Ode to Madonna: Singing nun to release Like a Virgin cover

Her love of one madonna is no secret, but her appreciation of another may come as a surprise.

Sister Cristina Scuccia, the singing Sicilian nun who triumphed earlier this year in The Voice of Italy talent show, is about to release her first album. It includes a cover of Madonna’s pop classic Like A Virgin.

'I chose it myself. Without any desire to provoke or scandalise,' Scuccia, 26, told the Catholic newspaper Avvenire.

'If you read the lyrics without being influenced by what has gone before, you discover that it is a song about the capacity of love to make people new again. To release them from their past. And this is how I wanted to interpret it. That’s why we’ve transformed it from the pop-dance track it was into a romantic ballad a bit in the style of [US singer-songwriter] Amos Lee.'

The result, she said, was more of 'a secular prayer than a pop song'.

Scuccia strode into the public spotlight in flat shoes and her black habit in March when she auditioned before stunned judges on the Italian show. She went on to win, reciting the Lord’s prayer at the final in June, and to sign a contract with Universal for the album due out next month.

Scuccia’s version of Like A Virgin is one of its singles. But neither the track nor the video bears much resemblance to the 1984 hit, for which Madonna gallivanted around Venice, contorting her petite frame under bridges and cavorting with a lion.

In a nod to the original, Scuccia is also pictured in Venice for her video, but wears a habit and crucifix throughout and refrains from reclining on boats.

A few of the lyrics have been modified slightly or left out entirely. For example, 'Gonna give you all my love, boy' is shortened to exclude the last word.

From www.theguardian.com