Joe Vescovi (1 January 1949 – 28 November 2014) was an Italian

progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed " progressive pop", the ...

keyboard player A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instru ...

, considered as one of the prominent musicians of the 1970s

Italian progressive rock Progressive rock (shortened as prog rock or simply prog) is a broad genre of rock music that primarily developed in the United Kingdom through the mid- to late 1960s, peaking in the early-to-mid-1970s. Initially termed "progressive pop", the ...

scene, best known for his work in bands The Trip and

Dik Dik Dik Dik is an Italian beat/ pop-rock band, named after the antelope Dik-dik, formed in the 1960s and still active. They were most popular in the late 1960s, when they released a string of hit singles with the contribution of renowned lyric-write ...

. A self-proclaimed imitator of

Keith Emerson Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 194411 March 2016) was an English keyboardist, songwriter, composer and record producer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. He be ...

, Vescovi was popular for his histrionic stage presence and eccentric clothing as much as for his virtuoso keyboard playing.

Biography

Born in

Savona Savona (; ) is a seaport and (municipality) in the west part of the northern Italian region of Liguria, and the capital of the Province of Savona. Facing the Ligurian Sea, Savona is the main center of the Riviera di Ponente (the western se ...

, Vescovi founded his first rock band, The Lonely Boys, at the age of 17. He played with this band in Germany and the Netherlands without achieving much success. After returning to Italy, he played for a while in a band called Toto e i Tati, led by

Toto Cutugno Salvatore "Toto" Cutugno (; 7 July 1943 – 22 August 2023) was an Italian Italian popular music, pop singer-songwriter, musician, and television presenter. He was best known for his worldwide hit song, "", released on his 1983 album of the sam ...

. In the late 1960s, Vescovi joined the

band The Trip from

Turin Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

, replacing

Ritchie Blackmore Richard Hugh Blackmore (born 14 April 1945) is an English lead guitarist. He was a founding member and the guitarist of Deep Purple, one of the pioneering bands of hard rock. After leaving Deep Purple in 1975, Blackmore formed the band Rainbow ...

, who had left the band to join

Deep Purple Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in London in 1968. They are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal music, heavy metal and modern hard rock, although their musical style has varied throughout their career. Originally for ...

. Blackmore later considered Vescovi to be the keyboardist for his band

Rainbow A rainbow is an optical phenomenon caused by refraction, internal reflection and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a continuous spectrum of light appearing in the sky. The rainbow takes the form of a multicoloured circular ...

, although David Stone was chosen instead. Vescovi is often called the leader of The Trip, both because of the heavy influence of his keyboard playing style on the sound of the band and his frontman role in live performances.Joe Vescovi
/ref> This became more true after Pino Sinnone left and was replaced in 1972 by Furio Chirico, the band became a trio, orienting their styles towards more

. After The Trip, Vescovi joined the Italian prog rock band Acqua Fragile and later

Dik-Dik A dik-dik is the name for any of four species of small antelope in the genus ''Madoqua'', which live in the bushlands of eastern and southern Africa. Dik-diks stand about at the shoulder, are long, weigh and can live for up to 10 years. Di ...

, one of the most popular Italian pop-rock bands ever. He also collaborated with

Umberto Tozzi Umberto Antonio Tozzi (; born 4 March 1952) is an Italian pop and rock singer and songwriter. Throughout his career, he has sold over 70 million records in different languages internationally, and his biggest international hits are: " Stella ...

and founded two minor bands of his own, , who were hired by ex-

Premiata Forneria Marconi Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) (translation: ''Award-winning Marconi Bakery'') is an Italian progressive rock band founded in 1970 which continues to the present day. They were the first Italian group to have success internationally. The group ...

Franz Di Cioccio to play the musical score for the 1982 film '' Attila flagello di Dio'', and Night Fudge.

Footnotes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vescovi, Joe Italian keyboardists Progressive rock musicians 1949 births 2014 deaths