”The greatest white singer in the world” hunts for mystery songwriter

Like Prince Charming looking for the owner of the glass slipper, reclusive Italian singing legend Mina launched a social media campaign Tuesday to identify who wrote a song on her upcoming album, said the Italian press agency ANSA.

The demo, entitled This Song (Questa Canzone), was sent to the pop superstar without a name or return address, yet made its way onto her new album set for release in November.

“We're enlisting the web to help bring forth the composer,” says her official site, where as of Tuesday fans can listen to the mastered track sung by Mina and accompanied by an animated video that narrates the mysterious origins of the song. The singer is also using the occasion to launch her official facebook page www.facebook.com/mina.

Mina, 70, is reckoned by many the finest female pop singer Italy has produced. Her life story will be the subject of Pedro Almodóvar's next film called, simply, “Mina”.

Louis Armstrong once called her ”the greatest white singer in the world”, and Sarah Vaughn said that she would have liked to have Mina's voice if she did not have her own.

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.