I get letters constantly from all over the world, telephone calls from America, Brazil, Australia, all over, especially on my birthday. A family? I have a huge international family. That’s all I need.

I was in love many times. This is very good for a woman.

My mother was my best friend and confidante.

How could I have been a wife, a mother and a singer? Who takes care of the piccolini when you go around the world? Your children would not call you ‘Mama,’ but ‘Renata.’

I know America is the country that loved me most.

I gave my last concert in 1976. For 32 years, I had given everything I had. I wanted to stop. My last big debut was in Russia in 1973. After I retired, I didn’t have...