In 1998 she won a scholarship to study Italian folk music at composer Mogol's CET school. A stylish vocalist and a passionate fan and student of South American music, particularly from Brazil, the young singer debuted with a tribute to Brazilian legend Caetano Veloso, Para Você Querido Cae, in 2001. The following year Laquidara won the Critics, Best Performance, and Best Music Award for her song "Agisce" at the Premio Città de Recanati festival. In 2003 she repeated the feat at the new artists' section of the San Remo Festival, winning Best Song and Best Performance for "Lividi e Fiori." She also released her second album, Indirizzo Portoghese, this time featuring original material sung in Italian, and stellar collaborations from guests such as Fausto Mesolella from Avion Travel, Javier Girotto from Aires Tango, Tony Canto from Arancia Sonora, and singer Mario Venuti, with whom she shares a duet on the hit "Per Causa d'Amore." In 2005 Laquidara wrote with film composer Paolo Buonvino "Noite e Luar," the main track for Giovanni Veronesi's Manuale d'Amore. The film became the Italian blockbuster of the year, and its song, sung in Portuguese, cemented Laquidara's reputation as a sophisticated, cosmopolitan singer/songwriter not unlike her contemporaries Carla Bruni or Carmen Consoli, but with a sensual South American twist -- a mood that Laquidara's languorous beauty only accentuates. In 2007 she released her third album, Funambola, recorded in the U.S. and produced by Arto Lindsay. ~ Mariano Prunes