Euro Disco: Italy

We've visited a number of countries in Africa, we went to Australia for the Gibb brothers and Samantha Sang, and we've stopped over in many European countries. Today, before returning to the US, we will have our final European stop-over, this time in Italy.

Raffaella Carrà (pictured above), born Raffaella Maria Pelloni in Bologna, Italy, in 1943, first appeared in cinema at the age of 9, in Tormento del passato (1952). In the 1960s she was already a hot name in Italian cinema. Her most notable appearance was in Mario Monicelli's excellent political drama I Compagni (The Organizer/1963) starring alongside Marcello Mastroianni, Renato Salvatori, and Annie Girardot. The film was Oscar-nominated for Best Original Screenplay, a rare feat for a non-English-speaking film.

In 1965, she moved to the United States, signing with 20th Century Fox. As Carrà, she starred in the motion picture Von Ryan's Express (1965) with Frank Sinatra and Trevor Howard. Feeling homesick, she decided to return to Italy where she starred in several Italian and French films.

In 1970 she decided to reinvent herself as a recording artist. Her debut single, Ma Che Musica Maestro, was a #2 hit in Italy:

Another big Italian hit was Tuca Tuca (1970-71):

The first song of hers to resonate internationally came in 1975 - it was a novelty dance hit and its title was a phone number; 5353456. It was recorded in many languages. This is the Spanish version:

The single's original A-side was a plush Italian ballad, Tornerai:

The single that became her greatest hit came in 1977; it was a Disco favorite called A Far L'amore Comincia Tu. This is the original version:

This is the English-speaking version, a top 10 in the UK in 1977:

Rafaella Carrà worked with Bob Sinclar on the new single Far L'Amore which was released on 17 March 2011:

Also in 1977, this is Fiesta:

In 1978, Tanti Auguri was a gay favorite:

In the late 1970s, Rafaella made a new professional turn and became a TV hostess, a choice which brought her prolonged success.

We now pay tribute to one of the most important names in Disco history: Giovanni Giorgio Moroder was born in Urtijëi, South Tyrol, Italy, in 1940. Moroder made his first steps in music in Aachen, Germany, and then moved to Berlin where he released a number of singles under the name "Giorgio" beginning in 1963, singing in Italian, Spanish, English, and German.

His first hits belonged to bubblegum pop. Looky Looky (1969) was #1 hit in France and was certified gold.

In 1972, he co-wrote Son Of My Father, a #1 UK hit for Chicory Tip. Giorgio's own version was a minor hit in France and Germany. It also managed to crack the US charts at #46:

In 1973, he released Lonely Lovers Symphony, based on Beethoven's Für Elise:

We have talked about his fateful meeting and collaboration with Donna Summer here. However, he kept making solo records, some of which are real Disco gems. Like this 1976 hit, Knights in White Satin, inspired by the Moody Blues' classic:

In 1977 he had two big hits. First came Let the Music Play:

The next one was even better; a Disco classic, From Here to Eternity:

1978 was a great year for Moroder; Donna Summer was riding high on the charts and he wrote the soundtrack to Alan Parker's Midnight Express, which awarded him an Oscar for Best Original Score. A single called Chase was released from the soundtrack and it became his most popular and celebrated hit:

Three notable Disco singles were released in 1979. First came If You Weren't Afraid:

Then came I Wanna Rock You:

... And then, What A Night:

In 1980, he composed and produced two film soundtrack albums: the first for Foxes and the second for American Gigolo. The Foxes soundtrack includes Donna Summer's hit single On the Radio, which Moroder both produced and co-wrote and also contains a song titled Bad Love, written and performed by Cher and produced by Moroder. American Gigolo featured the Moroder-produced Call Me by Blondie, a huge US and UK #1 hit. (Listen to it here). This is Bad Love:

In 1982 he wrote the soundtrack of the movie Cat People, including the hit single Cat People (Putting Out Fire) featuring David Bowie (more on Bowie here):

In 1983, Moroder produced the soundtrack for the film Scarface. He also co-wrote and produced many of the songs from the movie Flashdance. The song Flashdance... What a Feeling, performed by Irene Cara, was a big #1 hit - it was also his second Oscar win.

In 1984, Moroder compiled a new restoration and edit of the silent film Metropolis (1927) and provided it with a contemporary soundtrack. This soundtrack includes tracks from Pat Benatar, Jon Anderson, Adam Ant, Billy Squier, Loverboy, Bonnie Tyler and Freddie Mercury (more on Mercury, here). This is Love Kills by the latter:

Also in 1984, Moroder worked with Philip Oakey of The Human League to make the album Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder, which included a UK singles #3 chart hit, Together in Electric Dreams, the title track to the 1984 film Electric Dreams:

The same year saw Giorgio collaborating with Kajagoogoo frontman Limahl for their worldwide hit The NeverEnding Story:

In 1986, Moroder collaborated with his protégé Harold Faltermeyer (of Axel F) and lyricist Tom Whitlock to create the score for the film Top Gun (1986) which included Kenny Loggins' hit Danger Zone and Berlin's Take My Breath Away. The latter was a #1 hit and a Best Song Oscar winner - Moroder's third win:

Moroder was the most prominent representative of the Italian Disco scene, but he wasn't the only one. There were a few Italian acts that had one or more Disco hits from the late-1970s to the mid-1980s. La Bionda was an Italian musical duo formed by the brothers Carmelo and Michelangelo La Bionda. They became popular when they turned to Disco music. They moved to Munich where they started recording under the pseudonym D. D. Sound (short for Disco Delivery Sound), a moniker that would accompany them for their entire recording career. Their first two disco singles, Disco Bass and Burning Love, became international hits.

This is Disco Bass:

This is Burning Love:

In 1978, they released their album, La Bionda. It included There for Me, as well as the worldwide hit One For You, One For Me. There for Me was subsequently covered by other artists, including Sarah Brightman & Josh Groban, Dalida, Patty Pravo and Paul Potts. This is their version of the song:

One For You, One For Me is their most popular Disco hit:

Gino Soccio (born on September 9, 1955, Verdun, Quebec, Canada) is a Canadian disco record producer of Italian descent. His debut solo album Outline was released in 1979 and contained the hit Dancer, a #1 US Dance hit, but also a hit on the pop charts (#48 US, #46 UK):

Try It Out was another #1 US Dance hit:

It's Alright peaked at #2 US Dance:

He also assembled and produced the disco studio group, Witch Queen, best known for their hit, Bang A Gong / All Right Now (1979). It peaked at #8 on the US Dance chart:

Vivien Vee, born Viviana Andreattini in Italy (1960), had a minor hit on the US Dance chart with her 1979 single Give Me a Break:

Change was an Italian-American group formed in Bologna, Italy, in 1979. The band's original line up included Luther Vandross (read about him here) and Jocelyn Brown (known then as Jocelyn Shaw). The band's debut album, The Glow of Love, was released in 1980. The first single was the million-seller A Lover's Holiday:

The follow-up hits from the album, Searching and the title song feature lead vocals by Luther Vandross who had yet to come to prominence. The three songs combined set the all-time record, spending 9 weeks at #1 on Billboard's Club Play Singles chart, enough to make it the #1 Disco recording of the year and a strong seller in the US. It also made the Pop Top 40 that summer. The success of Searching and The Glow of Love exposed Luther's voice to mainstream and eventually led to a successful solo career soon afterward. This is Searching:

This is The Glow of Love:

The lead single from their next album, Paradise, was also a #1 hit on the US Dance chart:

Pino D'Angiò (born Giuseppe D. Chierchia in 1952 Pompei, Italy) is best known for his hit 1980 song, Ma Quale Idea, which sold over 2 million copies in Europe. The bassline of that song was taken from Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now by McFadden & Whitehead. It was later sampled in Madison Avenue's 1999 hit Don't Call Me Baby.

Tom Hooker was born in Los Angeles, USA, in 1957. In 1980, he moved to Italy, where he was discovered by Italian producers. His first hit was Flip Over:

He had his first major success in 1986 with Looking for Love:

Hooker co-wrote and sang uncredited lead vocals on the first two Den Harrow albums. Den Harrow was fronted by Stefano Zandri (born 4 June 1962), an Italian fashion model. After years of fame and popularity, it was revealed by Stefano Zandri and his producers that Zandri did not actually sing the Den Harrow songs; he was essentially a character who lip-synched to vocals recorded by a number of other singers, Hooker among them. The four songs that I'm presenting are all sung by Hooker. This is Bad Boy (1985), a hit in most of continental Europe:

This is the follow-up, Future Brain:

This is Catch the Fox (1986):

This is Don't Break My Heart (1987):

Kano was an Italo disco music project formed in Milan, Italy in 1979 by producers/musicians Luciano Ninzatti, Stefano Pulga and Matteo Bonsanto. Kano's debut single was the 1980 international hit I'm Ready:

Paul Mazzolini (born 18 February 1960), known as Gazebo, was born in Beirut, Lebanon, the son of an Italian diplomat and an American singer. His claim to fame is his 1983 release I Like Chopin, which sold 8 million copies worldwide and reached # 1 in Italy along with 15 other countries.

Koto is an Italian synthpop group that originally consisted of Anfrando Maiola and Stefano Cundari, later with the Dutch composer Michiel van der Kuy. Their first single in 1982, Chinese Revenge, proved to be very popular in Italy. It was also a minor hit in Germany and the Netherlands

Pink Project was formed in 1982, the brainchild of Italian DJ-composer-keyboardist-producer Stefano Pulga (of Kano fame), together with guitarist Luciano Ninzatti, keyboardist-programmer Matteo Bonsanto and sound engineer Massimo Noè. Their only hit single, Disco Project, was a mashup of Pink Floyd's Another Brick in the Wall (Part 2) and The Alan Parsons Project's Mammagamma.

Luis Romano Peris Belmonte (born 7 June 1954 in Rome, Lazio), better known as Gary Low, is an Italian-born Spanish recording artist who had a big European hit in 1983 with I Want You:

Righeira was a duo from Turin, Italy, founded in 1981 by Stefano Rota and Stefano Righi. They became famous for their 1983 single Vamos A La Playa (Let's Go To The Beach):

Their follow-up single, No Tengo Dinero was also a hit in Europe:

Ryan Paris (born Fabio Roscioli, March 12, 1953) gained international popularity in 1983 for the worldwide hit single Dolce Vita, a top 5 hit in all of Europe, even in the UK:

My Mine was a trio, founded in Terni, Italy, in 1983. Their first single, Hypnotic Tango, became a hit across Europe:

Alexander Robotnick (a.k.a. Maurizio Dami) attained popularity in 1983 with his track Problèmes D'Amour, which went on to become a "cult track" of dance music:

Producers Dario Raimondi and Alvaro Ugolini teamed up with studio vocalists Antonella Pepe, Angela Parisi and Ivana Spagna to create Fun Fun. After their debut album, Spagna left Fun Fun to pursue a solo career.

Colour My Love was a sizeable hit across Europe. It also peaked at #9 on the US Dance chart and was a big hit in South Africa:

... The same more or less applies to their next two big hits; Give Me Your Love:

... And also Baila Bolero:

Speaking of Spagna, she did manage to have 2 big international solo hits after leaving Fun Fun. The first came in 1986 and was called Easy Lady:

The second arrived in 1987. It was an even bigger hit, peaking at #2 in the UK and Italy, hitting the top 10 in most of Europe and South Africa and even registering in the US. It was called Call Me:

P. Lion (Pietro Paolo Pelandi) (born June 29, 1959, in Alzano Lombardo, Italy) had a big hit in 1983 with Happy Children:

Roberto Zanetti (born November 28, 1956, Tuscany, Italy), as a singer is known under the stage name Savage, and as a music producer, he uses the alias Robyx. His song Don't Cry Tonight was successful across Europe and has been frequently remixed since:

Club House was a studio group composed of Gianfranco Bortolotti, Carl Fanini, Hidalgo Serra, and Silvio Pozzoli. Their mashup medley of Steely Dan's Do It Again and Michael Jackson's Billie Jean (1983) was a top 10 hit in Belgium, Ireland, and the Netherlands, #11 in the UK, #41 in Germany, and #75 in the US:

They peaked at the very top of the US Dance chart with Deep In My Heart (1990-91):

Silvio (a.k.a Silver) Pozzoli, apart from being a member of Club House, also had a few solo hits, especially Around My Dream (#21 in France, #9 Germany, #21 Netherlands, #25 Switzerland, #1 South Africa):

Ken Laszlo (born as Gianni Coraini, 1954), an Italian of Mexican origin, had his first hit in 1984; it was called Hey Hey Guy:

His next hit, Tonight (1985), also made some waves:

Miko Mission (born Pier Michele Bozzetti; June 22, 1945, in Alessandria, Italy) had been recording since 1964. In 1984 he had a hit with the Italo Disco track How Old Are You?:

Scotch had a number of mid-table European hits. Their most popular was Disco Band (1984):

Sandy Marton is a Croatian singer with an Italian career. His biggest hit was People from Ibiza (1984):

Alberto Carrara (born 1958, in Bergamo, Italy), best known as Carrara, had a big hit in 1984 with Shine on Dance:

Valerie Dore (Valérie Doré) is an Italo disco musical project formed in 1984 by producer Roberto Gasparini. They had three big hits between 1984-85. First came The Night:

Then there was Get Closer:

... And finally, It's So Easy:

In early 1984, Maurizio Bassi, a music producer, and musician from Milan met Jimmy McShane, a native of Derry, Northern Ireland. They decided to form a band fronted by McShane, who was a talented dancer with a good voice. Baltimora's first single, Tarzan Boy, was released in April 1985, and became a huge European success, peaking at #6 in Italy and entering the top 5 in numerous European countries, including Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Sweden, France, the Netherlands, and Norway. The song eventually made it to the UK charts, where it reached #3 in August 1985.

Tarzan Boy was released in Canada in October 1985 and peaked at #5 by the end of the year. However, it took a while for the single to enter the Hot 100 in the US. When it did, it remained on the Hot 100 chart for 6 months, peaking at #13 in February 1986.

Tarzan Boy is among my favorite Italo Disco tracks. Baltimora had a few more hits, mainly in Italy, but the success of Tarzan Boy was not replicated. Of these hits, Woody Boogie did relatively well:

Taffy (born Katherine Quaye, 1963, New York, US) is best known for her hit, I Love My Radio. The song, produced by Claudio Cecchetto, was originally a top 5 hit in Italy in 1985:

The song's sentiments were about a disc jockey broadcasting in the early hours. However, as very few radio stations in the United Kingdom broadcast after midnight in the late 1980s, this reference in the record was changed. A re-recorded version called I Love My Radio (Dee Jay's Radio) was released instead. This is the version that reached #6 on the UK chart:

Edward "Eddy" Huntington (born 29 October 1965) is a pop singer from the UK who began his professional singing career in Italy. Huntington became popular in Europe and the former USSR mainly with his song U.S.S.R. which peaked at #6 in Switzerland and #23 in Germany in 1986:

Louise Tracy Freeman (born 5 January 1962 in London, England), better known as Tracy Spencer, managed to have a #1 hit in Italy with Run To Me:

Finally, we end our story with a star. Norma Sabrina Salerno (born 15 March 1968 in Genoa, Italy), is known in her singing career as Sabrina. During her career, she has sold millions of records worldwide and scored 10 international hits, including her biggest one; Boys (Summertime Love) peaked at #1 in France and Switzerland, #2 in Germany, Belgium, and Finland, #3 in the UK and Italy, #4 in the Netherlands, #5 in Sweden, and #11 in Australia.

As Italo Disco was fading away, a sped-up version of Euro Disco with Eurobeat elements became successful in the US, under the term "Hi-NRG". But that would be the subject of another story...