Claudio Simonetti | |
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Background information | |
Born | São Paulo, Brazil | 19 February 1952
Genres | Film score, progressive rock, heavy metal, Italo disco |
Occupation(s) | Musician, composer |
Instrument(s) | Keyboards, synthesizers |
Years active | 1972–present |
Labels | Bella Casa |
Claudio Simonetti (born 19 February 1952) is an Italian musician and film composer. The keyboardist of the progressive rock band Goblin, Simonetti has specialized in the scores for Italian and American horror films since the 1970s.
A long-time collaborator of director Dario Argento, Simonetti has worked on several of the director/producer's films including Deep Red, Suspiria, Dawn of the Dead, Tenebrae, Phenomena, Demoni, and Opera. His work has long been an iconic staple of Italian genre cinema, collaborating with directors like Ruggero Deodato, Umberto Lenzi, Lucio Fulci, Enzo G. Castellari, Lamberto Bava, and Sergio Martino. He studied at the Conservatorio di Santa Cecilia in Rome.
The son of composer and entertainer Enrico, [1] he was the keyboard player for the Italian progressive rock band Goblin, which initially formed under the name Cherry Five. He has been influenced by Keith Emerson, Brian Auger, Rick Wakeman and Tony Banks. [2]
Simonetti's film work includes the scores to many popular and cult films such as Conquest (1983), The New Barbarians (1983), Cut and Run (1985), Midnight Killer (1986), Hands of Steel (1986), Body Count (1987), and The Versace Murder (1998).
Beginning in 1978, Simonetti founded a number of electronic disco projects. In 1979, with Giancarlo Meo, he formed perhaps his best-known project behind singer Vivien Vee (Viviana Andreattini), whose song "Give Me a Break" became a minor hit in the American dance charts. Later Vivien Vee tracks, particularly "Blue Disease" from 1983, showcased some of the darker and edgier sounds familiar from the Goblin years. Another project he was involved in was Easy Going, with "Baby I Love You" from 1978, and "Fear" from 1979. [3] In 1983, he was the central member of the Italo disco group Crazy Gang.
In 1999, Simonetti formed the heavy metal band Daemonia, which has recorded updated versions of Goblin favorites in addition to original material. Daemonia has also contributed tracks to U.S. DVD releases of Italian horror movies. He composed the title track "Mater Lacrimarum" for The Mother of Tears soundtrack in 2007, which features background vocals by Dani Filth. [4]
In 2008 Claudio Simonetti visited Kiyv with the aim of finding a unique voice that would harmonise with his music. The composer created a tandem with Ukrainian countertenor Alex Luna. [5] [6]
In 2009, Simonetti collaborated with the Los Angeles heavy metal band Rusty Eye. He played keyboard on "Mondo Cane" and "Wings of the Demon" from the album Possessor. On 16 October 2010, Simonetti with his group Daemonia took part in the event Soundtracks – A tribute to Pino Rucher. The event was sponsored by the Municipal Authorities of San Nicandro Garganico and Manfredonia. [7] [8]
Also in 2010, Simonetti reunited with his former Goblin bandmates Massimo Moranti and Maurizio Guarani along with his group Daemonia's rhythm section to form New Goblin. They played several concerts around the world. This lasted until the fall of 2013 when he left New Goblin along with Daemonia's rhythm section to reform Daemonia under the new banner Simonetti's Goblin.
In 2013, he played keyboard on the "Aggregat 4" track from the Simulakrum Lab album, a vintage synthesizers music project created by Paolo Prevosto. 2015 released with the Murder Collections, new arranged version of his film themes, include Profondo Rosso , Suspiria , Tenebrae , and Dawn of the Dead . [9]
| Works with Dario Argento
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Dario Argento is an Italian film director, screenwriter and producer. His influential work in the horror genre during the 1970s and 1980s, particularly in the subgenre known as giallo, has led him to being referred to as the "Master of the Thrill" and the "Master of Horror".
Suspiria is a 1977 Italian supernatural horror film directed by Dario Argento, who co-wrote the screenplay with Daria Nicolodi, partially based on Thomas De Quincey's 1845 essay Suspiria de Profundis. The film stars Jessica Harper as an American ballet student who transfers to a prestigious dance academy but realizes, after a series of murders, that the academy is a front for a coven of witches. It also features Stefania Casini, Flavio Bucci, Miguel Bosé, Alida Valli, Udo Kier, and Joan Bennett, in her final film role.
Daniel Lloyd Davey, known professionally as Dani Filth, is a British singer who is the lead vocalist, lyricist and founding member of the extreme metal band Cradle of Filth.
Goblin is an Italian progressive rock band known for their film scores. They frequently collaborate with Dario Argento, most notably creating the scores for Profondo Rosso in 1975 and Suspiria in 1977. Because their collaborator Dario Argento specializes in creating horror, suspense and slasher/giallo genre movies, scores made by Goblin in these movies often had eerie and ominous tones. CD re-releases of their scores have performed well, especially in Germany and Japan. Goblin returned with a series of live concerts in Europe in 2009 and in North America in 2013.
Daria Nicolodi was an Italian television and film actress and screenwriter, and associated mostly with the films of director Dario Argento.
Phenomena is a 1985 Italian giallo-horror film directed and co-written by Dario Argento, and starring Jennifer Connelly, Daria Nicolodi, Dalila Di Lazzaro, Patrick Bauchau and Donald Pleasence. The plot concerns an American girl at a remote Swiss boarding school who discovers she has psychic powers that allow her to communicate with insects, and uses them to pursue a serial killer who is butchering young women at and around the school.
Inferno is a 1980 Italian supernatural horror film written and directed by Dario Argento, and starring Irene Miracle, Leigh McCloskey, Eleonora Giorgi, Daria Nicolodi and Alida Valli. The plot follows a young man's investigation into the disappearance of his sister, who had been living in a New York City apartment building that also served as a home for a powerful, centuries-old witch. The cinematography was by Romano Albani, and Keith Emerson composed the film's musical score.
Tenebrae is a 1982 Italian giallo film written and directed by Dario Argento. The film stars Anthony Franciosa as American author Peter Neal, who – while in Rome promoting his latest murder-mystery novel – becomes embroiled in the search for a serial killer who may have been inspired to kill by his novel. John Saxon and Daria Nicolodi co-star as Neal's agent and assistant respectively, while Giuliano Gemma and Carola Stagnaro appear as detectives investigating the murders. John Steiner, Veronica Lario, and Mirella D'Angelo also feature in minor roles. The film has been described as exploring themes of dualism and sexual aberration, and has strong metafictional elements; some commentators consider Tenebrae to be a direct reaction by Argento to criticism of his previous work, most especially his depictions of murders of women.
Deep Red, also known as The Hatchet Murders, is a 1975 Italian giallo film directed by Dario Argento and co-written by Argento and Bernardino Zapponi. It stars David Hemmings as a musician who investigates a series of murders performed by a mysterious figure wearing black leather gloves. The cast also stars Daria Nicolodi, Gabriele Lavia, Macha Méril, and Clara Calamai. The film's score was composed and performed by Goblin, the first in a long-running collaboration with Argento.
Tenebre is the soundtrack to Dario Argento's film of the same title, first released as an album in 1982, and reissued most recently in 2006 with multiple bonus tracks. The score was composed and performed by Claudio Simonetti, Fabio Pignatelli, and Massimo Morante, three former members of the defunct rock group Goblin who briefly reunited at the request of Argento. Although the movie itself credits the score to "Simonetti-Pignatelli-Morante", the soundtrack album is credited to "Simonetti-Morante-Pignatelli".
The soundtrack to the film Suspiria was composed and performed by the Italian band Goblin. A single version of the title track, "Suspiria", was released with the B-side "Blind Concert".
Mother of Tears is a 2007 supernatural horror film written and directed by Dario Argento, and starring Asia Argento, Daria Nicolodi, Moran Atias, Udo Kier and Coralina Cataldi-Tassoni. The film has also been billed in English-speaking media as Mater Lachrymarum, The Third Mother and Mother of Tears: The Third Mother.
Fabio Pignatelli is an Italian musician. He is the bass guitar player for the Italian progressive rock band Goblin. Goblin provided soundtracks for several horror films, most famously Dario Argento's Suspiria (1977) and George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978). The band was largely defunct by 1979, but Pignatelli kept the group together, as well as holding onto the name, and the group continued well into the 1990s, with its main lineup restored briefly in 2000. Because of Pignatelli's operation of a band with the name, they were credited as Simonetti-Pignatelli-Morante for the film, Tenebrae, because the other band members, most of whom had also worked with Simonetti and/or Morante, were not involved.
Massimo Morante was an Italian musician who was the guitar player for the Italian progressive rock band Goblin. Goblin provided soundtracks for several horror films, including Dario Argento's Deep Red (1975) and Suspiria (1977), and George A. Romero's Dawn of the Dead (1978). Morante died in June 2022, at the age of 69.
Inferno is the soundtrack to Dario Argento's film of the same title, first released as a 15-track LP in 1980 on Atlantic Records, in 1981 by Cinevox, then as a CD in 2000, with a bonus track of outtakes reportedly utilized in the film itself, but not included on the original vinyl release. The score was composed and performed by keyboardist Keith Emerson, former member of the progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer.
Profondo Rosso is a film soundtrack album for the film of the same name mainly composed and performed by the Italian progressive rock band Goblin, the band's first collaboration with director Dario Argento.
Bixio Music Group, a New York corporation, is the American branch of Gruppo Editoriale Bixio it:Gruppo Editoriale Bixio, or Bixio Publishing Group, the first Italian music publishing company. The Bixio Publishing Group, currently based in Rome, Italy, was established in Naples during the 1920s by composer Cesare Andrea Bixio. Bixio Music Group, an ASCAP member since 1992, was established to facilitate licensing of the Bixio Publishing Group catalogue that includes not only musical compositions but also sound recordings by related labels under the Group in the territories of North and South America.
Maurizio Guarini is a self-taught keyboardist, multi-instrumentalist and composer, best known as a member of the progressive rock band Goblin.
Pino Rucher was an Italian guitarist active in orchestral settings and in film soundtracks.
Simulakrum Lab is an Italian synthwave/retrowave music project created by composer and sound designer Paolo Prevosto.