Marco Pirroni
Marco Pirroni | |
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Birth name | Marco Francesco Andrea Pirroni |
Born | 27 April 1959 |
Origin | Camden Town, North London, England |
Genres | New Wave, post-punk, New Romantic, punk rock |
Occupations | Musician |
Years active | 1976–present |
Associated acts | Adam and the Ants, Adam Ant, Rema Rema, The Wolfmen, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Slits, Spear of Destiny |
Notable instruments | |
Gibson Les Paul Junior Gibson Firebird[1] |
Marco Francesco Andrea Pirroni (born 27 April 1959, London, England[2]) is an English guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He has worked with Adam Ant, Sinéad O'Connor, Siouxsie and the Banshees and many others from the late 1970s to the present day.
Biography
Born in Archway, he lived with his Italian parents in Camden Town until 15 years old, when they moved to Harrow. Attended art school briefly, but truanted to hang out at Vivienne Westwood's and Malcolm McLaren's famous SEX (boutique) in the King's Road.
Siouxsie and the Banshees
A lynchpin of the UK punk scene, Pirroni’s first appearance on stage was with Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was their debut gig and at 1976’s 100 Club Punk Festival and the Banshees, with Pirroni on guitar and Sid Vicious on drums.
Short-lived bands
Pirroni then formed The Models (who recorded the single, "Freeze", in 1977) and then Rema-Rema, whose "Wheel in the Roses" EP appeared on the 4AD record label the following year. In those days he formed part of Cowboys International but it was for a short time. He then teamed up with then cult punk outfit - Adam and the Ants – in 1980 and within a year the band was on the brink of worldwide acclaim.
Adam Ant
An integral part of the band, Pirroni acted as lead guitarist and co-songwriter, penning two UK number one singles and a further four Top Ten hits, with Ant. The two albums he co-wrote for Adam & the Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier and Prince Charming – both made the Top 10 in the UK Albums Chart ("Kings" #1; "Prince Charming" #2) .
When the Ants disbanded in 1982, Pirroni was retained as Adam Ant’s co-writer and they produced another number one single ("Goody Two Shoes") and the album (Friend or Foe), followed by nine more Top 20 hits. Adam and Pirroni won two shared Ivor Novello Awards for "Stand and Deliver".
Adam Ant, working with Pirroni, left an indelible commercial and creative stamp across the 1980s and pop music in general. Adam sold more than eighteen million records worldwide, scoring Number ones in Australia, Germany, Greece, Sweden, Israel, Japan as well as in the UK. Their partnership's success was not just confined to the 1980s, with Ant's solo hits going Top 10 in the U.S. and Top 20 in the UK in 1990, plus a further Top 40 hits in the UK and the US in 1995.
Sinéad O'Connor
In early 1987, Marco Pirroni featured on Sinéad O'Connor's debut album The Lion and the Cobra. Then in 1990 he worked with her again, on her second album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got. In 1994 he worked with her to record her fourth album, Universal Mother. He co-wrote and played guitar on a number of tracks on her latest album, How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?, released in March 2012.
Recent years
The last decade saw Pirroni increasingly cited as an authority on the punk movement – both on record and in print. Having consulted on two major compilations Punk and Dread Meets The Punk Rockers Uptown, he released the SEX: Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die and Biba: Champagne and Novocaine on his own label, Only Lovers Left Alive.
Pirroni played on The Slits' EP, Revenge of the Killer Slits in 2006. He was until recently a member of The Wolfmen with Chris Constantinou. They released one EP, several singles, written music for television advertisements and released a debut album, entitled Modernity Killed Every Night. The Wolfmen released their second album, Married to the Eiffel Tower in spring 2011.
Pirroni featured on two 2012 releases, Damien Dempsey's Almighty Love, and as mentioned above, Sinead O'Connor's album.
Discography
With Adam and the Ants
- Kings of the Wild Frontier (1980)
- Prince Charming (1981)
With Adam Ant
- Friend or Foe (1982)
- Strip (1983)
- Vive Le Rock (1985)
- Manners & Physique (1990)
- Persuasion (Adam Ant album) (Unreleased) (1993)
- Wonderful (1995)
- Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter' (2013)
With Sinéad O'Connor
- The Lion and the Cobra (1987)
- I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got (1990)
- Universal Mother (1994)
- How About I Be Me (And You Be You)? (2012)
With Spear of Destiny
- Outland (1987)
With The Slits
- Revenge of the Killer Slits (2006)
With The Wolfmen
- Modernity Killed Every Night (2008)
- "Married to the Eiffel Tower" (2011)
References
External links
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