Dana Valery

Dana, the youngest of three children, was born outside of Milan, Italy in late 1943. The family emigrated to Johannesburg,South Africa in 1952. By the age of sixteen, Dana was a rising star in music and theater, and won the CBS recording award as the "Best Female Singer of 1964." She was one of the original cast members touring South Africa and Rhodesia with the popular musical revue, "Wait a Minim!" She rejoined the cast for the Broadway Production, which ran for 456 performances (1966-1967) at the John Golden Theater. During a 1965 trip to Germany to study languages, she visited her brother, Sergio Franchi, who was performing in Italy. He encouraged her to stay in music and develop a concert repertoire. Dana has performed world-wide on the concert stage, on television, and on radio; and has several USA hit records and albums to her credit. Deeply affected by the untimely death of her brother, Dana pursued a major career change in 1991. With her second husband, Peter Catalano, she fou