Maria Chiara Fraschetta, better known by her stage name Nina Zilli, is an Italian singer-songwriter. After moving to Ireland, she started performing live and, at the age of thirteen, she started studying opera singing at the conservatory. In 1997 she founded her first band, The Jerks. After completing high school at the Liceo Scientifico Respighi in Piacenza she spent two years in the United States, living in Chicago and New York.