I Corvi on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
I Corvi (
Retrieved 1 July 2015. he died in 2000, aged 53. Gimmi Ferrari died in 2006, and Angelo Ravasini in 2013. In 2014 the band was reformed by the original drummer Claudio Benassi. The renewed group started live promotion touring Italy. In 2017 a new album of rearranged songs was released. In 2020 a new song, the first original since 1989, "L'ultimo dei Corvi", was released. In 2021 Benassi wrote the official biography of the band.
I Corvi (Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance languag ...
for "The Crows") is an Italian beat group
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music Music genre, genre that developed around Liverpool in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from British rock and roll, British and Music of the United St ...
who were successful in the 1960s.
The group was formed in Parma
Parma (; ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, Giuseppe Verdi, music, art, prosciutto (ham), Parmesan, cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,986 inhabitants as of 2025, ...
in 1965, to perform cover version
In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...
s of popular American and British records. The original members were Angelo Ravasini (vocals, guitar), Fabrizio "Billo" Levati (guitar), Italo "Gimmi" Ferrari (bass), and Claudio Benassi (drums). In early 1966, they took part in the first Rapallo Davoli national singing competition, finishing second. They were signed by Ariston Records
Ariston Records was a record company established in Milan, Italy, by Alfredo Rossi (1925–2008). It was active from 1964 to 1989. It was part of the larger Ariston Group, which was founded in 1949 by Alfredo and his brother, the composer Ca ...
, whose director, Alfredo Rossi, encouraged them to use a stage costume of black capes, and to always appear with a stuffed raven
A raven is any of several large-bodied passerine bird species in the genus '' Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between crows and ravens; the two names are assigne ...
, either attached to the bass guitar
The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...
or, in publicity photos, on the shoulder of one of the band members; the band duly christened the raven "Alfredo".Cesare Rizzi (ed.), ''Enciclopedia del Rock italiano'', Milan, Arcana Editrice, 1993, pp.58-59
Their first record, "Un Ragazzo di Strada" ("A Street Kid"), was a rewriting of The Brogues
The Brogues were an American garage rock band formed in Merced, California, in 1964. Much of the group's brief recording career was marked by distorted-guitar melodies and R&B-influenced vocals. They released two regionally successful singles ...
' "I Ain't No Miracle Worker
"I Ain't No Miracle Worker" is a song by the American garage rock band, the Brogues, written by Annette Tucker and Nancie Mantz, and released as the group's second and final single on Challenge Records, in November 1965 (''see'' 1965 in music). ...
", written by Annette Tucker
Annette May Tucker is an American songwriter, who found success in the 1960s as co-writer of songs for The Electric Prunes (" I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)", "Get Me to the World on Time"), The Brogues (" I Ain't No Miracle Worker"), The ...
and Nancie Mantz and with new Italian lyrics by Nicola Salerno
Nicola Salerno (11 March 1910 – 22 May 1969), often known as Nisa, was an Italian lyricist. He formed a famous songwriting duo with Renato Carosone.
Life and career
Nicola Salerno was born in Naples in 1910.
His first hit was "Eulalia ...
and Franco Califano
Franco Califano (14 September 1938 – 30 March 2013) was an Italian lyricist, composer, singer-songwriter, author and actor. His songs sold about 20 million records during his career.
Early life
Born in an airplane above Tripoli, Libya, Ca ...
. The song was entered in the 1966 Cantagiro
Cantagiro was an Italian summer song contest held from 1962 to 1972 and 1990 to 1993. It featured three categories, A for famous artists, B for newcomers and C for groups. The creator of the competition was Ezio Radaelli. The name of the festival ...
musical contest, becoming a popular success and the group's biggest hit
Hit means to strike someone or something.
Hit or HIT may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities
* Hit, a fictional character from ''Dragon Ball Super''
* Homicide International Trust or HIT, a fictional organization i ...
."I Corvi", ''L'Isola Felice''. Retrieved 1 July 2015
The group followed up with a version of " Bang, Bang" (written by Sonny Bono
Salvatore Phillip "Sonny" Bono ( ; February 16, 1935 – January 5, 1998) was an American singer, songwriter, actor, and politician. In partnership with his second wife, Cher, he formed the singing duo Sonny & Cher. A member of the Republican Pa ...
and originally recorded by Cher
Cher ( ; born Cheryl Sarkisian, May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Goddess of Pop", she is known for her Androgyny, androgynous contralto voice, Music an ...
), and their first album, ''Un Ragazzo di Strada'', which included versions of two Donovan
Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. He emerged from the British folk scene in early 1965 and subsequently scored multiple international hit singles ...
songs. Later successful singles included "Sospesa ad un Filo" ("Hanging by a thread", a rewrite of The Electric Prunes
The Electric Prunes are an American psychedelic rock band, formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1965. Much of the band's music was, as music historian Richie Unterberger described it, possessed of "an eerie and sometimes anguished ambiance." T ...
' " I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)", also written by Tucker and Mantz), "Bambolina" (a version of " Any Day Now", co-written by Burt Bacharach
Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; May 12, 1928 – February 8, 2023) was an American composer, songwriter, record producer, and pianist who is widely regarded as one of the most important and influential figures of 20th-century popular music. Start ...
), and "Datemi un biglietto d'aereo" (a version of The Box Tops
The Box Tops is an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1967. They are best known for the hits " The Letter", "Cry Like a Baby", and " Soul Deep" and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period. They performed a mi ...
' hit " The Letter", written by Wayne Carson
Wayne Carson (born Wayne Carson Head; May 31, 1943 – July 20, 2015), sometimes credited as Wayne Carson Thompson, was an American country musician, songwriter, and record producer. He played percussion, piano, guitar, and bass. His most fam ...
). Levati and Ferrari left the group in 1969 and were replaced by guitarist Antonello Gabelli, keyboard player Massimo Vessella, and bassist Ennio Tricomi, but shortly afterwards, the group disbanded.
Ravasini formed a new group, Angelo ei Corvissimi, while Benassi and Tricomi formed another group, I Nuovi Corvi ("The New Crows"), with Pino Corvino (guitar) and Giancarlo Lazzini (keyboards). They continued to perform until 1972. In 1983, I Corvi re-formed with a line-up of Ravasini, Ferrari, Tricomi, and Gabelli, and in 1989 recorded the album ''Hanno preso la Bastiglia!'' ("They took the Bastille!") in a hard rock
Hard rock or heavy rock is a heavier subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and Distortion (music), distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the Garage rock, garage, Psychedelic rock, psychedelic and blues ...
style. Gianluca Antolini later replaced Ferrari on bass, but the band continued to perform, with some further changes of personnel, until the late 1990s. Around 2000, Ravasini reconstituted the band with his sons Stefano and Luigi Ravasini, and other musicians.
After leaving the band, Fabrizio "Billo" Levati became a club and radio DJ; I Corvi, ''Discogs.com''Retrieved 1 July 2015. he died in 2000, aged 53. Gimmi Ferrari died in 2006, and Angelo Ravasini in 2013. In 2014 the band was reformed by the original drummer Claudio Benassi. The renewed group started live promotion touring Italy. In 2017 a new album of rearranged songs was released. In 2020 a new song, the first original since 1989, "L'ultimo dei Corvi", was released. In 2021 Benassi wrote the official biography of the band.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Corvi Italian rock music groups 1965 establishments in Italy Musical groups established in 1965