Piero Umiliani (17 July 1926 – 14 February 2001) was an

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 ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

film score A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

Biography

Umiliani was born in

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

. Like many of his Italian colleagues at that time, he composed the scores for many

exploitation film An exploitation film is a film that seeks commercial success by capitalizing on current trends, niche genres, or sensational content. Exploitation films often feature themes such as suggestive or explicit sex, sensational violence, drug use, nudi ...

s in the 1960s and 1970s, in genres such as

Spaghetti Western The spaghetti Western is a broad subgenre of Western films produced in Europe. It emerged in the mid-1960s in the wake of Sergio Leone's filmmaking style and international box-office success. The term was used by foreign critics because most o ...

s, Eurospy,

Giallo In Italian cinema, (; : ; from , ) is a genre that often contains Slasher film, slasher, thriller (genre), thriller, psychological horror, psychological thriller, Sexploitation film, sexploitation, and, less frequently, supernatural, supernat ...

, and softcore sex films. His composition " Mah Nà Mah Nà" (1968) was originally used in '' Sweden: Heaven and Hell'', a 1968 Mondo documentary about Sweden. It was a minor charting single (spending 6 weeks on the

Billboard chart The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, p ...

and peaking at #55, and reaching #22 in Canada), popularized by ''

The Red Skelton Show ''The Red Skelton Show'' is an American television comedy/variety show that aired from 1951 to 1971. In the decade prior to hosting the show, Richard "Red" Skelton had a successful career as a radio and motion pictures star. Although his tele ...

'', first airing in October 1969, and

The Muppets The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an surreal humor, absurdist, slapstick, burlesque, and self-referential humor, self-referential style of Musical theatre, musical Variety show, variety-sketch comedy. Cre ...

, who covered the song several times; starting on episode 0014 of ''

Sesame Street ''Sesame Street'' is an American educational television, educational children's television series that combines live-action, sketch comedy, animation, and puppetry. It is produced by Sesame Workshop (known as the Children's Television Worksh ...

'' on 27 November 1969, then ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

'' three days later, and again on the syndicated series ''

The Muppet Show ''The Muppet Show'' is a variety sketch comedy television series created by Jim Henson and starring the Muppets. It is presented as a variety show, featuring recurring sketches and musical numbers interspersed with ongoing plot-lines with ru ...

'' in 1977. The track was also a hit in the UK, reaching number 8 in the UK Singles Chart in May 1977. Umiliani's other scores included '' Son of Django'', '' Orgasmo'', '' Gangster's Law'', '' Death Knocks Twice'', '' Five Dolls for an August Moon'', ''

Baba Yaga Baba Yaga is a female character (or one of a trio of sisters of the same name) from Slavic folklore who has two contrasting roles. In some narratives, she is described as a repulsive or ferocious-looking old woman who fries and eats children, ...

'', '' The Slave'' and '' Sex Pot''. His orchestra score "Arrivano I Marines" for '' War Italian Style'', a 1966 comedy about two

USMC The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionary ...

soldiers in Italy, is used in the Armored Trooper Votoms series as "March of the Red Shoulders". His composition "Crepuscolo Sul Mare" was used in ''

Ocean's Twelve ''Ocean's Twelve'' is a 2004 heist comedy film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by George Nolfi. Serving as the second installment in the ''Ocean's'' film trilogy, it is a direct sequel to ''Ocean's Eleven'' (2001). The film feature ...

''. More recently, his composition ''Echi Della Natura'' featured on the soundtrack of

Ashim Ahluwalia Ashim Ahluwalia (born 1972 in Mumbai, India) is a film director and screenwriter. He made his directorial debut with the feature-length documentary ''John & Jane'' (2005), which had a world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival an ...

’s 2012 film ''

Miss Lovely ''Miss Lovely'' is a 2012 Indian drama film directed by Ashim Ahluwalia and set in the criminal depths of Mumbai's C-grade (horror and porn film) industry. Ahluwalia's debut feature follows the story of the Duggal brothers who produce sleazy se ...

''. Outside of his film score work, Umiliani formed the rock band

Braen's Machine Braen's Machine was an Italian rock band formed in 1971. While initially anonymous, credited only to "Braen" and "Gisteri", it was later revealed that the band was a project of composer Piero Umiliani and composer/guitarist Alessandro Alessandron ...

with Alessandro Alessandroni. Umiliani died in

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

in February 2001, at the age of 74.

Selected filmography

Library music

References

External links

* *
Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Umiliani, Piero 1926 births 2001 deaths Musicians from Florence Italian film score composers Italian male film score composers 20th-century Italian musicians 20th-century Italian male musicians