Emanuela Trane (born 16 May 1977), known by her stage name Dolcenera (Italian pronunciation: [ˌdoltʃeˈneːra], lit. 'Sweet [and] Black'), is an Italian singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to fame in 2003, after winning the newcomers' section of the Sanremo Music Festival, but she achieved commercial success in Italy only in 2005, when she won the music-based reality show Music Farm and she released her second album, Un mondo perfetto. In 2005 she was also awarded Best New Artist of the Year at the Italian Meeting of Independent Record Labels and she received the De André Award for Best Emerging Artist.

Dolcenera participated again in the Sanremo Music Festival in 2006—when she sang the hit single "Com'è straordinaria la vita", included in the album Il popolo dei sogni—and in 2009, singing "Il mio amore unico", from her fourth studio set Dolcenera nel paese delle meraviglie, the first one released by a major label, Sony Music.

After signing with EMI, she released her fifth studio album in 2011, titled Evoluzione della specie. During the same year, she appeared on the Italian version of Professor Green's single "Read All About It (Tutto quello che devi sapere)", which was also included in the 2012 edition of Evoluzione della specie, released after Dolcenera's participation in the Sanremo Music Festival 2012 with "Ci vediamo a casa".

Emanuela Trane was born in Galatina, province of Lecce, Italy, to Mimma and Gino Trane. She lived in Scorrano until the age of 18, when she moved to Tuscany, to study mechanical engineering at the University of Florence.

She started writing songs at the age of 14, and she later studied singing, clarinet and piano. In 1993, she founded the band I Codici Zero, together with Michele Vitulli, Francesco Cherubini, Emanuele Fontana and Francesco Sighieri. In the early 2000s she met through a web chat the Italian musician and record producer Lucio Fabbri, former member of the progressive rock band Premiata Forneria Marconi. Thanks to Fabbri, who later became her first producer, she obtained a recording contract with the independent record label Amarena Music.

Dolcenera's debut single, "Solo tu", was released in September 2002. The song allowed her to participate in the singing contest Destinazione Sanremo, broadcast on Rai 2 from 27 September 2002, with the purpose to choose 12 of the 16 newcomers participating to the 53rd Sanremo Music Festival. On 20 December 2002, during the final of the show, Dolcenera was announced one of the winners.

During the festival, held in May 2003, Dolcenera performed the song "Siamo tutti là fuori", later released as her second single. On 7 March 2003, Dolcenera won first place in the newcomers' section of the competition and she received the "Press, TV and Radio Award". The single, which peaked at number 10 on the Italian Singles Chart, was included in Dolcenera's debut album, Sorriso nucleare, released in March 2003. The album also spawned the singles "Devo andare al mare" and "Vivo tutta la notte".

In summer 2003, Dolcenera embarked on a concert tour throughout Italy, promoting her debut album.