Violetta Villas

Who was Violetta Villas?

Violetta Villas was a Belgian-born Polish international cabaret star, singer, actress, and songwriter. Her voice was characterized as coloratura soprano. She could play the piano, violin, and trombone and had absolute pitch. She has been nicknamed "the voice of the atomic age", "the singing toast of the continent", "a voice like French champagne", "Polish Yma Sumac". Villas was the first star of the Casino de Paris at Dunes Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas.

Villas was known for her conspicuous, outstanding appearance and numerous number-one hits. During her career in show business Villas starred in six films, performed in numerous musical shows, and recorded almost three hundred songs in ten languages: Polish, English, French, German, Italian, Latin, Neapolitan, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese. She was an animal rights activist.

Villas was a very controversial person for her alcohol and morphine addiction and being a Security Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs informant with a code name Gabriella. She had a delusional disorder, which had a bad influence on her contacts with her environment and family.