| Raf | |
|---|---|
Raf |
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Raffaele Riefoli |
| Also known as | Raf Raff |
| Born | September 29, 1959 |
| Origin | Italy |
| Genres | Adult Contemporary, Soft rock, New Wave |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Labels | Carrere, CGD |
| Website | Raf Official Site |
Raffaele Riefoli (born September 29, 1959, Margherita di Savoia, Italy) is an Italian popular singer who is better known as simply Raf.
Contents |
Riefoli lived the few first years of the 1980s in London, England, before starting out his musical career in 1984, landing mostly in the New Wave scene with his English language album Raf. His first single, "Self Control", which he co-wrote with Giancarlo Bigazzi and Steve Piccolo, was a huge hit not only in his native Italy but also in Austria (No.7), Switzerland (No.1)[1] and Germany, where the single climbed as high as No. 2 in the Media Control single chart and spent total of seven weeks within the top-10.[2] Raf's version of the song also managed to enter the Top-40 in France.[1]
"Self Control" was recorded and released contemporaneously by American pop star Laura Branigan, previously best known for the hit singles "Gloria" and "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You". Branigan's version was released as the first single off her 1984 album, also titled Self Control, and became a worldwide dance and pop success, hitting No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. Branigan's version hit the No. 1 spot in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, South Africa and Canada, and was a major hit in Ireland, Australia, France, the Netherlands, and the UK. Raf's version, which was charting high in numerous markets in 1984/85, was highly expected to become the most popular song in the history of Italian music business.[3]
Other English-language singles from Raf, "Change Your Mind", "London Town" and "Hard", were not as successful, and after an unsuccessful 1987 re-release of his first album with two of these songs as bonus tracks, Riefoli began to transition from the New Wave/dance pop genre into a softer pop style featuring vocals in his native language. Raf has released 11 studio albums throughout the years, including the 1993 Cannibali which has been certified six times platinum in Italy. That album contains many successful tracks including "Il battito animale", "Due" and "Stai con me".
Riefoli has also written songs for other Italian artists; the track "Si può dare di più", written for the trio Morandi-Ruggeri-Tozzi, won the first prize at the San Remo Festival. Riefoli co-wrote the song "Gente di mare" with Umberto Tozzi and Giancarlo Bigazzi, and his duet with Tozzi became Italy's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987, placing third. The recording was a top ten hit in Switzerland, Austria and Sweden.
In the Germanic territories, where the German Red Army Faction, a terrorist cell, was popularly known by the acronym RAF, Riefoli was marketed as Raff, with a second "f".[4] In the intervening years, a number of other artists including German and Italian artists unaffiliated with Riefoli have made recordings under the names Raf, RAF or R.A.F.
Raf continues to have a successful recording career in Italy, with his latest studio album, Metamorfosi, reaching No. 4 in the album charts in 2008.[5]
Raf's latest studio material, Numeri was released on May 10, 2011 which peaked at No.6 on the Italian album charts.[5]
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITA [6] |
SWI [7] |
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| Raf | — | — | |||||||||||
| Self Control[a] |
|
— | — | ||||||||||
| Svegliarsi un anno fa |
|
— | — | ||||||||||
| Cosa resterà... |
|
7 | — | ||||||||||
| Sogni ...é tutto quello che c'é |
|
6 | — | ||||||||||
| Cannibali |
|
3 | — | ||||||||||
| Manifesto |
|
5 | — | ||||||||||
| La prova |
|
— | — | ||||||||||
| Iperbole |
|
3 | 75 | ||||||||||
| Ouch | 7 | 90 | |||||||||||
| Passeggeri distratti |
|
3 | — | ||||||||||
| Metamorfosi |
|
4 | — | ||||||||||
| Numeri |
|
6 | — | ||||||||||
| "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released. | |||||||||||||
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITA [8] |
|||||||||||||
| Collezione temporanea |
|
5 | |||||||||||
| Tutto Raf: Collezone Definitiva |
|
7 | |||||||||||
| Semplicemente Raf: I Grandi Successi |
|
— | |||||||||||
| "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released. | |||||||||||||
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITA [9] |
|||||||||||||
| Soundview |
|
— | |||||||||||
| "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released. | |||||||||||||
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITA [10][11] |
AUT [12] |
FRA [13] |
GER [14] |
SWI [15] |
|||||||||
| "Self Control" | 1984 | 1 | 7 | 40 | 2 | 1 | Raf | ||||||
| "I Don't Want to Lose You" | 1985 | 36 | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| "Change Your Mind" | 18 | — | — | 19 | — | ||||||||
| "Hard" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "London Town" | 1987 | 32 | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| "Inevitabile follia" | 1988 | 10 | — | — | — | — | Svegliarsi un anno fa | ||||||
| "Svegliarsi un anno fa" | 39 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "La Battaglia del sesso" | 1989 | — | — | — | — | — | Cosa resterà... | ||||||
| "Cosa resterà degli anni '80" | 6 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Ti pretendo" | 2 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "E' meglio così " | 1991 | — | — | — | — | — | Sogni ...é tutto quello che c'é | ||||||
| "Interminatamente" | 3 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Oggi un dio non ho" | 3 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Senza respiro" | 22 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Siamo soli nell'immenso vuoto che c'è" | 3 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Anche tu"(Raf featuring Eros Ramazzotti) | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Il Battito animale" | 1993 | 4 | — | — | — | — | Cannibali | ||||||
| "Cannibali" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Il Canto" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Due" | 5 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Stai con me" | 1994 | 20 | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| "Dentro ai tuoi occhi" | 1995 | — | — | — | — | — | Manifesto | ||||||
| "Il Suono c'è" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Un Grande salto" | 1996 | — | — | — | — | — | Collezione temporanea | ||||||
| "Lava" | 1998 | — | — | — | — | — | La prova | ||||||
| "La Danza della pioggia" | 1999 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| "Infinito" | 2001 | 1 | — | — | — | 89 | Iperbole | ||||||
| "Via" | 19 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "In tutti i miei giorni" | 2004 | 7 | — | — | — | — | Ouch | ||||||
| "Superstiti" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Dimentica" | 2006 | 4 | — | — | — | — | Passeggeri distratti | ||||||
| "Passeggeri distratti" | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Non è mai un errore" | 2008 | 12 | — | — | — | — | Metamorfosi | ||||||
| "Ossigeno" | 12 | — | — | — | — | ||||||||
| "Ballo" | 2009 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| "Per tutto il tempo" | — | — | — | — | — | Soundview | |||||||
| "Un'emozione inaspettata" | 2011 | — | — | — | — | — | Numeri | ||||||
| "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released. | |||||||||||||
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ITA [11] |
|||||||||||||
| "Gente di mare" (Umberto Tozzi featuring Raf) |
1987 | 5 | Invisible | ||||||||||
| "Tu vivrai" (Pooh, Eros Ramazzotti, Enrico Ruggeri, Raf, Umberto Tozzi) |
1990 | — | Non-album track | ||||||||||
| "Per la gloria" (Mario Lavezzi, Gianni Bella, Riccardo Cocciante, G. Combo, Mango, Raf) |
1991 | — | Non-album track | ||||||||||
| "Mi rubi l'anima" (Laura Pausini featuring Raf) |
1993 | — | Laura Pausini | ||||||||||
| "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released. | |||||||||||||
| Preceded by Romina Power & Al Bano |
Italy in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987 (with Umberto Tozzi) |
Succeeded by Luca Barbarossa |