Back in 1963 there was an improbable hit song by a French sister, The Singing Nun, called “Dominique”.
But she couldn’t hold a candle to a another singing nun, a 25 year old Sicilian named Sister Cristina Scuccia. Perhaps it’s happening–I mean a nun really getting down–because of the new open-minded Pope Francis. Whatever the reason, I’ve never seen anything quite like it. She belts out Alicia Keys and Cyndi Lauper and Mariah Carey songs in a manner more akin to Tina Turner and makes “Dominique” sound pretty quaint.
She has become a YouTube sensation by having her performance on the Italian edition of “The Voice” reach 30 million viewers in just 7 days. It took Psy’s “Gangnam Style” 18 days to achieve this many clicks.
An interesting twist on the Sister Cristina’s story was that she was brought out of the Milanese convent to perform on “The Voice” by a retired Italian porn actress who had left the erotic film world after a spiritual awakening.
Here is the 1963 song “Dominique” by the Singing Nun:
And here is Sister Cristina Scuccia blowing the judges’ and audiences’ minds on “The Voice”. The judges seem to be expressing disbelief. Check out the tattooed dude in particular.
UPDATE: Sister Scuccia just won the big Voice of Italy’s title again on Thursday, June 5th; the last competitor was a heavy metal rocker. She beat him too. I’m sure a record deal is forthcoming, but Sister Scuccia has made it clear that any profits would go to the poor and needy.
