We felt like he could have been a part of this 70’s electro kraut wave alongside people such as Kraftwerk, Can or Supermax. We at some time thought he was hailing from Munich. We even believed that he had German roots with such a name. Eurgh ! Not at all folks. The only thing which is sure is his notable contribution to the disco sound. But it’s far from being everything. Follow the guide… Words : MFSB
Wie geht’s mein Herr ? (What’s up Sir ?)
Sehr gut, danke ! Very well, thank you !
So you now live in L.A.
Exactly…
D’you happen to meet Cerrone over there ?
We’ve never met. I thought he was living in Paris. On the other hand, I’ve been lucky enough to meet the late Jacques Morali (the co-producer of Village People, Ritchie Family and Patrick Juvet to name but a few) more than 10 years ago.
You stand as one of the most emblematic producers during the disco era ? How did you get to it ?
I was touring a lot in Europe as a musician when I was between 20/21 and 28 years old, then I decided to drop my bags for a while, don’t ask me why, in Berlin where I started to compose. I then switched to Munich, which made me a bit closer to my native Italy, where my activities have taken shape, as show by my collaboration with Donna Summer…
Quite surprising at the time to see an American singer landing in Munich to record all these hits…
Donna’d been booked by a German production company to do some backing vocals locally for the Hair tour, if I remember properly the things. And when the company ceased its activities she, alongside numerous other people from America got stucked in Europe. That’s about how we met in Munich.
And how you got together with the Munich Machine with Pete Bellotte…
This happened a little bit later. And there was also Keith Forsey who was to produce Billy Idol a few years later…
It’s been said that the very first version of ‘Love To Love You Baby’ was shorter than the one which has officially been released…
Correct. We’ve started with a tradional 4 min. version. Then Casablanca Records CEO Neil Bogart has buzzed me after having seen many people asking for more while listening to it at some night. He’s asked me about my feelinbg at the perspective of doing a 15 to 18 min. version that we’ve ended up recording within a 2 month time and I gotta say that i twas like a second birth for the song.
Speaking of which the least we can say is… suggestive !
Yup, although it was just a thing for fun at the beginning. I had in mind to do an XXX thing for a while. I then had a chat with Donna about it and she came up with the chorus. We then took the opportunity to record it when the studio was free and when I came to MIDEM and introduced the song to various people, their reaction was immediate and incredible. I’ve been really surprised as I thought that nobody would love it but it became an instant hit and this is how everything got started.
This hasn’t been your only sex related concept. I mean you also had ‘Ooh l’amour’ and ‘Knights In White Satin’ which would be the title track of your debut LP as a recording artist…
I’ve had some problems with this LP. First because I’ve never been a great singer and I tried to do my best. And also because the spelling of the title track had been consciously changed by Neil without having me knowing about its meaning at the time. I didn’t know that the gay community was effectively targeted. I guess I’ve understood the allusion a bit later as I’ve been given the translation of the word (knight).
How come have you sort of disappeared after such a success ?
Disco came to an end and Donna signed a record deal with another label. On top of it, she stayed for quite a while with the unability to work and I also had problems with the label in the meantime.
It’s been said that Casablanca’d gone nearly bankrupt because of too heavy production costs within the disco scene.
In fact that happened before we came and I’d like to say that disco saved them. In fact, they’d spent too much money while overestimating the potential of a few artists ; most notoriously with Kiss, having each member of the band releasing a solo album at almost the same period. They had millions of returned records and this is how Neil ended up selling 50% of the company to Polygram. We lost contact soon after Donna’s got signed with Geffen Records. I later heard that Neil’d sold the other half of the company before duying a few months later.
It’s also been said that disco music was essentially a white gay music…
I can understand that disco has seduced the gay community, having the phenomena being overrated in places such as Studio 54 for instance, but disco to me’d been much more than that having all Europeans dancing to it. And I guess that whenever there’s been this strong association between disco and gay people, it was first and foremost in America. I couldn’t talk precisely about the representation of the gay community worldwide but it’s clear to me that when you sell around 15 million units, its impact is much wider than that.
The late Barry White was talking about the necessity of a formula as the basis of a durable success…
It’s an evidence as far as singing is concerned, but it’s another thing when you compose.
He was also a composer…
Of his own songs. What I’ve done with Donna couldn’t fit with Sigue Sigue Spoutnik for instance, as with Janet Jackson or Blondie who I’ve also worked with…
Any family link between Kraftwerk’s music and that so particular sound which was yours at the time of disco ?
Not at all. Even though I appreciate what they’ve done, as well as Klaus Schulze and Tangerine Dream a bit later. I simply had a friend in Munich who happened to be amongst those very rare to have a Moog at the time. I immediately sticked to the sound of this machine and this is how everything came to a start.
This said, you know what it is. We’ve seen at the time the arrival of sound hailing from Munich not that far away from Kraftwerk’s, produced by a man with a German sounding second name…This is pure coincidence. As the fact of being in Munich after receiving this opportunity to become a producer for a label. I’ve got there but I would very much have prefered being sent to London.
Hailing from the South Of Tyrol which used to be an Austrian territory prior being given to Italy at the end of Word War I, it’s quite normal to think that your culture has got Germanic roots.
When I was a kid I wasn’t listenig German music at all but English, apart from Beethoven and Mozart. On top of it you may find 5 songs in German and a bit more in Italian.
You’ve also got this second name which doesn’t particularly sound Latin.
It’s another sort of trick ! I mean, in Val Gardena, where I’m hailing from, we speak a dialect derived from Romandic which is also spoken in St-Morritz, Switerland. This was the language that we spoke at home. I was going to an Italian school but I’ve also learned German because that’s the language which is currently spoken in this area, thus having me coming from a minority within another one ! Many people have thought I was German and what can I do except saying I’m not ?
You have done many other things apart from disco.
That’s right. I’ve done a lot of soundtracks for the cinema. I’ve been given 3 Oscars. Soundtracks I’ve produced include Midnight Express, Scarface, American Gigolo and Flashdance which took the second seat right after Saturday Night Fever in terms of sales…
Were you given the opportunity to see the movie before composing ?
I was just given a synopsis then I were generally up to see the film when it was 80% finished.
We haven’t much more heard about you since..
I’ve taken some distance at the beginning of the 90’s. I’ve then started putting my nose into computerised artwork. I’ve produced various projects for Elton John and Olivia Newton-John, then I’ve started working on a much more consequent project for Michael Jackson but this has never seen the day.
Have you got an idea as far as how many albums you’ve sold so far ?
Nope ! The only thing I know is that I must have between 250 and 300 songs printed on various albums in America, which should be the equivalent of 50 pages on my site.
Is this finally easier working today after such an evolution in terms of technology ?
It’s much more complicated. 20 years ago, when I worked with Donna, I had my musicians, we had our sound and what we had to do was simply go to the studio for recording and we were able to do 2 to 3 songs within a single day. An album would be deadlined within 3 weeks which is about the time it takes today to record a song. I’m today mostly interested by these new recording technology like this 64 track Protools. This said, if we can deny the existence of an evolution the use of the machines is far more complex today.
Excerpts of an interview released in 2001
INTERVIEW
