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, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
for "The Crows") is an Italian beat group
Beat music, British beat, or Merseybeat is a British popular music genre that developed, particularly in and around Liverpool, in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The genre melded influences from American rock and roll, rhythm and blues, skiffl ...
who were successful in the 1960s.
The group was formed in Parma
Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...
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 relea ...
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 ...
, 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 larger-bodied bird species of the genus ''Corvus''. These species do not form a single taxonomic group within the genus. There is no consistent distinction between "crows" and "ravens", common names which are assigned ...
, either attached to the bass guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...
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, also known as Nisa (11 March 1910 – 22 May 1969) was an Italian lyricist. He formed a famous songwriting duo with Renato Carosone.
Career
Nicola Salerno was born in Naples, Italy.
His first hit was "Eulalia Torricelli" of ...
and Franco Califano
Franco Califano (14 September 1938 – 30 March 2013) was an Italian lyricist, composer, singer-songwriter, author and actor. During his career he sold about 20 million records.
Life and career
Born in an airplane above Tripoli, Libya, Califa ...
. 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 w ...
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 ...
.Cesare Rizzi (ed.), ''Enciclopedia del Rock italiano'', Milan, Arcana Editrice, 1993, pp.58-59"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, actor, and politician who came to fame in partnership with his second wife Cher as the popular singing duo Sonny & Cher. A member of the Republica ...
and originally recorded by Cher
Cher (; born Cherilyn Sarkisian; May 20, 1946) is an American singer, actress and television personality. Often referred to by the media as the "Goddess of Pop", she has been described as embodying female autonomy in a male-dominated industr ...
), 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 developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world musi ...
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." Th ...
' "I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)
"I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)" is a song written with music by Annette Tucker and lyrics by Nancie Mantz, which was recorded in late 1966 by the garage rock band The Electric Prunes. Released as the band's second single, it reached number ...
", also written by Tucker and Mantz), "Bambolina" (a version of " Any Day Now", co-written by Burt Bacharach
Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gr ...
), and "Datemi un biglietto d'aereo" (a version of The Box Tops
The Box Tops is an American rock band formed in Memphis in 1967. They are best known for the hits "The Letter", " Cry Like a Baby", "Choo Choo Train," and " Soul Deep" and are considered a major blue-eyed soul group of the period. They perfo ...
' hit "The Letter The Letter may refer to:
Literature
* "The Letter" (poem), a poem by Wilfred Owen (1893–1918)
* "The Letter", a short story in W. Somerset Maugham's 1926 collection ''The Casuarina Tree''
* "The Letter", 38th sura of the Qur'an
* ''The Letters ...
", 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 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