The woman who would later be affectionately called La Tigre di Cremona (The Tiger from Cremona), Mina, one of the most popular and influential postwar Italian artists, was born in the province of Lombardy in 1940. Her first performance came in 1958 at a club called La Bussola, near Lucca, where Italdisc-Broadway producer David Matalon was impressed with the young singer and soon recorded four songs with her: two in English, "Be Bop a Lula" and "When," under the name Baby Gate; and two in Italian, "Non Partir" and "Malatia," as Mina. It was the latter name that she chose, and stuck with, for her debut album, Tintarella di Luna, which was released in 1960.