Stadio Domenico Conte

Stadio (literally, ''Stadium'') is an Italian pop rock band formed in 1977. The members are Giovanni Pezzoli (drums), Roberto Drovandi (bass guitar), Andrea Fornili (guitar), and Gaetano Curreri (vocals and keyboard).

Formation and early recordings

The group had a long-standing arrangement as an accompanying band to Lucio Dalla, a Bologna-born singer. Stadio had its first notable public appearance in the mid-1970s, when the group appeared on Lucio Dalla's 1975 collaborative album with Roberto Roversi, '' Anidride Solforosa'' (Italian for "sulfur dioxide"). The members of Stadio on this album were Giovanni Pezzoli playing the drums, Marco Nanni playing the bass and Fabio Liberators playing the keyboard. The same musicians were featured on Dalla's 1977 album ''Com'è profondo il mare'' (How deep is the sea?).

The next Lucio Dalla single was released in February 1979 and a new Stadio member was introduced: guitarist Ricky Portera. This release, on the eve of the ''Banana Republic'' tour, saw Lucio Dalla and Francesco De Gregori (normally accompanied by Cyan) side-by-side. The line-up included the keyboard player and backing vocalist Gaetano Curreri, a future singer of the band. The official founding of the group came in the spring of 1981 during the summer tour by Lucio Dalla, when Stadio offered their first two songs, "Grande figlio di puttana" (big motherfucker) and the energetic "Chi te l'ha detto" (Who told you that?), respectively on the B and A side of their first single, which came out at the end of that year. The two songs are included in the soundtrack of Carlo Verdone's film ''Borotalco,'' along with the song "Un fiore per Hal" (A flower for Hal), also published on the band's first LP, ''Stadio'', which came out in the spring of 1982 for RCA Records, with the participation of Lucio Dalla, Ron and Jimmy Villotti as guests.

"Un fiore per Hal" is a long suite, sung by Ricky Portera with Lucio Dalla. It was repeated in the song "La mattina" (included on Q-disc ''Chiedi chi erano i Beatles'' – ''Ask who were the Beatles'' ). They often appeared on backing vocals for Stadio, under the pseudonym of Domenico Sputi.

Development in the 1980s

1983 saw the release of the band's career-defining single, "Acqua e sapone" (Soap and water), recorded for the eponymous film by Carlo Verdone. That same year, Stadio was accompanied by Ron, who also recorded the live album ''Tutti i cuori viaggianti'' (All traveling hearts) which resulted in the recruitment of rhythm guitarist Marco Bonino, and bassist Claudio Golinelli (a regular contributor to Vasco Rossi) in the place of Marco Nanni who played saxophone and percussion.

In 1984, they featured at the Festival di Sanremo with "Allo stadio" (at the stadium) as the final song. The song was included on the album ''La faccia delle donne'' (The face of women), which was released soon after the festival.

A few weeks before the festival, during the 1983 album tour, Pezzoli was badly injured in one eye while assembling his drum kit. Massimo Cappa, a young drummer, was asked to replace him. Cappa participated in the Festival and the subsequent television output of the band and toured with Lucio Dalla, who also appeared in the music video "Dentro le scarpe" (Inside the shoes). "Dentro le scarpe" became the theme song of the television program ''L'Orecchiocchio'' (The Ear-Eye).

In 1984, they contributed to the soundtrack of the Luciano Salce film ''Vediamoci chiaro'', featuring the song "Ti senti sola" (You feel lonely) and Liberatori's original music. They also performed the song "Porno in TV" written for them by Lucio Dalla.

At the end of the same year, thanks to the opportunity offered by the Q-disc support, they released the mini-album ''Chiedi chi erano i Beatles'' (Ask who were the Beatles), which includes the title song, one of Stadio's biggest hits. Meanwhile, the band had reinstated Giovanni Pezzoli to play percussion after recovering from his eye injury. The other lyrics were written by Luca Carboni. The song "Vorrei" (I would) became part of the soundtrack of the Carlo Verdone film ''I due carabinieri'' (The two ''carabinieri'' ), along with "Ba... ba... ballando" (Da... da... dancing) and "La mattina" (The morning), both appearing on the Q-disc. In the song "Vedovo Armando e signora" (Widowed Armando and Mrs), Lucio Dalla features as a backing vocalist. This mini-album was the last with the original lineup.

In December 1985, after several live television appearances with Lucio Dalla to present the album ''Bugie'' (Lies), Fabio Liberatori, tired of his life on the road, decided to leave the group to pursue a career as a music producer. He went on to work with Paola Turci, Ivan Graziani and Mario Castelnuovo, and especially with his friend, movie soundtrack composer Carlo Verdone. He was replaced in concerts by Neapolitan keyboardist Aldo Fedele. Liberatori later returned to work with the group on two albums in the 1990s: ''Di volpi, di vizi e di virtù'' (About foxes, about vices, about virtues) and ''Dammi 5 minuti'' (Give me 5 minutes).

In 1985 (and until 1990), the band added multi-instrumentalist Roberto Costa as a producer and member. Costa would arrange and perform nearly all the bass and keyboards instead of Liberatori and Nanni, who were increasingly relegated to participation in live shows. In the book dedicated to the band, ''Chiedi chi sono gli Stadio'' (Ask who are the Stadio) by Melisanda Massei Autunnali, Marco Nanni emphasizes precisely his discomfort in being virtually ousted from work by the band (in favor of Costa) despite being present in pictures and television appearances.

In February 1986, Stadio performed at the Festival di Sanremo, where their performance of "Canzoni alla radio" (Songs on the radio) ranked last in the competition, suffering from the absence of Liberatori who had left the band on the eve of the event. In the album of the same name that follows are included "Lunedì Cinema" (Monday Cinema), for some years the opening theme of the ''Lunedifilm'' movie showcase on Rai Uno; "Incubo assoluto" (Absolute nightmare) written for them by Roberto "Freak" Antoni; and generational "Giacche senza vento" (Coats without wind) with lyrics by director Ambrogio Lo Giudice. The same year Stadio took part in the American tour of Lucio Dalla, on which was recorded the live album ''DallAmeriCaruso'', which included a performance of Stadio's own song "Grande figlio di puttana". Immediately after the tour, Ricky Portera left the group.

In 1987, keyboardist Beppe D'Onghia began working to replace Fedele (who took D'Onghia's position as keyboardist for Luca Carboni), and early next year Stadio released the collection ''Canzoni allo Stadio'' (Songs at Stadio style). It notably contains the songs "Bella più che mai" (Beautiful more than ever) with Saverio Grandi, a song destined to become a classic of the band, and rhythmic "Tu vuoi qualcosa" (You want something), presented at Festivalbar, and which would also be a theme song of soccer talk show ''Il Processo del Lunedì''.

In 1988, Stadio participated in the Dalla/Morandi album and its tour. In addition to her repertoire, they played two unpublished songs that did not make it onto ''Canzoni allo Stadio''.

In 1989, Stadio released their fourth album, ''Puoi fidarti di me'' (You can trust me), driven by the success of the single of the same name written by Luca Carboni.

The 1990s

In 1989 or 1990, Stadio dissolved their relationship as the tour band for Lucio Dalla, Curreri desiring Stadio to have more freedom to focus on and promote their own work. The last official collaboration was on an album by Robert & Cara (Robert Sidoli and Carolina Balboni, chorists of Dalla) for which Curreri and D'Onghia wrote the song "I segreti dell'amore" (The secrets of love). As the band began a new life without its long-time mentor, it faced many internal problems caused by the absolute instability of the private project of its main sponsor.

In early 1990, Marco Nanni, after a last TV appearance singing "Nel profondo del cuore" (In the deep of the heart), controversially left the group and joined Skiantos. He was replaced by Massimo Sutera.

In the late summer of 1990, after the long involvement of the band at Cantagiro, Beppe D'Onghia decided to return to work with Lucio Dalla. Shortly thereafter, Sutera also decided to join the Dalla team and was replaced by Roberto Drovandi (former bass guitarist of Luca Carboni). This left Gaetano Curreri and Giovanni Pezzoli as the only original members of Stadio. A few months later they added guitarist Andrea Fornili, who had worked for Loredana Bertè