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A highly successful and popular singer until 1971, Caterina Caselli Sugar stands out as a unique figure in the Italian music industry, transitioning from performer to talent scout and recording entrepreneur. At the peak of her career, having sold over 10 million records and four years after her debut with "Nessuno Mi Può Giudicare" (1966), Caselli chose to retire from performing to focus on record production and nurturing young talent. In 1976, she launched her label Ascolto, which introduced major artists such as Pierangelo Bertoli, Mauro Pagani, Area with Demetrio Stratos, Enrico Ruggeri, Raf, Francesco Baccini, Sergio Caputo, and Paolo Vallesi, while also establishing an international career for Paolo Conte.
Under Caselli’s leadership, a new company was founded in 1989, starting from the ground up with a strong emphasis on talent scouting and record production through the label Insieme-Sugar (now Sugar). Embracing bold risks and targeting the international market, Sugar produced "Notte Italiana," the 1990 anthem for the Football World Cup in Italy. Written and composed by Giorgio Moroder and performed by Gianna Nannini and Edoardo Bennato, it became an international hit, topping charts worldwide for almost a year.
In the years that followed, the label expanded its roster to include some of the world’s most beloved artists, such as tenor Andrea Bocelli, who has sold nearly 100 million pop and opera albums; Sanremo Festival winners Avion Travel (2000); singer-songwriter Elisa, one of Italy’s most popular female artists; Negramaro, the first Italian band to fill Milan’s San Siro Stadium just five years into their career; Malika Ayane, renowned for her distinctive voice; and Raphael Gualazzi, Sanremo winner and 2011 Eurovision runner-up, known for his pop-jazz artistry and compositions.
As a publisher, SugarMusic ranks among the top Italian and international companies, boasting a global catalogue that spans popular music and the prestigious Edizioni Suvini Zerboni, which features essential contemporary 20th-century composers such as Goffredo Petrassi, Luigi Dallapiccola, Bruno Maderna, and Luciano Berio, including early works created at RAI’s Milan Phonology Laboratory, preserved by Ladislao Sugar at the Italian collecting society SIAE in "magnetic tape" format—a European first. The catalogue also includes works by Aldo Clementi, Franco Donatoni, Ennio Morricone, Ivan Fedele, and Alessandro Solbiati. In 2011, Sugar acquired Edizioni C.A.M., a significant collection of over 2,000 original movie soundtracks that document the sound of Italian cinema and its history like no other. Iconic films such as La Dolce Vita, Amarcord, Mondo Cane, Il Postino, 8½, and Il Gattopardo (The Leopard) are part of this archive, featuring music by over 400 maestros including Nino Rota, Ennio Morricone, Luis Bacalov, Riz Ortolani, Piero Piccioni, Armando Trovajoli, Piero Umiliani, Stelvio Cipriani, Fiorenzo Carpi, and Philippe Sarde.
Caterina’s recording company, Sugar, has pioneered innovative business models and produced numerous special projects, including "One Night in Central Park" (2011), one of Andrea Bocelli’s most remarkable concerts, organized with Barilla; "La Dolce Vita: The Music of Italian Cinema" (2014), an international format for major orchestras; and achieved global successes such as Bocelli’s album 'Si,' which topped U.S. and U.K. charts, earned a Grammy nomination, and the 2020 event "Music For Hope" from Milan’s Duomo cathedral, the most viewed classical music live stream in YouTube history.
In 2021, the documentary "Caterina Caselli - Una vita cento vite" premiered as a Special Event at the 16th Rome Film Fest. Directed by Renato De Maria, the film chronicles Caselli’s life and her connections with key figures in Italian music, featuring artists she collaborated with and those she helped launch, such as Andrea Bocelli, Elisa, and Negramaro. The documentary offers a vivid, insightful portrait enriched by original commentary and archival material, reflecting the complexity of Caselli’s personality, marked by both vulnerability and resolve.
For her artistic and industrial contributions, Caterina Caselli Sugar has received numerous honors, including the Marisa Bellisario Foundation’s Golden Apple for Creative Industries in 1998 and the Golden Ambrogino from the City of Milan in 2007.
On March 8, 2006, the President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, bestowed upon Caterina the prestigious honorary title of Grande Ufficiale al Merito della Repubblica.
