Lets start with the boring stuff: My real name is Gianfranco Randone and I was born in a small town in Sicily on the 5th of January 1970 from pure Sicilian Parents. So this makes me pretty much a Sicilian I guess. Lucky to say that I was born in a family of musicians, as a matter of fact My Daddy was a guitar and keyboard player. Thanks to this I first walked a stage at the age of one and a half during one of my fathers concerts. I cant remember the exact feeling I got but if Im in the music business today than something surely hit me when I was on that stage. At the age of 2 my parents decide to move, boy did they take that seriously, they headed for the United states of America, I was just a little too young to pop up and say oh well, I think Ill pass on this one. So there I was, a small Sicilian kid in New York City.
Some of the signs I had of wanting to be a musician came to me when I was really young. I cant forget how much fun I used to have jumping on the couch faking to play the guitar to a Rod Stewart song Do you think Im Sexy. To think of it today, I dont even think there is a guitar part in that song. Well, I was seven at that time and I still remember my poor doggy Rocky that had to listen to me brag in my attempt to sing. Here comes some of the juice:
One important thing I remember is my first encounter with a computer: Love at first sight. I have to thank my history classes for this since that I was very unhappy to be there I would have done anything to get out of there. So, this man walks into the classroom and says theres a new class for those that want to learn about what the future generations will work with. As you can imagine I was the first to go.
At the age of 13 I moved back to Italy with my parents, As I said, When they decide to move is has to always be the other side of the globe.
After different failed attempts to attend guitar classes and making my father go nuts over the years to get me into music seriously, I finally got it straight. At the age of 15 I had seen people make songs with computers. So there was the missing link to music, computers. I didnt know much at the time so I started to read everything I could find about the subject. How I got into singing is really curios. I was singing a George Michael song Careless Whispers wit my headphones on and a Girlfriend of mine was sitting there stunned like never before. So I asked why and she said I had a good voice. It took her 2 months to convince me to put my voice on a tape and when my dad heard it he almost killed for not letting him know before that I had a so called VOICE. Honestly, I didnt know either :0)
So my dad and I made a deal, he would by me a Keyboard when he would see me play well. I took classes for 3 months and when I played for him and the keyboard was home none of us knew where all of this was leading.
In the mean time I lived normally just like everyone else. I remember the name of my fist Italian girlfriend Patrizia And how funny it was when I broke my nose while riding with her on my motorbike at the age of 16.
I was a teenager during the 80s and I still love listening to some of the bands that have been my inspiration as a kid. Bands like Depeche mode, U2, Duran Duran, Rick Astley, George Michael and many more. Pretty strange that a pop music lover started listening to Rock and Rap thanks to his American background. Well this can only mean that I was in love with music no matter where it came from and who played it. My first band came along in my late 17, the name was ICU. We already had a computer driving 2 keyboards and a drum machine, boy was it hard to program!! There was no doubt , music and technology for me were always to go hand in hand. I had travelled in those years looking for someone that would believe in the music I was making and hopefully would open a door to professional music working for me. In the year 1992 I decided to take a vacation to visit a girl I had met that summer and it sure was my lucky year (cause I had decided to not take a tape with my music). In a music instrument store The Clerk, curios of the questions I was asking him, asked me what music style I played. There it was, my lucky star. I met Massimo Gabutti, General manager of Bliss Corporation. Starting of as The Singer of Bliss Team, known for hits like People have the power and You make me cry, Ive been in the business every since. Then the final stage, the year 1999 and a song called Blue hits the charts. There we with a band riding on a hit so big to move us around for 18 months non stop.
From there on, its history.
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