SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 2014 Sister Cristina Scuccia, performs during the final of the Italian version of the TV Sister Cristina Scuccia performs during the final of the Italian version of the TV talent show ‘The Voice’ in Milan, Italy, Thursday, June 5, 2014. — AP/AFP photos talent show ‘The Voice’. Singing nun wins Italian television talent show singing nun clinched the rock’n’roll career. Order. There was some confusion final of The Voice of Italy tele- “I will go back to my priorities- when one panel judge-rock star Avision talent show contest prayer, waking up early in the morn- Piero Pelu-joked that she was the yesterday after winning millions of ing, school service.. That’s funda- “devil incarnate”, prompting the followers with her lively dance act mental for me to be able to begin host to quickly step in saying this and soulful renditions of lusty pop something new later on,” the Sicily was meant with “maximum irony”. classics. Wearing her black habit native told reporters. Suor Cristina The talent show was also appar- and a crucifix around her neck, Suor said she was following Pope ently being followed in the Vatican Cristina punched the air and Francis’s appeals to bring the thanked God for her victory, reciting Catholic Church closer to ordinary an “Our Father” prayer to the puz- people and was not shy about her zlement of organizers and audience. newfound success. “I want Jesus to come in here!” said “I have a gift to give, and I am the wholesome 25-year-old with a giving it to you, what can I do about self-effacing manner, who was that? Jesus has called upon me. It dressed in the sensible black shoes wouldn’t be worth much if I kept it and ankle-length black skirt she has for myself,” she said. She shot to tel- worn throughout the contest. evision fame in recent months in “My presence here is not up to this predominantly Catholic country Sister Cristina Scuccia, second from left, performs with British group me, it’s thanks to the man upstairs!” with her versions of songs like “Girls Clean Bandit violinist Grace Chatto on stage. said Suor Cristina after winning out Just Want To Have Fun” and “Time against a 28-year-old hard rocker of My Life” from the film “Dirty ‘Mysterious and special force’ with long curly hair who had per- Dancing”. Fame has brought media scruti- formed “Stairway to Heaven”. Suor It was a performance of Alicia ny, including interviews with an ex- Cristina, a reformed rebel who used Keys’s “No One” that first drew boyfriend and with Claudia Koll, the to sing in a band and now lives with attention to her in March and she director of the musical academy fellow nuns in Milan, has won a sang the tune again yesterday to where she trained-herself an ex- record contract with Universal but cheers from an audience that starlet who is now a lay sister. she hinted she might shun a full included nuns from her Ursuline “Cristina’s personal journey has brought her to maturity and artistic fullness thanks to a mysterious and special force. By giving herself to the Lord, she has enriched her art,” Koll said earlier. Sister Cristina Scuccia is flanked Suor Cristina has said she was by Italian rapper Dj-AX before once distant from religion but was performing. inspired to be a nun when she audi- tioned for a part in a musical about corridors of power, with top culture the founder of the Ursuline Order, official Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi Saint Angela Merici. She became a tweeting a quote from a Roman novice in 2009 and worked for two thinker: “If we commit injustice, God years with poor children in Brazil will leave us without music.” Suor Sister Cristina Scuccia, flanked by before formally joining the order Cristina has already sung alongside second placed Giacomo Voli clos- although she still has to take her Kylie Minogue and Ricky Martin dur- es her eyes in the moment she final vows. ing the show and Keys defined as won the final of the Italian version She may have won audience “pure energy” Suor Cristina’s per- of the TV talent show ‘The Voice’. hearts but her popularity is not uni- formance, which received more herself as a “humble servant” and versal, even in Italy, and critics have than 50 million YouTube hits. She ascribed her sudden success to a ascribed her success more to novel- has also received a celebrity “thirst for joy, for love, and a mes- ty value than talent. Singer Emma endorsement from actress Whoopi sage that is beautiful and pure”. Marrone, who represented Italy in Goldberg the star of the 1990s com- “Since Pope Francis talks of a bible this year’s Eurovision song contest, edy “Sister Act” where she is a of joy I think I’m on the right track,” complained that the sensation sur- singer playing a nun. she said in the run-up to yesterday’s rounding the nun was “an insult to showbusiness”. — AFP Sister Cristina Scuccia reacts after winning. But Suor Cristina still defined showdown..