Marco Francesco Andrea Pirroni (born 27 April 1959) frequently credited simply as Marco, is a British guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He has worked with

Adam Ant Stuart Leslie Goddard (born 3 November 1954), known professionally as Adam Ant, is an English singer, musician, and actor. He gained popularity as the lead singer of new wave group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring 10 UK ...

Sinéad O'Connor Shuhada' Sadaqat (born Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor; , ; 8 December 1966 – 26 July 2023) was an Irish singer, songwriter, record producer and activist. Her debut studio album, ''The Lion and the Cobra'', was released in 1987 and achieve ...

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees ( ) were a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. Post-punk pioneers, they were widely influential, both over their contemporaries and later ...

and many others from the late 1970s to the present day.

Early years

Born to Italian parents in

Camden Town Camden Town () is an area in the London Borough of Camden, around north-northwest of Charing Cross. Historically in Middlesex, it is identified in the London Plan as one of 34 major centres in Greater London. Laid out as a residential distri ...

, London, Pirroni made his first appearance on stage with

in their début gig, at

100 Club Punk Festival The 100 Club Punk Special (sometimes referred to as the 100 Club Punk Festival) was a two-day event held at the 100 Club venue in Oxford Street, London, England, on 20 and 21 September 1976. The gig showcased eight punk rock bands, most of which ...

in 1976.

Sid Vicious Simon John Ritchie (10 May 1957 – 2 February 1979), better known by his stage name Sid Vicious, was an English musician, best known as the second bassist for the punk rock band Sex Pistols. After his death in 1979 at the age of 21, he remai ...

, future bassist for the

Sex Pistols The Sex Pistols are an English punk rock band formed in London in 1975. Although their initial career lasted just two and a half years, they became culturally influential in popular music. The band initiated the punk movement in the United Ki ...

, was on drums. Pirroni also formed a short-lived

punk rock Punk rock (also known as simply punk) is a rock music genre that emerged in the mid-1970s. Rooted in 1950s rock and roll and 1960s garage rock, punk bands rejected the corporate nature of mainstream 1970s rock music. They typically produced sh ...

band called the Models with future fellow Ants member Terry Lee Miall and future

Wolfgang Press The Wolfgang Press are an English post-punk musical ensemble, band, originally active from 1983 to 1995. The core of the band during that era was Michael Allen (vocals, bass), Mark Cox (keyboards), and Andrew Gray (guitar). They reformed in 20 ...

member Mick Allen, plus singer Cliff Fox. They recorded a Peel Session and released the single (the first of Marco's career) "Freeze"/"Man of the Year" on the

Step Forward Step Forward was a Swedish hardcore punk band founded in 1989 in Umeå, Sweden by Dennis Lyxzén and his friends, Toft Stade, Jens Nordén and Henrik Jansson. Step Forward was one of the first hardcore punk bands in Sweden that held on to the ...

label in 1977. After his departure from The Models, Pirroni started a new project,

Rema-Rema Rema-Rema were a short-lived English music group, consisting of Gary Asquith (guitar/vocals), Marco Pirroni (guitar), Michael Allen (bass/vocals), Mark Cox (keyboards) and Dorothy Prior (drums, generally known only as "Max"). History Asquith ...

, a short-lived London

group, consisting of Gary Asquith (guitar/vocals), Marco Pirroni, Michael Allen (bass/vocals), Mark Cox (keyboards) and Dorothy Prior (drums, generally known only as "Max"). The band released a four-track EP, ''Wheel in the Roses'' (released 1980 on

4AD 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name Axis Records by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD after the release of th ...

), featured one side of studio recordings and another of live material. However, the group dissolved when Marco Pirroni joined

Adam and the Ants Adam and the Ants were an English Rock music, rock band that formed in London in 1977. The band existed in two versions, both fronted by Adam Ant, between 1977 and 1982. The first phase began when the band were founded in May 1977 and were call ...

Adam and the Ants/Adam Ant

Pirroni was lead guitarist and co-songwriter in the second incarnation of Adam and the Ants, co-penning two UK number one

singles Singles are people not in a committed relationship. Singles may also refer to: Film and television * ''Singles'' (miniseries), a 1984 Australian television series * ''Singles'' (1992 film), written and directed by Cameron Crowe * ''Singles'' ...

and a further four Top Ten hits, with Ant. The two albums he co-wrote for Adam and the Ants, ''

Kings of the Wild Frontier ''Kings of the Wild Frontier'' is the second album by English new wave band Adam and the Ants. It was released on 17 September 1980 by CBS Records in the UK and Epic Records internationally. The album was the UK number 1 selling album in 19 ...

'' and ''

Prince Charming Prince Charming is a fairy tale stock character archetype who comes to the rescue of a damsel in distress and must engage in a quest to liberate her from an evil spell. This classification suits most heroes of a number of traditional folk tales ...

'', both made the Top 10 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

("Kings" number 1; "Prince Charming" number 2). When Adam and the Ants disbanded in 1982, Pirroni was retained as Adam Ant's co-writer and studio guitarist; they produced another number-one single ("

Goody Two Shoes ''The History of Little Goody Two-Shoes'' is a children's story published by John Newbery in London in 1765. The author of the book remains unclear, but Oliver Goldsmith is generally considered the most likely. The story popularized the phr ...

") and an album ('' Friend or Foe''), followed by four more Top 20 hits. Ant and Pirroni won two shared

Ivor Novello Award The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Welsh entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and Musical composition, composing. They have been presented annually in London by the The Ivors Academy, Ivors Academy, formerly called the Britis ...

s for " Stand and Deliver".

The Wolfmen

Pirroni was a member of the Wolfmen with

Chris Constantinou Chris Constantinou is an English musician, best known as the bass guitarist and backing vocalist for Adam Ant. Childhood and early bands Constantinou was born at Charing Cross Hospital in Charing Cross Road, London and at the age of three, ...

. They released one EP, several singles, wrote music for television advertisements and released a début album, entitled '' Modernity Killed Every Night''. The Wolfmen released their second album, '' Married to the Eiffel Tower'', in 2011.

Personal life

After living in London's

Marylebone Marylebone (usually , also ) is an area in London, England, and is located in the City of Westminster. It is in Central London and part of the West End. Oxford Street forms its southern boundary. An ancient parish and latterly a metropo ...

for several years, Pirroni relocated to north

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

in 2013.

Discography

With

* ''Wheel in the Roses'' (1980) With

* ''

'' (1980) * ''

'' (1981) With

Cowboys International Cowboys International (also stylised as Cowboys International®) were a new wave and synthpop band formed by vocalist and songwriter Ken Lockie that put out one album in 1979, '' The Original Sin'', and a few singles before dissolving in 1980 ...

* ''

Today Today ''Today Today'' was a drivetime radio show on Australia-wide radio station Triple J, broadcast between 3:00pm and 5:30pm weekdays during 2004 and 2005. The title is a parody of the Australian current affairs program ''Today Tonight'' on Channe ...

'' (1980) With

* '' Friend or Foe'' (1982) * ''

Strip Strip, Strips or Stripping may refer to: Places * Aouzou Strip, a strip of land following the northern border of Chad that had been claimed and occupied by Libya * Caprivi Strip, narrow strip of land extending from the Okavango Region of Nami ...

'' (1983) * ''

Vive Le Rock ''Vive Le Rock'' is the third solo album by Adam Ant, released in September 1985, which contained two versions of Ant's 1984 song "Apollo 9". Production Producer Tony Visconti, famous for his 1970s work with Ant's heroes Marc Bolan and Dav ...

'' (1985) * ''

Manners & Physique ''Manners & Physique'' is the fourth solo album by Adam Ant. It was released in 1990 by MCA Records. The single " Room at the Top" peaked at number 13 in the UK and number 17 in the United States. "Rough Stuff" (US) and "Can't Set Rules About Lo ...

'' (1990) * ''

Persuasion Persuasion or persuasion arts is an umbrella term for influence. Persuasion can influence a person's beliefs, attitudes, intentions, motivations, or behaviours. Persuasion is studied in many disciplines. Rhetoric studies modes of persuasi ...

'' (unreleased) * '' Wonderful'' (1995) * '' Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter'' (2013) - four tracks With

* ''

The Lion and the Cobra ''The Lion and the Cobra'' is the debut studio album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor, released on 5 October 1987 by Ensign Records, Ensign and Chrysalis Records. O'Connor recorded the album while in the later stages of pregnancy with her first ...

'' (1987) * ''

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got ''I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got'' is the second studio album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor, released in March 1990 by Ensign/Chrysalis Records. It contains O'Connor's version of the Prince song " Nothing Compares 2 U", which was released a ...

'' (1990) * ''

Universal Mother ''Universal Mother'' is the fourth studio album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor, released on 12 September 1994. "That album was the first attempt to try to expose what was really underneath a lot of the anger of the other records," she explai ...

'' (1994) * '' How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?'' (2012) With

Spear of Destiny A spear is a polearm consisting of a shaft, usually of wood, with a pointed head. The head may be simply the sharpened end of the shaft itself, as is the case with fire hardened spears, or it may be made of a more durable material fastened to t ...

* '' Outland'' (1987) With

The Slits The Slits were a punk/post-punk band based in London, formed there in 1976 by members of the groups the Flowers of Romance and the Castrators. The group's early line-up consisted of Ari Up (Ariane Forster) and Palmolive (a.k.a. Paloma Rom ...

* ''Revenge of the Killer Slits'' (2006) With The Wolfmen * '' Modernity Killed Every Night'' (2008) * '' Married to the Eiffel Tower'' (2011) With Department S *"Wonderful Day" *"Is Vic There (Slight return)"

References

External links

Official MySpace for The Wolfmen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirroni, Marco 1959 births English people of Italian descent Living people English new wave musicians English punk rock guitarists Ivor Novello Award winners Siouxsie and the Banshees members Adam and the Ants members English rock singers People from Camden Town Musicians from the London Borough of Camden English male singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters English record producers British lead guitarists Spear of Destiny (band) members English male guitarists