Jacques Fred Petrus

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Jacques Fred Petrus, born 1949 in Guadeloupe, French West Indies, died 1986 in Guadeloupe, French West Indies. Businessman, and a pioneer of Italian Disco music.

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[edit] Early years

He worked as a diesel-engine mechanic on a cargo ship only 15 years old before his early interest for R&B and Soul music brought him to Paris where he worked as a DJ.

In the late 60s he moved to Milan, Italy and continued his career as a DJ on several famous local clubs like "Good Mood". After a crucial meeting with music student Mauro Malavasi (1958-), that became his working partner and main song writer and producer, they formed a production company called Goody Music Productions (GMP) and a studio in Bologna in the second half of the 70s.

In 1978 they released their first studio project called Macho that was followed up by more or less minor successful productions like Revance and Peter Jacques band. But it wasn't until 1980 when their latest creation called Change was revealed Petrus and Malavasi reached their goal of world wide success.

[edit] Change - Petrus' biggest success

When Change hit the market in 1980 with their debut album "The Glow of Love" Petrus and Malavasi didn't know the magnitude of the coming success. Petrus used two other Italians besides Malavasi on this album, bassist Davide Romani (1959-) and guitarist Paolo Gianolio. Romani, that not only wrote the No 1 hits "A Lover's Holiday" and "The Glow of Love" (vocals by Luther Vandross, that Petrus had hired to perform together with Jocelyn Brown), but also arranged and conducted the entire set in conjunction with Gianolio. Besides that "A Lover's Holiday" reached the No 1 spot on Billboards Hot Dance Club Play for nine weeks the album also received 7 Grammies.

Although similarities with famous disco band Chic, that even was a source of inspiration for Romani, Change had their own more slick and more sophisticated blend of European finesse and American groove oriented disco. Chic's style was more aggressive, R&B oriented. From 1980 to 1983 when Chic disappeared Change managed to climb higher on the charts each year, a rather satisfying and amusing fact for the founders Petrus, Malavasi, Romani and Gianolio. This album became the biggest commercial success for Petrus and no other project that he launched could compete with Change.

[edit] Other projects 1981-1982

After the tremendous hype with Change Petrus and Malavasi launched several new projects like The Brooklyn, Bronx and Queens band (B. B. & Q. band) in 1981, High fashion (including the Romani penned hit "Feelin' lucky lately" that reached the No 32 spot on Billboards R&B chart) and Zinc in 1982. Besides that Petrus' musicians and writers made a successful guestplay on The Ritchie family album in 1982 with one track, the big hit "I'll do my Best (for you baby)" that was penned by Romani. Of all these new projects B. B. & Q. band reached beyond the rest. Their self-titled 1981 debut album included "On the Beat" (by Malavasi), a highly catchy and hypnotic dance floor filler with a powerful intro that reached the No 8 spot on the Billboard black singles charts.

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