Gaia Riva is an Italian pop/rock singer-songwriter. Her love for music began when she was 21, after meeting Andrea Noto, guitarist and songwriter. Gaia started to write her own songs straight away and avoided covering other artists’ pieces, something rather unusual for an emerging singer. She dedicated the first years of her music career to experimenting and finding her own style and emotional identity. She has written many songs, mainly in English, and recorded several demos at the Phoenix Studio in Castel Mella (Brescia, Italy). The quality of her music and her singing talent quickly made her stand out: she won several national awards and was contacted by a number of talent scouts and A&R executives in the music industry. In 2006 she was approached by Sony/BMG, with which she signed her first contract. By mutual consent, the project took on a different shape: Gaia decided to perform as a solo artist rather than in a duo, a less effective formula. Andrea became the project’s artistic producer and continued collaborating in all aspects of her recording and music career. Gaia’s first single, One, was released in 2006 with Sony/BMG and was chosen as the soundtrack for the Lancia Phedra ad, broadcast on the major Italian TV channels in the Spring of 2006. Gaia took part in the Festivalbar Gran Galà in 2006, in the Italian edition of Top of the Pops and in the 2006 Giffoni Film Festival. One was included in Festivalbar’s 2006 Blue Compilation and in the CD Wind Summer Collection; it reached number 21 in the Italian singles chart, despite a very limited promotion. Her second Sony/BMG single, Winter Falls, is available on iTunes. In November 2006, Gaia ended her collaboration with Sony and decided to shut herself up a recording studio (Phoenix Studio) to work on a quality pre-production that could be presented to record companies. In January 2008 Gaia got her second contract. She recorded the first 4 songs of her EP, Come and See, with an independent label. The EP was released in September and was distributed to the most important digital music stores and music retailers. Later on, on 20 March 2009, she released the album Frantic, a rich and complex work comprising 12 songs in English – including the single Isolated - plus two Italian tracks. The EP and the album were recorded at the Didde Studio (Besate, Milano), at the Phoenix Studio (Castel Mella, Brescia) and at the Dunegon Studios (Oxford, UK), produced by Andrea Noto with the collaboration of Marco Guarnerio and Emilio Rossi. In June 2009, Gaia and Andrea founded a record company, Sun Music, to represent and support their own work, with the help of a few trusted partners. At the moment Gaia is recording her next EP, Tutto Cade, which marks a significant stylistic break with her previous work, as it includes six tracks recorded entirely in Italian. Gaia is the author of the lyrics and the voice melodies, and collaborates on arrangements. Andrea Noto is the author of the music and the project’s producer; he also worked on the arrangements. Gaia has a cum laude degree in Engineering and has received a scholarship to attend the XVII Master Publitalia ’80 in Marketing and Communications. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.