Francesco Sondelli (born 8 December 1973) is an Italian rock musician. He is the founder, guitarist and vocalist for
alternative rock
Alternative rock (also known as alternative music, alt-rock or simply alternative) is a category of rock music that evolved from the independent music underground of the 1970s. Alternative rock acts achieved mainstream success in the 1990s w ...
band The Petalstones. The band comprised
Malin Åkerman
Malin Maria Åkerman (born 12 May 1978) is a Swedish actress. In the early 2000s, she had several small television and film parts in both Canadian and American productions, including '' The Utopian Society'' (2003) and ''Harold & Kumar Go to Wh ...
, Swedish–Canadian actress, model and singer, on lead vocals, Mario Pagliarulo on bass and Roberto Zincone on drums
He is the founder and chief designer of music instrument company F-Pedals™.
He is also the founder of international music cultural project RocKramer, which is world tour of the multi-sensorial lecture and concert show featuring recording producer and engineer
Eddie Kramer
Edwin H. Kramer (born 19 April 1942) is a British recording producer and engineer. He has collaborated with several artists now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Led Zepp ...
, who has worked with several artists in the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), sometimes simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music an ...
, including
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...
,
David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
The Kinks
The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhyt ...
,
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band formed in London in 1968. The group comprised vocalist Robert Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham. With a heavy, guitar-driven sound, they are c ...
,
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...
and
Carlos Santana
Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound feature ...
.
In 2013, Sondelli composed and directed the official anthem for
S.S.C. Napoli
Società Sportiva Calcio Napoli, commonly referred to as Napoli (), is an Italian professional football club based in the city of Naples ( it, Napoli, nap, Napule), Campania that plays in Serie A, the top flight of Italian football. Napoli ha ...
, a professional Italian football club based in Naples and founded in 1926.
Early life
Sondelli was born in
Naples
Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...
. He is a self-taught musician; he started playing piano and guitar at the age of ten. At age fifteen, he had written and composed a wide repertory of songs and performed concerts.
Music career
In 1997 Sondelli started his first band Chao-Shi in Naples with bassist Mario Pagliarulo, who later became the bassist of
Serj Tankian
Serj Tankian (born August 21, 1967) is an Armenian-American singer, musician, songwriter, political activist and entrepreneur. He is best known as the lead vocalist, primary lyricist, keyboardist, and occasional rhythm guitarist of heavy metal ...
's touring band the
Flying Cunts of Chaos
Flying Cunts of Chaos (F.C.C) is a rock band on Serj Tankian's label that was also his backing band on his tours from 2007 to 2009.
History
Serj Tankian was asked how the name "Flying Cunts of Chaos" was chosen and he stated; "Well, I was ori ...
, drummer Roberto Zincone, and guitarist Elio De Stefanis. The band earned a listing in the Enciclopedia del Poprock Napoletano and won the
MTV
MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...
Axe for Music Awards in 1998.
Sondelli, together with his bandmates Pagliarulo and Zincone, moved to Los Angeles in 2001 and renamed the band as Ozono. In 2003, Sondelli invited Malin Åkerman to become the co-lead singer of the band after they worked together on some new songs. With the addition of the new member, the band changed its name to The Petalstones. The band released its debut album, Stung, in August 2005. The band was dismissed in 2007.
After dismissal of the band, Sondelli started his solo music career and released his first solo CD "Disordinary" in 2007. The album was aided by Eddie Kramer, who sought Sondelli out after seeing him performing in Los Angeles in 2006. Sondelli was the finalist for the world's largest festival for unsigned bands
Emergenza
Emergenza is "the world's largest festival for unsigned bands, with concerts in more than 150 cities around the world." It features "up and coming bands from across the globe."Craig Robinson, "Colchester: Rock Band Stalker Hoping to Land ...
in Los Angeles 2007.
Besides being a performing artist, Sondelli has also written and produced songs for well-known international artists including Italian artist Belen Thomas, Sal Da Vinci, multi-
Grammy
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...
's Mexican band Camila, Reyili, Ex MDO, Daniel Rene, Guatemalan singer
Shery
Shery (born August 18, 1985) is a Guatemalan Latin pop singer and songwriter. She has recorded songs in Spanish and Italian, and shared stage with such international superstars as Chayanne, Cristian Castro, Manuel Mijares, Miguel Bosé, Enrique I ...
, Mexican TV star and artist
Eiza González
Eiza González Reyna (born 30 January 1990) is a Mexican actress and singer. She gained popularity for her debut role as Lola Valente in the Mexican musical telenovela '' Lola, érase una vez'' (2007–2008) and later starred in the lead role o ...
, G6 La Academia, Kristy Frank, and many more. He has worked with Grammy winning producers and engineers including
Jay Baumgardner
Jay Baumgardner is an American record producer, engineer and mixer. He has worked on albums by The Regulators, Seether, Superheist, Ugly Kid Joe, Bush, Helmet, Sevendust, Papa Roach, Endwell, Coal Chamber, Drowning Pool, Godsmack, Three Days ...
.
Sondelli was the music composer for song Déjame Ser in Puerto Rican artist
Ednita Nazario
Edna María Nazario Figueroa (born April 11, 1955) is a Puerto Rican musician, singer, and composer who has achieved stardom both at home and abroad. She has been in the music business from a young age and has released twenty-three (23) studi ...
's album ''
Soy
The soybean, soy bean, or soya bean (''Glycine max'') is a species of legume native to East Asia, widely grown for its edible bean, which has numerous uses.
Traditional unfermented food uses of soybeans include soy milk, from which tofu and ...
'', which was ranked No. 1 US ''
Billboard
A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...
'' Top Latin Albums, Billboard Latin Pop Albums, and Puerto Rico Top Albums, and was nominated for Latin Pop Album of the Year in 2010.
In 2013, Sondelli was appointed by Aurelio De Laurentiis as the composer and music director of the official anthem of S.S.C.Napoli. He used the chorus of famous traditional Neapolitan song 'O surdato 'nnammurato and added new composition and arrangements to the song to make the new official anthem for the soccer club.
Additional projects and contributions
Project ReEvolution
In Summer 2009, Sondelli started Project ReEvolution with Maurizio Capone, leader of BungtBangt from Naples, Italy, a band known as the "Eco Band" as they use music instruments exclusively made with recycled waste materials. The project started with the collaborative composition of song Project ReEvolution by Sondelli and Capone, who worked together on the song through online video sessions without meeting each other in person for two months. The two artists finally came together in July 2009 to record the final version of the song and shoot the video in Naples. All the profits made by the sales of the song was donated to
Mani Tese
Mani may refer to:
Geography
* Maní, Casanare, a town and municipality in Casanare Department, Colombia
* Mani, Chad, a town and sub-prefecture in Chad
* Mani, Evros, a village in northeastern Greece
* Mani, Karnataka, a village in Dakshina K ...
, a nonprofit organisation that supports sustainable development projects in different parts of the world, to finance two projects sponsored by Mani Tese: Project 2194 i Guatemala whose objective is to promote the education of street children, an Project Sani Stella which provides academic support to and sponsors creative workshops for children in the high risk neighbourhoods of La Sanità and Stella.
Eddie Kramer
Edwin H. Kramer (born 19 April 1942) is a British recording producer and engineer. He has collaborated with several artists now in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, including Jimi Hendrix, the Beatles, David Bowie, the Rolling Stones, Led Zepp ...
who become an F-Pedals partner, and In 2012 Sondelli founded F-Pedals, a company that designs and manufactures professional guitar pedals. After then he developed the first 2 models of The Legend Series, the Eddie Kramer signature Edstortion and Phazevibe, officially introduced to the market in 2013 after 2 years of relentless development. F-Pedals is the first company that introduced wireless power system for guitar effect pedals. in 2014 F-Pedals also introduced the patented revolutionary F-Power™, a wireless power system based on
Osanna
Osanna are an Italian progressive rock band.
Origin
The group originated in the Vomero neighborhood of Naples with the union of Lino Vairetti (voice), Danilo Rustici (guitar), Massimo Guarino (drums), Lello Brandi (bass), from the first line- ...
,
James Senese
Gaetano "James" Senese (born 6 January 1945) is an Italian saxophonist, composer, and singer-songwriter.
Life and career
Senese was born in Naples, the son of Anna Senese and James Smith, an American soldier from North Carolina in Italy becaus ...
Daniele Sepe
Daniele Sepe (born 17 April 1960 in Naples) is an Italian musician, known internationally for interpreting protest songs from around the world.
His first instrument was the flute, which he played at the San Pietro a Majella conservatoire. After ...
, Gianni Guarracino, Brunella Selo, Radikal Kitsch, Moby Dick, Hendrix Boulevard, Francesco Forni and Sud Express.