Gala Rizzatto ( born 6 September 1975), known mononymously as Gala, is an Italian pop singer and songwriter. Her debut album Come into My Life included the multiplatinum singles “Freed from Desire”, “Let a Boy Cry” and “Come into My Life” which reached the Top 3 in music charts across Europe, South America, Russia and the Middle East. Gala has sold over six million records worldwide. She currently[when?] lives in Brooklyn, New York.

In 1996, Gala was voted Best Female Singer of the Year in Italy by the magazine Musica e Dischi. In July 1997, she was awarded the Italian Dance Award as the best pop-dance artist of the year. Gala achieved a Diamond recording award in France, a Platinum record in Benelux and a Gold record in the United Kingdom. The same year she was nominated for the Best Dance Act at the Mobo Awards in the UK alongside The Prodigy, Chemical Brothers and Orbital. In July 1997, she won Best Foreign Artist of the Year at the Midem in Cannes, France.

Between 1995 and 1998, Gala performed on the UK’s BBC Top of the Pops, France’s Taratata, Les Années Tubes, M6’s Hit Machine, MTV Germany, as well as performing in venues such as Bercy Stadium in Paris and Las Ventas in Madrid. Her album Come into My Life was released on 17 November 1997, with 4 singles charting in the Top 20 across Europe, selling over 6 million records worldwide by 1998.

In 1998, while performing “Let a Boy Cry” on Taratata, she met Prince’s manager Steve Fargnoli who began representing her. That same year, she signed with Universal Records in Italy. After Steve Fargnoli’s unexpected death in 2001, Gala broke her contract with Universal Records and returned to New York. Settling in Brooklyn, Gala set out to redefine her sound, her life and her career, re-emerging as an independent artist.

In 2005, “Faraway” was released in France and Greece by EMI where it reached No. 1 on the iTunes chart and No. 6 in the national charts. “Faraway” was co-produced by Cash Money Records musician/producer Kevin Rudolf. It was featured in a Bod Man perfume TV advertisement, aired on MTV, HBO and was covered by Tamta in Greece.

In 2005, Gala appeared on Pink TV and on M6’s Fan De. Sagi Rai made a cover from Gala’s Freed From Desire for his album “Emotional Songs”. In 2006, she performed in the Mega PANN party at the Central Studios in Utrecht. In 2008, Gala formed the label Matriarchy Records, based in Brooklyn, New York. “Tough Love” is Matriarchy Records’ debut album released digitally worldwide on 6 September 2009.

“Tough Love” (album) included collaborations with a host of well known producers, including drummer Deantoni Parks, Marcus Bell and Kevin Rudolf who in 2008 achieved a No. 5 Billboard (US) hit with his song featuring Lil Wayne, “Let It Rock”. Gala also collaborated with Tamir Muskat, founder of Balkan Beat Box on her song “I Am The World, The World Is Me”. More recently Muskat is responsible for the Jason Derulo hit Talk Dirty, which samples the same “Balkan Beat Box” production style.

Gala independently produced four music videos for the “Tough Love album”. The video for the song “I Am The World, The World Is Me” was shot in collaboration with the Italian/Argentinean painter and writer Sebastiano Mauri, incorporating his video installation The Songs I Love To. In 2009, she performed two nights at the Ethias Arena. In 2010, Gala performed at the Highline Ballroom in New York, at the Palais des Sports and at the Antique Theater in Arles. The same year she was invited to perform as the headliner at 24h velo de Louvain-la-Neuve, second largest beer event in Europe organized by the students of the Belgian University of Louvain-la-Neuve.

In 2010, “Tough Love” was featured in popular American television series The Millionaire Matchmaker (USA). The same year “Freed From Desire” was used for a Nissan television commercial in France and Spain. In 2011, Gala performed the new single “Lose Yourself in Me” at the show Dance in the Summer in Beirut, next to Taio Cruz, T-Pain, Dev and Dash Berlin. The event was organised by MixFM Radio and “Lose Yourself in Me” reached No. 2 in the top 10 airplay charts before its release, later ranking at No. 1 in Lebanon RFX Radio for 3 consecutive weeks.

The worldwide release of the “Lose Yourself in Me” single occurred in May 2012 through Gala’s independent label Matriarchy Records. The song has been played, among other stations, on Fun Radio and Radio FG in France. It has been on high rotation on Impact FM and Radio Antipode, and entered the new releases on Belgium’s Fun Radio. The “Lose Yourself in Me” music video was produced independently by Matriarchy Records in collaboration with The Masses. It was directed by Alistair Legrand brother of Victoria Legrand from the band Beach House. The video featured full LED suits and krump dancers from Los Angeles and was choreographed by Gala.