest hit in France. Her follow-up in 1978 gained moderate attention.

In late 1979, she met  Franco Battiato for the first time; together, they worked with his producer Angelo Carrara on what was to become her first proper hit single, the dark and despairing "Il vento caldo dell'estate" ("The Warm Summer Wind") and the following album Capo Nord ("North Cape"). It also featured a shift of sound to rock and new wave for Alice, as well as increased involvement in her albums as a songwriter and producer.

She returned to the Sanremo Music Festival in 1981 with the song "Per Lucia", which not only won the competition, but also became a breakthrough hit for her, not only in Italy but also in the rest of Continental Europe, becoming a Top 10 hit also in Switzerland and Austria and most other parts of Western Europe, including Scandinavia. She followed it up with the album, Alice, alongside two more.

In 1984, she along with Franco Battiato, represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest 1984 in Luxembourg with the song I treni di Tozeur, which came in fifth after being considered a favorite for the victory. Despite this, it became a hit in Italy (one of the few Eurovision entries to do so) and across Europe, including a top-twenty finish in Sweden.

Since then, she released a number of albums, changing her sound along the way. Alice also participated in the Sanremo Music Festival 2000 in the Established Artists category with the song Il mio cuore se ne va, which placed ninth overall.