Women in Music - Gisella Cozzo

Gisella Cozzo is an Italian-Australian singer, songwriter and producer whose career bridges two countries. Born in Melbourne, she started studying singing and acting at nine and won Young Talent Time — Australia's longest-running talent show — at sixteen, going on to open in Australia for Eros Ramazzotti, Pupo, Marcella Bella and Toto Cutugno.

She made her Italian recording debut in 1988, winning the Rino Gaetano Festival with her first single "Get Up", released her debut album "Gisa" in 1990 and was a finalist at Festival di Castrocaro in 1991. Ten albums, two EPs and around forty singles have followed, alongside collaborations with Jovanotti, Laura Pausini, Al Bano and Franco Fasano.

In Italy she is known as the "Regina degli spot" — the queen of the advertising jingle — for campaigns including Coca-Cola, Chanteclair, Levi's, Fiat and Coppa del Nonno, whose theme "Joy" became one of the longest-running jingles in Italian advertising and turned thirty in 2024. She was hand-picked by Yoko Ono to perform "Power to the People" for an Enel commercial.

Gisella is the creator of Zecchino d'Oro in Melbourne, which brought the Italian children's song competition to Victorian primary schools and became one of the Festa's signature family events.

Rob Severini settled in Australia in the late 1970s and began his career as a bassist and singer working Melbourne's club circuit. He was awarded the first diploma in double bass (A.Mus.A) issued in Victoria by the Victorian College of the Arts.

Multilingual, he sings in Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese and English, leading the Life Band through Italian, Latin, Spanish and French repertoire for festivals, corporate events and private functions.

The group scales from duo and trio through to the eighteen-piece Victorian Show Band, and has backed guest artists including Al Martino, Normie Rowe, Ernie Sigley, Marina Prior and John Farnham at leading venues across Australia and Europe.