Short biography


The whole story

Early years

1984-1992

1992-1999

2000-2007

2007-...

BIOGRAPHY: THE WHOLE STORY

 

Early years

Sabrina was born in Genoa on March 15th, 1968. She was raised by her aunt until the age of 5 since her father didn't acknowledge paternity and her mother wasn't really there for her. She then lived with her maternal grandparents in San Remo. She spent her adolescence in dance classes and at the linguistic school where she learned English, French, Spanish and Russian. At the same time, Sabrina took part in various beauty contests. In 1984, she won the titles of Miss Lido and Miss Liguria. She then met the man who would become her first manager and launch her on the road to success, Giampiero Menzione.


1984-1992: the Golden years, a sexy girl all around the world

In order to break into the Italian show business, he advised her to go to Milan, the Italian capital of the television industry. She then took singing, dancing and acting lessons. Menzione made her record her first song in English, The combination, that she would sing for an audition at Mediaset. If she wasn't selected, she didn't give up and, in autumn of 1984, she finally got a first appearance on Italian TV, in the show VV le donne, presented by Amanda Lear and Andrea Giordana on Canale 5. A few weeks later, on her 17th birthday, on March 15th 1985, Sabrina was on a local channel, TV Libera to sing The combination and give her probably first interview as a singer. A bit too optimistic, she announced that she would participate in a summer tour which would finally be canceled. At the same time, she recorded another song, in Italian this time: Uragano (Io mi muovero '). The song, produced by Menzione, was supposed to allow Sabrina to perform at the Festivalbar, but without success. If her singing career wasn't taking off, she was luckier with TV as she was selected to take part, as "Miss Fortuna", to Premiatissima, conducted by Jonny Dorelli on Canale 5. This TV show started on October 4, 1985 for 15 evenings.

From March 1st till May 24th, 1986, she participated in Grand Hotel on Canale 5, a very popular show which allowed her to play the comedy, sing and dance like Carmen Russo who was then the most important sexy star on TV.
Like many other starlets, Sabrina started to pose topless that same year, in order to attract attention. Those pictures would be widely reproduced in the Italian and international press in the coming years.

But at that time, an encounter was about to change her life: Claudio Cecchetto. The King of Italo-dance accepted to write for her a song in English: Sexy girl. During the summer of 86, the radio stations played the song very often and Sabrina took part, for the first time, in the Festivalbar. This success encouraged her record company, Five Records, to export the song. A few weeks later, Sexy girl was released in France and in Germany without meeting however of real success.
Meanwhile, Sabrina began acting for the Television, on Italia 1, in Ferragosto Ok (directed by Sergio Martino) and the cinema in Castellano et Pipolo's Grandi magazzini, a movie which came out in Italy on October 30th, 1986.

During the following months, Sabrina was everywhere to strengthen her rising fame:  she recorded some songs for her debut album, participated to the Sandra e Raimondo Show from March till April, 1987 and played in two movies: in Lamberto Bava's Le foto di Gioia (aka Delirium /Crimenes en portada) which was released in Italy on April 3rd, 1987) and in the successful TV serie Professione vacanze (directed by Vittorio De Sisti) on Italia 1 (6 episode broadcast from April 16th to Mai 21st, 1987). Sabrina appeared in the 2nd episode broadcast on April 23rd, Nove settimane e un mazzo,  and played a photonovel star who made Enrico (the main character played by Jerry Calà) fall head over heels for her. This series was so successful that Vittorio de Sisti was asked to shot another series in which Sabrina would play too: Tutti in Palestra. Strangely it was broadcast two years later, in the autumn of 1989.

But all this was secondary for Sabrina in 87. Indeed, during that summer, she became one of the most important Italo-dance singers thanks to 1 smash-hit, Boys, which would become a classic of the late 80s. Recorded with Claudio Cecchetto and his team, the single was released in Italy in May and quickly reached #4 in the charts, boosted by a strong promotion, a sexy video-clip and a participation, once again, in the Festivalbar.
According to the success of the song, Boys was licensed to many records company across the world in the following months: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Mexico, The Netherlands, Peru, The Philippines, Portugal, Scandinavia, South Africa, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, US… The success was huge as the song reached the top 5 in many countries; it even topped the charts in Switzerland and France.

In order to capitalize on this success, Sabrina's first album was released in Italy in the fall of 1987 and then worldwide (Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, France, Germany, Greece, Hong-Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Scandinavia, Singapore, Spain, Taiwan, Tunisia, Turkey, Venezuela, Yugoslavia…) while her new single was taken from it: Hot girl. If the song was a less successful than Boys, it charted in many European countries and even toped the charts in Spain, early 88, a country where Sabrina became a real phenomenon: magazines, chewing gums, a doll, Sabrina was everywhere ... and became the target of Spanish feminists, particularly during a concert in Bilbao, blaming her for giving a degrading image of women. In a few months, Sabrina thus became the most successful but also most criticized Italian female singer, in Italy and abroad. While her singles were in the charts, the sexy pictures of her beginnings invaded the magazines. But, after a famous session for Penthouse in 87, Sabrina decided to stop posing topless (at least for a few years) and to focus on her music career.

1988 was off to a flying start! Sabrina was from now on totally under the direction of her manager who created his own label: Videogram. While the promotion of her first album was going on and opened her the doors of the South American, Asian and Eastern European markets, Sabrina was already working on her second LP.
Swept up in a whirlwind of promotion, tour and interviews, Sabrina was everywhere. Omnipresent in Italy, Sabrina's fame was betting stronger and stronger on the international market. On May 14th, she participated in the Montreux Pop Festival Pop in Switzerland. But above all, she obtained the collaboration of the most influential producers of the moment. Indeed, her manager convinced Stock, Aitken and Waterman to produce her new single. This trio of British authors was responsible for many huge hits. They signed a lot of smash-hits for many artists including Kylie Minogue (of course), Bananarama or Samantha Fox... All of me, the song they wrote for Sabrina was released in Continental Europe in June of 1988 ... when Boys made #3 on the UK Singles chart, something rarely achieved at the time by Italian pop acts. All of me became quite successful in Europe. But also in Italy where, however, a new song, released at the same time and co-written by Sabrina with a newcomer in her team, Elvio Moratto, topped the charts that summer: My chico.
And to top it all off, Sabrina was awarded the prize for the best European female singer during the Festivalbar. That same summer, she became very successful in some other countries like Turkey where her success was huge. And then, in late August (on the 19th), Sabrina participated in the Sopot festival in Poland.

At the same time, Sabrina was in studio to record some songs for her second album the release of which was scheduled for the end of the year. As she didn't want to be considered anymore as a product, a puppet in the hands of her manager, she invested more in the recording by writing some lyrics. In the fall of that year, My chico became logically Sabrina's new single on the international market. The song became another big hit single in Scandinavia where a great remix compilation, Something special, was also released.
However, the single had mixed success in several important countries for Sabrina as France, Germany… At the same time, All of me was finally released in England where it peaked at #25.
In late December, her new album, Super Sabrina, finally hit the stores. Beside Stock, Aitken and Waterman, the fans also note another special guest: Giorgio Moroder, the famous producer (I feel love for Donna Summer, Flashdance, Call me for Blondie etc.) wrote two songs. In the following months, this album like the first one, would be released all over the world: Austria, Colombia, France, Germany, Greece, Japan, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, Scandinavia, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Turkey, Yugoslavia…

Even if she had a very busy agenda, Sabrina signed with Canale Cinco to co-host Odiens, a new TV show that would be broadcast from December 1988 till April 1989. In fact, the show was a good opportunity to promote her last album, Super Sabrina, as she sang most of its tracks week by week.
If Lorella Cuccarini was singing the opening theme of the show, La note vola, the ending theme was performed by Sabrina. Her team had chosen Like a yo-yo, one of two songs produced by Giorgio Moroder, which quickly became the third single taken from the album in February of 1989 to promote the release of Super Sabrina in some countries. The song was once again very successful in Scandinavia where a compilation, Single Hits, was then released.
The same month, Sabrina succeeded in filling the Olimpiiski Hall in Moscow from February 13th till 15th, performing before 50 000 fans.

While Stock Aitken and Waterman's team was commissioned to remix Like a yoyo (and My chico) for the UK where the single would be released early that summer, Sabrina was already launching her new single, co-written by her: Gringo. But this time, Sabrina could rely on an international record company to promote it: RCA. The 7" was released in Italy where it was quite successful (#10 ). But it had a very limited success abroad in spite of a strong promotion (Ecuador, France, Germany, Japan, Korea, Portugal, UK).
After her participation in the charity single Per te Armenia and several performances at the Festivalbar (this year again…), Sabrina went on to perform another European tour.
In September, Sabrina was on the cover of Penthouse Italy drawn by Milo Manara, the famous Italian comic book writer, who made several erotic drawings inspired by Sabrina.
On November, 30th Neri Parenti's movie Fratelli d'Italia, a comedy in which Sabrina had the female leading role alongside Jerry Calà. Moreover, she was all around the world to promote the release of her first two albums.

By the end of 1989, she signed with Rai due to co-host Raffaella Cara's new TV show, Ricomincio da due, with Scialpi too, from January 6th to June 3rd, 1990. This show which was very successful allowed her to promote her own songs and sing some duets or trios with her two friends. Despite a very busy schedule, Sabrina was back in studio to record her new summer single, released in June: Yeah Yeah.
Of course, once again, Sabrina took part to the Festivalbar. In order to make the fans satisfied till the release of her third album, her new label, Casablanca Records, decided to publish in Italy a remix album, Super remix, in the summer of 1990. During the second half of the year, Sabrina spent a lot of time in the studio to work on her new album that she wanted to be very different from her previous LPs.

At the beginning of 1991, the forthcoming release of the album Over the pop was finally confirmed. But one announcement attracted media attention: Sabrina and Jo Squillo would perform at the San Remo Festival. Indeed, Sabrina had accepted to record a duet in Italian, Siamo donne, and participate in the famous festival which was held that year from February 27th till March 2nd. Sabrina and Jo Squillo were everywhere to promote their song: TV, magazines, radios, discos… While she agreed somewhat reluctantly to record this song, Sabrina didn't know yet that it would become a classic of the Italian popular song of the early 90s. The single was released a few weeks before the album Over The Pop which allowed Sabrina recover her independence after several weeks of intense promotion with Jo Squillo.
Sabrina could rely once again on an international record company, Casablanca, which released her new album in numerous countries: Argentina, Ecuador, France, Greece, Japan, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Scandinavia, Turkey … Abroad, Sabrina promoted her album and Yeah Yeah which was released at the same time while, in Italy, a remix of Shadows of the night, featuring a solo version of  Siamo donne on its B-side, was published on 12".
Sabrina, kept on promoting Over the Pop on Italian, especially the pop-rock tracks which made a break with the style of her beginnings. But despite Sabrina's involvement, the promotion of the album stopped after that summer because of disappointing sales, especially abroad. If Sabrina was considering new projects (a live album, a new single), few would materialize and 1991 ended thus less well than it began, with a media battle against Angela Cavagna and, above all, growing tensions with her manager.

From late December '91 till late February '92 , Sabrina co-hosted Bellezze sulla neve on Canale 5, a show which allowed her to perform some songs from her 2 last albums as well as a new track which should have become her new single: Cover model. If the song was finally released on 12", Sabrina didn't promote it and the release was canceled, except in France where the label Panic Records released it on different formats in March of 1992.

In an interview for the magazine Sorrisi e canzone, Sabrina announced that she was going to work on a new album in the next months, after a break. So that summer, when she disappeared almost completely from media attention, her fans thought that she was probably back in studio to record some new material. But it was absolutely not the case. In fact Sabrina entered the most trying time of her career.

1992-1994: forced career break

Indeed, she had decided to part from her manager as she couldn't bear the pressure she was working under anymore. She also didn't like the songs she was "suggested" to record anymore: she wished to turn to more personal and more ambitious music. So, her manager instituted proceedings against her and the legal battle that followed prevented Sabrina from working in Italy during several months. In spite of moments of discouragement, Sabrina didn't lose her enthusiasm and began to work with new authors, abandoning Dance music for a pop-rock sound. During this period, she thus collaborated with Tony Fenelle, the lead singer of Ultravox - the group had been reformed in 1992- and the English composer and producer Rod Gammons. She also worked with Satch Hoyt who had co-written in 1992 the single 7 day weekend for Grace Jones. Sabrina who always lacked of musical credibility was taking her revenge. She also teamed up with 3 very good Italian authors and composers, Sandro Zane, Moreno Barbazza, F. Busoni as well as her French ex-boyfriend, Pierre Cosso. Moreover, Sabrina was fully involved as songwriter.

During the spring and summer of 1993, Sabrina made some new appearances on television in Spain in Italy. She used the opportunity to declare that she was working with new producers and a new team. Besides, she announced that a single was planned for summer. She added that an album would be released in September, an album more personal than everything she had done until then. But all those great projects were finally postponed. However, on July 19th, on the set of Bellezze al bagno, Sabrina performed Mama said, a brand-new song with a typical American rock sound. But this potential single had no follow-up and it was necessary to wait several months to see Sabrina again on Italian TV.


1994-1999: a new start and successful theater debut


One of the first shows she chose for her official comeback was Harem hosted by Catherine Spaak and which was broadcast on April 14th, 1994. On this occasion, Sabrina talked with humility and clearness about the difficult times she had crossed as well as her years of success, explaining why she had to stand on her own two feet. Obviously, those almost two years of legal battle had been very stressful for her and, for the first time, Sabrina appeared sensitive in front of the cameras, far from the aggressive image she had shown till then. But she also showed herself as a survivor, optimistic and full of hope for her comeback which in fact would turn to be a new start. Optimistic but terrorized as she admitted it. Indeed, Sabrina knew that nothing was certain then. She had fought for her artistic freedom and she had already paid its price. Many persons, who had supported her till 92, were boycotting her. Many TV sets, festivals and record companies shut their doors on her. From now on, she had to rely on herself but also on the comforting presence of a newcomer in her team, Enrico Monti, who would quickly take a leading importance.
The first step was to find a record-company which was more complicated than expected. After many months, Sabrina finally signed with a dance music label, Plastika, while she was supposed to release a rock album as she had confided during some interviews in 1993 in Italy or in Spain. Her team probably advised her against operating a radical change for her comeback. While her fans were getting impatient and, for some, feared a real rock shift, all were reassured when Sabrina sang for the first time her new single, Rockawillie, as a preview on the set of Domenica in March 1994: the rock was only in the title of the song. It was actually a typical Eurodance track, not very different from what she could have done with her former team.  While Sabrina had announced working with a new team for her comeback, this wasn't really the case for this first single since Sabrina had already worked with Fulvio Zafret. Indeed, he had been sound engineer on My chico and Gringo and had become an independent producer connected to the label Plastika. He would be successful with his own group MO DO a few months later with the hit Eins Zwei Polizei. Fulvio Zafret collaborated in many eurodance projects with his friend Sergio Portaluri who co-wrote Rockawillie. Zafret and  Portaluri had even created their own "factory", De Point Production, with David Sion…  who had co-written Yeah Yeah, Love dream and Domination on Sabrina's third album, Over the pop. Through these collaborations, Sabrina tried to feel reassured before the release of her first real single in Italy since Siamo donne (1991).

It seems that Rockawillie was released on April, 22th. This time of the year had always been successful for Sabrina who had launched all her summer hits in May/June from 1986 till 1990. But this year, she wasn't invited to perform at the Festivalbar. Was she boycotted? It's hard to say but the doubt remains. However, Sabrina didn't look downcast. She made quite a lot of promotion on Italian television and toured from the end of May. However the distribution of the record was not as strong as Sabrina had expected, condemning the chances of success of the single. She was thus discovering the independent distribution the hard way. Abroad, the single was released in a few countries (Finland, Germany). In Spain, Sabrina promoted the song many times on TV in the summer of 1994.
It seems that Goodbye baby was planned to be the second single taken from her new album. Indeed, a video clip was shot in studio, showing a very happy Sabrina, having fun with two little girls. But this clip remained unpublished till 2009.
For some reasons, the release of the album Rockawillie, first postponed to November, was finally cancelled.

Anyway, another (excellent) Eurodance single was chosen as successor to Rockawillie at the end of1994, Angel boy, which was also produced by Zafret, Enrico Monti and Sergio Portaluri. Since the hits taken from her second album, Super Sabrina, none of her singles had such a strong commercial potential, likely to appeal to an international audience. Sabrina sang Angel boy, for the first time, on December 4th, 1994 on the set of Domenica in. On December 9th, she was invited to the show Il tappeto volante. On this occasion, after announcing that she was working on an album in Italian for 1995, she mentioned the release of her new single Angel boy, scheduled for December 15. It seems that the record was finally released on January 17th, 1995 but the promotion of Angel boy was quickly cancelled in Italy. As it seems, Sabrina decided to dedicate herself to the recording of her album with Massimo Riva. Abroad, fortunately, the distribution of Angel boy was more important. Indeed, the single was released in several European countries in 1995 (France, Germany, The Netherlands, Spain). In Finland, the single was quite successful and peaked at #15.

But on this time, Sabrina had only one thing in her mind: the recording of her new album in Italian. In February of 1995, she announced in a very enthusiastic way the release of the entitled album Maschio dove sei for April as well as her participation in the musical I cavalieri della tavola rotonda from October on.
In order to attract public attention, Sabrina decided to use the "strategy" of her debuts. Indeed, she accepted to pose Topless for Playmen in Italy and for Interviu in Spain a few weeks later. She would do it again a few times till 1999…
On May 16th, on the set of Seconda serata she performed the song Maschio dove sei for the first time.  The music change announced in the past years was finally becoming reality. The promotion of the upcoming album then quickly focused on Fatta e rifatta the lyrics of which were ironical but not autobiographical like Sabrina specified. The album was planned to be released in September. It seems that Sabrina's new label, NAR, believed in the potential of Fatta e rifatta since a 12" was released, featuring 3 remixes produced by Elvio Moratto who had co-written My chico, Gringo and some songs from the album Over the pop. But the release of the album was a long time coming. Everything accelerated in late September when the radio stations received a new promo maxi CD: Maschio dove sei. Its title (Male, where are you?) forced Sabrina to specify several times with humor that she had nothing against men and that the text was only ironical.

The long-awaited album was finally out in early October. Her full name "Sabrina Salerno" appeared for the first time on the front cover to prove that she was an artist and not a "product" anymore. This rock album, which meant "serious" compared with Sabrina's early work, featured 10 tracks, some of them being Italian cover versions of material previously recorded in English by Sabrina. This album produced by Enrico Monti and Massimo Riva, in collaboration with Vasco Rossi, got a lot of positive reviews for the very first time in Sabrina's career. Several articles hailed her performance, while her voice had been often criticized in the past. But did the album please the fans? Not immediately. Many were at first horrified by the rock style of the songs but finally recognized that it was an excellent album,. But, due to distribution problems, the album couldn't meet success. However she promoted it till the premiere of I Cavalieri della Tavola rotonda (which held in December) directed by Alessandro Capone. Sabrina was playing a dark Morgane Le Fay and this first experience on stage was critically acclaimed.  This performance on stage was a real discovery for Sabrina who hoped then to repeat the experience.

1996 began very well as l cavalieri… was extended till the end of January. But once free of her commitments, Sabrina vanished from public attention for a few weeks. She only made an appearance in the video-clip of her friend Massimo Riva, Fine dellafavola.
In June, the album Maschio dove sei was released in Portugal but Sabrina didn't promote it.
From October 2nd till December 11th, she was back on TV as presenter of the game Il grande gioco del mercante in fiera on TMC. If Sabrina didn't release any new material in 1996, a remixed version of her first album, Remix 96, was published.

In 1997, Sabrina was back on TV as singer to promote her songs in Italian. If Sabrina had thought to perform again at the San Remo Festival, this idea was finally abandoned. Indeed, Vasco Rossi had written a duet for Sabrina and Pino Scotto, an Italian hard-rock singer who declined the offer. Finally it was only decided to re-release Sabrina's last album in June of 97 but with a different title, Numeri, which was also the title of the (only) new song featuring on this release and which was written by Massimo Riva. In this occasion, Sabrina completely changed her look which provoked a new shock to her fans: she had her hair cut! With this hairstyle and the rather masculine outfit she was often wearing, Sabrina erased everything of the image which had made her successful. In Spain, Maschio dove sei was released in the summer of 97 and Sabrina promoted it on TV, singing the title track and Boys 95 a new version of her 87' smash-hit which had been released in France two years before. That year, her album was also published in Russia. But Sabrina announced that autumn that she was working on a pop-dance album. The rock interlude was definitively over …

In the second half of 1997, Sabrina focused on her acting career. She worked again with Alessandro Capone for the play Uomini sull'orlo di una crisi di nervi from December 14th on. This new experience on stage made her very satisfied once again.
Early 1998, Sabrina toured with the cast of Uomini sull'orlo di una crisi di nervi but she suffered a broken knee and had to stop.

But this enforced rest gave her the opportunity to work on her 5th album. Sabrina wanted to provide the means to make her comeback successful. She signed again with an independent label, RTI Music, which held the rights of the ex Five Records (the label which had published her first album) and had just distributed the album Remix 96 and the re-issue of her first album. With Enrico Monti, Sabrina appealed to Massimo Bonsanto, who had co-written all the hits featuring on her first album: Sexy girl, Boys, Hot girl. Sabrina also worked with a young team to produce her new album inspired in particular by the sound of the 80s. In the first half of the year, Sabrina was back in studio and the first album sessions began. In June, she recorded the song I love you (co-written by Bonsanto).

Early that summer, she was back on a TV set as hostess –singer-dancer for the Carlo Conti's show Cocco di mama which was broadcast on Rai Uno every Thursday evening from July 9th till September 24th. Every week, Sabrina was accompanied with dancers and performed a medley of Italian or international (current or old) hits. During the last show, Sabrina finally surprised her audience by performing a new song which was actually her (future) new single: I love you. In the second half of 98, Sabrina was more an actress -in the TV series Tutti gli uomini sono uguali from October 14th on, and in the movie Jolly Blu which was out on November 6th- than a singer.
Finally, the promotion of her 5th album was launched at the end of December when Sabrina performed I love you on the set of Rafaella Carrà's show (December, 26th) and then on Spanish TV (31st). For her comeback as a singer, Sabrina decided to draw attention by wearing a very sexy armor which highlighted her femininity. A music video -the first one for a single since Siamo donne- was also shot by Stefano Salvati. This clip was quite commented on because of a lesbian kiss…
Sabrina sang I love you several times on Italian and Spanish TV as the album A flower's broken was released in both countries almost simultaneously, in early 1999. Sabrina strongly promoted the album between January and March but, despite all these efforts, the album did not chart in Italy and Spain. But it is necessary to say that RTI was sold to Sony in July 99 and the album was not any more supported by the label and so wasn't re-stocked in stores. As a result, the project of summer tour with the songs of the album and the remixes of her older hits was canceled.
The flop of the album strongly disappointed Sabrina who had put a lot of hope in her comeback on the international market.


2000-2007: attempts to come back in the music industry and maternity

Sabrina decided to have a break for the first time since her comeback with Rockawillie in 1994. In 2000 and 2001, she disappeared almost completely from media attention in Italy. Abroad, she only appeared twice on Dutch TV. However, in 2001, rumors on a possible comeback began to spread. She actually signed for a new musical, Emozioni, which would be very successful on stage from July on. Moreover, the release of a new single, You and me, was even announced for November but was finally postponed to the summer of 2002. Meanwhile, Sabrina started to tour with Emozioni (till 2003). As this show was very successful, Sabrina said that she wouldn't release something new until 2003. But she mentioned that she then would work on her next single You and me. But, some months later, Sabrina was planning to record an album before the end of 2002 as she had teamed up with famous composers who had written some great new tracks for her. These new songs were supposed to replace some songs she had previously recorded and which didn't satisfy her, at least some of them. She also said that the album wouldn't be titled You and me anymore.

After canceling the release of the single You and me and the recording of 2 more or less improbable duets with the (super) model (of the world) Ru Paul or Ambra Angiolini (for a cover of Siamo donne), Sabrina spent the year 2002 on stage with the musical Emozioni which was very successful. In autumn, she was also on Italian TV as Sexy Bond for the show Matricole & Meteore from October 8th till November 26th.
In early 2003, as she was disappointed not to join the cast of the musical Pinocchio, Sabrina decided to focus on her solo career. In the spring of that year, she worked on a new version of Boys and performed it live on French television (M6) on June 27th. Sabrina was also working with a lot of enthusiasm on an album in French which should also feature Boys 2003. In August, a new rumor spread on the Internet: Sabrina might have recorded a new song: Radio to radio. While the fans were waiting for the upcoming release of a new album, Sabrina surprised her audience by announcing in December that she would give birth to a child in spring. Her family was her priority.

After the birth of her son, Luca Maria, Sabrina didn't remain inactive in 2004. She actually took part to several concerts in Italy with other stars of the 80s and made several showcases in Discos. And she finished the year by receiving the award for the Best Actress at the Salerno International Film Festival for her role in Cristiano Cerriello's movie, Colori.
Meanwhile, she went back in studio to record a cover version of Patrick Hernandez's disco hit Born to be alive.

On February 19th, 2005, she participated in an event gathering sexy singers (Samantha Fox etc.) which took place in Amsterdam in the Heineken Music hall.
On this occasion, she met some fans backstage and told them that she had recorded a new single and was about to shoot the video. In May, according to well informed fans, Sabrina was back in studio to re-record her older hits for an album planned to be released during that summer. According to the same sources, Sabrina also had the idea to release a maxi single of Born to be alive 2004.

But Sabrina reversed those expectations by publishing in early July a new song, I feel love which was not a cover of Donna Summer's hit contrary to what this title suggested. To write this song, Sabrina had teamed up with several persons involved on A flower's broken: Matteo Bonsanto, Glen White and Dimitri Kusnitzof. I feel love (good sensation) quickly made it to the playlist of several Italian radio stations and was also posted on the Internet, from mid-July. The song was received very favorably by the fans: for many of them it was her best song since her golden years. It quickly reached #2 in the Italian top dance radios, which was very promising even if the release of the album was now postponed to September.
The fans were looking forward to the release of the maxi single as some remixes had already leaked on the Internet. They were sure that Sabrina could finally make a successful comeback with this new song. Nevertheless, she remained totally silent and rumors announced in early autumn that the release was abandoned because Sabrina's label didn't believe in the potential of I feel love.

In January of 2006, Sabrina was again on Spanish TV, on the set of Tan Agustito (TVE1 08/01). Because many fans misunderstood her during the interview, Sabrina decided to publish a message on her website in order to make things clear: no, she wouldn't stop her career and yes, I feel love would be edited as a maxi CD. This message reassured the fans for a while and Sabrina announced a few weeks later that the record would be available on her website from March, 27th on.
The first copies were mailed to the fans in the second half of April, at a time when new rumors announced that Sabrina was working on an album in English. Finally, on June 13, 10 days after her wedding with Enrico Monti, Sabrina announced on the set of Con Arus ... Tag (TVE) that she would release a bossa nova influenced album in September, once again confusing her fans … But this album was never released. At the end of 2006, Cristiano Cerriello's new movie, D, was screened at several Festivals in Italy. It featured the scene from his movie Colori in which Sabrina played.

2007-… Successful comeback with a new album, a tour and a movie in France, and a duet with Samantha Fox

Contrary to many Italian singers who had been successful in the 80s, Sabrina wasn't ready to do anything to generate publicity (reality shows, scandals…). She just wanted to be a mother and a singer. Her private life was very satisfying and compensated all the regrets she had had during her career.

While her comeback seemed more and more hypothetical, Sabrina was asked to join the French tour RFM party 80 which was very successful in 2007. This event awakened the interest of the Italian media which had somewhat abandoned her during recent years. Besides, Sabrina was interviewed again frequently on Spanish TV and did some performances in some other countries: Portugal, Eastern Europe etc. All this probably restored her confidence and the idea intended in 2005 to release a Best of album reappeared. As Sabrina couldn't use the original versions of her early hits (1986-92), she decided to re-record them with Andrea T. Mendoza who had written the arrangements for Born to be alive in 2004.

During the album sessions, Sabrina started to think about the perfect lead-single. In 2005, My chico had been an obvious choice but she was now convinced that she had to come back with a "new" song. She thus decided to make a dance cover version of Erase / Rewind, The Cardigans' hit from 1998. If this choice was a bit surprising, the title of this song perfectly fitted the situation in which Sabrina's career was then: back to her past, the 80s. The song was premiered on May 2nd, 2008 on the set of the Spanish TV show Luar. Before the release of her album, Sabrina was very active in Europe. On May 17th, she performed at Le Stade de France for the RFM Party 80 concert that brought together tens of thousands of spectators. On August 24th, 2008 the famous Sopot Festival took place in Poland. As many other stars of the 80s, Sabrina and Samantha Fox took part in this event and it was on this occasion that they decided to bury the hatchet. Indeed, on the initiative of Sabrina who had enough to hear about rivalry, both met backstage. A revolution, after so many attacks (more or less exaggerated by the media) towards each other which had been hard but also very funny in the 80s. After the Sopot Festival, Sabrina announced that a surprise could happen soon. But it took a few months to know more. Indeed, the two singers were busy with their solo careers. Samantha had just published a (great) new EP in Greece, Midnight lover in July 2008 and Sabrina was focused on the release of the album Erase Rewind / Official Remix. Preparing her comeback in Italy, she hosted Estate 101 on Radio 101 from August 4th till 10th. Then, as expected, the album was released on October 3, 2008. This release was accompanied by a major promotion in Italy, on television and in the press and stopped, for a while, Sabrina's participation in the RFM 80 Party tour.

For her comeback, Sabrina pleased her fans with a double CD featuring new versions of her hits, 2 cover versions (Born to be alive and Erase rewind) and a selection of 13 pop-rock songs previously unreleased and recorded between 1992 and 1994. In late November, the album was also released by the German label ZYX, paving the way for its distribution in Eastern and Northern Europe. The promotion of the album was boosted on Internet with the post of the video Erase / rewind at the end of November 2008, but also on stage as Sabrina participated in numerous 80s concerts over Europe, including Russia (in the Olympic Stadium in Moscow, where she had sung 20 years before), a country where the album was also published.

In early 2009, Sabrina was very present again in Italy. On February 12th, she was a guest star in the 7th episode of the TV soap, Taglia e Cuci, broadcast on Fox TV Italia. Then, in the following months, she took part in many 80s concerts and kept on promoting her album on TV.
It was not until August that the press announced that Sabrina and Samantha were going to record a duet: Call me, a cover version of Blondie's smash-hit, co-written by Giorgio Moroder who had already worked with Sabrina (Like a yo yo, Pirate of love, Shadows of the night, Love is like magic). On August 10th Samantha posted a video on her YouTube channel showing both singers teasing their fans by wondering what they were doing and concluding by "You'll find out soon!" In September, Sabrina and Samantha were interviewed on Italian TV (Verissimo) and spoke about their rivalry - a so-called invention intended to generate publicity - and their duet.  This TV program also showed the photo session which would be used for the promotion of the single. Its release was finally planned for 2010. Meanwhile, the promotion of the album Erase Rewind ended with the release of the eponymous single on October 13th.

In 2010, Sabrina took part in an incredible number of 80s concerts in Italy and in Europe. But, for her fans, the main event of the year was the release of her duet with Samantha Fox, Call me, on June 15th by the label X-Energy. On July 6th the record was finally available on Amazon. The single reached # 4 in the Italian Dance Singles Sales Chart during the first week of July, a success of which both singers were very proud.
The video quickly became an online success on YouTube. Sabrina then made her comeback on Italian television as host for the program Mitici 80 on Italia 1 from July 8th till August 5th.

Interested by this duet, the German label ZYX decided to release, for the European market, a maxi CD of 7 remixes (mixing the contents of the Italian maxi CD and mini album) on November 26th, 2010 and then an EP (featuring only the original version, both solo versions and the "new" songs) on January 28th, 2011. Those German (actually pan-European) releases allowed Sabrina and Samantha to promote Call me outside Italy. It was the case in particular in Russia at the end of 2010.

In 2011, Sabrina toured in Italy and in France. The RFM party 80 was so successful that it was decided to make a movie. The shooting of Stars 80 began in September, a film in which Sabrina played herself.
In 2012, Sabrina was almost everywhere in Europe but especially in France where the tour Stars 80 was going on.  She was joined by Samantha Fox from February till June. Due to the relative success of the duet, some DJs decided to remix Call me in 2012. 2 remixes were produced by Stefy de Cicco (who had already worked with RIO, Benassis Bros and Florida) while 2 others were commissioned to Christian Vila and Cosme Martin. These new versions were available for downloading in September and Call me 2012 reached #17 in the Top DJTunes 100 on September 19th. A new maxi one CD was finally published in Italy, a bit late, on December 7th.

On October 24th, the movie Stars 80, directed by Frédéric Forestier and Thomas Langmann, was released in France. Sabrina promoted it very often on TV, while she was still touring in France. The film was a success as it reached nearly 2 million admissions ... and suddenly, Sabrina was full of energy and projects! Early November, she was in Studio with Gruff Rhys, the leader of the Welsh rock group Super Furry Animals, who wanted to record a song with her. This track was planned to feature on Neon Neon's second album. Neon Neon was Rhys' other group, a duo with the producer Boom Pip. This album, Praxis Makes Perfect was intended as a concept-album around the life of Giangiacomo Feltrinelli (1926-1972), publisher and prominent figure of communism in Italy. A rather interesting collaboration for Sabrina! The news was relayed by several websites like NME. Some days later, she announced the release of a new album and… a Christmas song! This unexpected news was announced by Sabrina on her Facebook page on November 14th, 2012 indicating that she had just recorded this track with Jeppe Riddervold, a Danish songwriter and producer, leader of the group The Jam Band and manager of the label Jam Music Company. This Christmas night was available on I-tunes on November 26.

Early 2013, Sabrina was still very present in France and Italy but not only. In Spain, she was a guest at the TV show Hay una cosa que te quiero decir on Telecinco (12/02) and her interview beat all viewings records.  
The album Praxis makes perfect featuring the song with Sabrina, Shopping (I like to), was finally released on April 29, 2013 by the English label LEX. Boasted by some rather good reviews, the album reached #43 in the UK.

If Sabrina had come back in the spotlight thanks to the 80s revival, she began to feel trapped by her iconic status of this period. She needed novelty and thus got back to writing songs with her friend Mauro Lovisetto.
In April 2013, she announced that she was working on a new project with Rick Nowels, the American producer who had worked with Lana del Rey, Madonna or Santana. She even posted a photo of herself in a recording studio on her Facebook page on April 11th. After a few weeks of silence, Sabrina spoke again about this project in August in an interview for the magazine Donna al top. On this occasion, she revealed the title of her new single, Colour me, specifying that it wouldn't be a Dance-, but a Pop-record. She even admitted to work already on the video the shooting of which lasted from September 27th until November 11th because Sabrina was still involved in the French tour Stars 80.

While the release of Colour me seemed imminent, it was necessary to wait till February 2014 so that Sabrina posted a new photo in studio and the message "Working in progress ". The release of the single was taking longer than expected especially because Sabrina was very concerned at family level by the action in recognition of paternity that she initiated against her father, a long process which forced her to look back to her painful past. But as always, work gave her strength and courage to go on. In the hope of being remembered by the Italian audience before the release of her new song, Sabrina agreed to participate in the TV show La Pista on Rai 1 from March 28th till April 25th. If this participation didn't get the success she had hoped for, it allowed her to be back in the Italian show business.
A few days later, on May 9th, the photo session for the single took place and, on June 11th, Sabrina posted the long-awaited message, "Save the dates: 24th of June "Color me" new single!!!" and the artwork of the single. Meanwhile, she had indeed signed with the label Do it yourself. Colour me was finally available for download as announced. Sabrina also launched her Vevo channel by posting the video realized by Mauro Lovisetto.
At first listen, the song confused the fans because it was very different from what Sabrina was used to release. Indeed, everybody expected an up-tempo dance track. Nevertheless, in spite of a rather repetitive chorus, the song quickly convinced the most skeptical fans.
In Italy, Sabrina promoted the song on the radio (Radio Deejay) and in the press (Vanity Fair). She even announced the upcoming release of a second single and an album. Abroad, Colour me was performed on stage, in Madrid on July 5th on the occasion of the Spanish Gay Pride the godmother of which was Sabrina, and in Poland, on August 16th, during another 80s concert.
Then from October till December, Sabrina was back in France for the tour Stars 80 l'Origine, a tour which attracted a total audience of 2.5 millions since its debut.
In December, Sabrina was the 6th most searched female Italian celebrity on Yahoo Italy for 2014. As such, 2015 looked positive…