Gaudi (musician)

Early days – Italy 1981–1995

Gaudi's professional career started in 1981 in Italy as a keyboard player for new-wave bands such as Wild Planet, Red Light, and Violet Eves, the latter band playing an important role in the Italian underground music scene combining electronica, punk and traditional Italian melodies. Later, Gaudi joined the reggae band Bamboo Company, which gave him the opportunity to develop his production skills and increase his music knowledge in what was to become the heart and soul of his music style from then on—Reggae music.

Gaudi started to gain recognition in the music underground scene for his production work and began to be approached by other bands for studio production and collaboration works. This included work with 'The Gang' (album Barricada, 1985) and 'Disciplinatha' (album Abbiamo pazientato 40 anni, ora basta, 1987).

In 1986, Gaudi and three members of his previous band Bamboo Company formed Raptus, one of the first Hip Hop bands using Italian lyrics; they released the 12-inch single "Peggio della colla" with the Indie label Multimedia Attack Punk Records and were subsequently spotted by Italian rockstar Vasco Rossi and his production team Terryball that produced their next single. While expectations for the project were high, unfortunately exposure was low and the band split.

In 1987, Gaudi began his first solo project as a singer under the name 'Lele Gaudi' with the creation of what was to become the first 'Raggamuffin' album written in Italian. In 1988 the album was finished however record companies were uneasy with the concept of an untried formula and unwilling to take the risk of releasing it. Gaudi spent the next 2 years meeting record labels to find an appropriate deal. During this period he also spent time in Jamaica, testing his project and getting valuable feedback on the quality of his work; it was well received.

With producers Ricky Rinaldi, aka 'Ohm Guru', and Frank Nemola, he founded the production company 'Tubi Forti', which worked on the production of several indie and pop artists, including icons of the Italian hip hop scene 'Isola Posse All Stars' with their debut single "Stop al panico", reggae band 'Sud Sound System' with their single 'Fuecu', popstar Donatella Rettore with her single 'Zan Zan Zan'. This versatile production team also released many dance tunes under different names including: ‘National Rare Groove’, ‘Dr Muff & Crazy Stuff’, ‘4t Thieves’, ‘Etnotechno’ (Gaudi's first experiment fusing world music and electro funk).

Two years on from the initial knock-backs, Gaudi's signed his first major record deal with Polygram for his solo projects; the first single "Maliniconico Love" was recorded in London featuring ragga vocalist 'Crucial Robbie' and the video which followed was given major attention by MTV.

Gaudi's debut album Basta Poco was released in Italy in 1991 with a massive national media exposure that culminated in the winning of his first award as "Best Italian New Coming Artist 1991".

Gaudi's second single "1990 Anni Fa" was released later in the year by Polygram/Mercury Records and was promptly banned from Vatican City due to its 'sensitive content'. Needless to say this did nothing to harm record sales.

For the tour that followed the success of the album, Gaudi was backed by reggae band WDX.

In 1993, Gaudi added his signature to a collaboration with socially conscious popstar Ricky Gianco (well known for his upfront social commentary). The exposure gained from this project firmly established Gaudi as a household name.

In 1994, Gaudi wrote a vocal Ragga part for the single "Lei sta con te" for the Italian popstar Francesco Baccini.

Pulling together previous influences and flavors, Gaudi started experimenting with the Theremin in dub and world music, releasing several tracks under the name 'Dub Alchemist'.

London – 1995 – present

In 1995 Gaudi moved to London and set up 'Metatron Studio London', founded the record label 'Sub Signal' and the production team “Terra Terra” in partnership with DJ Angelino. The duo produced several remixes including their 1996 No. 1 UK dance chart “Jus come” by “Cool Jack” for AM:PM Records.

Gaudi then signed with Harmony Management and remixed named pop acts such as Mansun (UK Chart n.14), Mazzy Star, Cast (UK chart n.2), Peter Andre (UK chart n.3), Africa Bambaataa, Rebbie Jackson, Jeanie Tracy, Love City, L.A Believers, Kinobe and New Clear Family. The first Gaudi’s full-length studio production in London was ‘Sound of Anatomy’, an ambient concept album released under the moniker name of 'Ultraviolet Zero', in collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Pauli Atzei. in the following two years Gaudi has been busy on the composition of music soundtracks for BBC, MTV, Channel 4, RAI and ITV, including internationally renowned TV shows such as “Europe Music Awards" and several other MTV programs. TV commercials such as Sony PlayStation, Longines, Fiat, Seat, Energie, Fiorucci and "The Express" also carried Gaudi’s signature in those years.

In 1997 Gaudi wrote the track 'Non ti Scrivero'’ for Italian pop star Irene Grandi which featured on her double platinum selling album Per fortuna purtroppo.

In 1998 Gaudi's third album Earthbound was released worldwide by Bustin Loose Recordings on 12in triple vinyl, giving him worldwide sales recognition and a solid exposure that led to his tracks appearing on many compilations. Earthbound contains music influences ranging from Indian ragas to African chanting and from Jamaican chatting to Italian traditional melodies, its one unifying factor being the flavors of reggae and dub. The album featured 39 musicians from around the globe, including Jamaican raggamuffin star General Levy, Indian singers Kiren Sambhi and Sonal Varsani, Sardinian voice virtuosos Tenores di Neoneli, Trio Cocco and Antonio Testa who provided the track "Stalagmite", recorded in a cave playing natural stalagmites. The dub version of Earthbound, titled ‘Earthbound in Dub’ was also released later that year on Sub Signal. In 2000 Gaudi took a trip to Africa and spent some time in Burkina Faso experiencing the lifestyle and culture of the indigenous communities, there he recorded many talented musicians, catalysts for his next album Bass, Sweat & Tears (Interchill Records 2004). Year 2000 also saw the beginning of the four years collaboration between Gaudi and world-music exponent DJ Pathaan, the duo named themselves 'Orchestral World Groove' (OWG), and got residencies at prestigious London venues such as Cargo, Fabric, Dogstar, Plan B and Redstar, released also tracks on many compilations worldwide and toured internationally for four years, performing at high-profile venues and festivals such as Roskilde (Denmark), Skol Beat (Brazil), The Big Chill and Gatecrasher (England).

2003 started with Gaudi producing a version of the song "The man who sold the world" (a song written by David Bowie) for the band Simple Minds, and working on Jim Kerr's single 'Innerworld', released under the moniker ‘Pascal Life’ (Absolutely Records).

The same year Gaudi also remixed Bob Marley’s classic ‘Soul Shakedown Party’.

A collaboration with Italian classical composer Massimo Nunzi saw the light that year, embarking in a symphonic/jazz interpretation of Shakespeare's "The Tempest" with brand new music scores for a 20 piece classical orchestra infused with live electronic dub elements by Gaudi himself. Major exponents of the jazz scene such as Gianluigi Trovesi, Mederic Collignon, Gianluca Petrella, Paolo Damiani, Ada Montellanico and Italian pop singer Niccolo Fabi joined the duo for two high-profile concerts at 'Roccella Jonica Jazz Festival' and at the Villa Borghese in Rome.

In 2004 another eclectic collaboration occurred, this time with French inventor Michel Moglia and his music instrument 'The Fire Organ', a 20-ton metal pipe structure that works with fire. The duo composed ‘Elemental’, an opera for Fire Organ and Theremin, and gave a spectacular double performance at the Colosseum in Rome to an international audience of more than 350,000.

Gaudi's fourth solo album Bass, Sweat & Tears was released in 2004 by Interchill Records and became an international success, considered then by many producers and musicians a ground-breaking album, gaining excellent sales recognitions and becoming Interchill’s best selling release to date.[3] The album reached number 2 in the iTunes European Chart and number 32 on iTunes US. Songs from it are featured in over 50 compilations, with 2 film soundtrack licenses having been signed (two songs featured in Pooja Bhatt's Bollywood 'film noir' "Rog" as well as appearing on the official CD soundtrack); Gaudi's song 'Sufani' was also used as the soundtrack for the Indian film "Fareb" by Vikram Bhatt, and the track 'Chant Thermique' featured on the award-winning soundtrack for the film 'Let it Ride' about the life of legendary snowboarder Craig Kelly.

The success of this album brought Gaudi a busy schedule of performances at clubs and festivals around Europe followed, including

The following year Gaudi wrote the songs "Lasciala andare" and "Lady picche", for Italian popstar Irene Grandi included in her platinum sales album Indelebile (WEA). The first single 'Lasciala Andare' became a huge success, been at no.2 in the Italian official chart for 16 consecutive weeks. The song has subsequently been included in another platinum sales album collection titled "Irene Grandi - Hits"(Atlantic 2007). The success of this song continued for several years and expanded also into the Greek market, when popstar Eleonora Zouganeli covered it in Greek language (renaming it "Fevgo gia mena mia fora") and establishing it in the Greek charts for several weeks.

Later in the same year Gaudi teamed up with sound-therapist Antonio Testa and composed ‘Continuum 1105’, a concept album blending experimental electronica with organic elements, released then worldwide by legendary UK label Em:t Records. The album reached no.3 in the iTunes European Electronic chart.

In 2006 ambient music pioneer Pete Namlook invited Gaudi to his studio Klanglabor Hodeshof in Germany to compose and album together and release it on his label Fax Records: ‘Re:sonate’ was then born, combining Namlook’s ‘trademark’ lengthy meandering structures and spacey pads with Gaudi’s dub expertees and unique ‘home-grown’ sounds.

As well as his own work Gaudi was also involved in a memorable studio collaboration with dub legend Lee "Scratch" Perry and highly respected producer Dennis Bovell. His role, with fellow producer Charlie Redseal, was in the programming of new drum parts for the remakes of three iconic Bob Marley tracks written by Perry: "Kaya", "Sun Is Shining" and "Punky Reggae Party".

Gaudi's production and performance skills saw him invited to collaborate on a number of different projects in 2006; He co-wrote and played Melodica, Theremin and Moog on the track 'Palmprint' by electro-dub duo 'Sounds From The Ground' for their album High Rising. He also produced and co-wrote the debut solo album of Ashtech Walkin' Target which includes 4 tracks featuring the inimitable voice of 'Cheshire Cat' from legendary production team Leftfield.

Gaudi's compilation "Sub Signals vol.1" – a selection of prime dub cuts from a pedigree stable of artists, was released on his label 'Sub Signal' in association with Interchill Records in November 2006.

By 2007, with 10 albums to his name, 250 music productions, over 80 remixes and more than 100 compilations featuring his tracks, Gaudi had become an artist and producer in demand. One high-profile visitor to Metatron Studio that year was reggae legend Horace Andy who Gaudi recorded for the track 'Just say who' which featured, alongside Gaudi's remix of the same, on Almamegretta's album Vulgus. A busy and high-profile international tour with performances in Australia, Canada, Russia, US and Europe kept him busy while not in the studio.

Gaudi's own very special album project Dub Qawwali featuring the amazing vocals of the 'Pakistan's premier ambassador of Qawwali music' Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was released worldwide August 2007 by Six Degrees Records. It received massive critical acclaim internationally reaching no.2 in iTunes US Chart, no.4 in the UK and was the no.1 seller in Amazon.com's Electronic Music section for a period. It also earned him a nomination for the BBC's World Music Awards 2008.

In early 2008 Gaudi lent out his talents in a studio session with the legendary hip hop pioneer Grandmaster Flash for his single "What if" featured KRS-One . Alongside a busy tour schedule, Gaudi returned to Italy in the spring for 4 months to take on the role of 'vocal coach' for the hit TV talent show The X Factor; he worked with the vocal groups category and emerged victorious with his group 'Aram Quartet' winning the show.

2009 started with a return to X Factor for the second series and once again to coach the groups category. It was another successful series with his group 'The Bastard Sons of Dioniso' winning the "critic's award" and their track 'L'amor Carnale' (co-written and produced by Gaudi) reaching no.1 in the Italian charts; Their debut EP also earned Gaudi his 4th Gold Disc. Subsequently, Gaudi also produced their debut album In Stasi Perpetua which was released by Sony Music in November 2009. After spending the summer touring America, Canada, UK and Greece, Gaudi returned to Italy again in the autumn for the 3rd series of X Factor where this time his female vocal trio "Yavanna" took 3rd place.

Gaudi's 12th album No Prisoners (feat. Michael Franti, Dub Gabriel, Elisa, Dr. Israel) was released in March 2010 by Six Degrees Records and his subsequent 'No Prisoners World Tour' (which lasted three years) was a big success.

2011 began with a heavyweight and ongoing collaboration with UK electronica pioneers The Orb, with Alex Paterson on samplers and musical maverick Chester on vocals. The band name they choose was SCREEN, their debut album "We are Screen" was released worldwide by Uk label Malicious Damage. More remixes saw the light the same year, working on tracks from: Lamb, Trentemoller, Delhi 2 dublin, Ganga Giri, Animation, Kaya Project, HFB, Desmond Dekker, The Upsetters, Adriano K, Noia and the chart-topping collaboration between The Orb and Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour Metallic Spheres.

In 2012 Gaudi released the double compilation Everlasting.

A tight schedule of music works kept Gaudi very busy in the recording studio throughout 2012, with the production of his new album, the production of the new album by American reggae band "Indubious", the composition of the track "Pawa 2 da ppl" with Adamski, the remix of psy-trance artist Captain Hook, and the production/songwriting of the tracks "Tonto's expansions" and "Leather Sexy Dynamite (LSD)".

A lengthy 2012 tour of the USA, Canada, Europe, India and Australia ended in December with Gaudi performing at The Pyramids of Giza (Giza Necropolis) in Egypt.

Gaudi's album In between times was released worldwide in May 2013 by Six Degrees Records. This reggae / electronica album features many pioneering artists such as Michael Rose (Black Uhuru front man), Lee Scratch Perry, Twilight Circus, The Orb, Danny Ladwa, Dennis Bovell, Raja Ram, Deadly Hunta, Jahmai and author and philosopher Gregory Sams.

In the same year and the year after, Gaudi joined again TV Music shows as a vocal coach, this time for two series of The Voice, in joined-force with singer Piero Pelu' (from Italian band Litfiba), with whom also co-wrote the top-chart single "Mille Uragani", included on Pelu's album "Identikit". Many studio collaborations, remixes and productions were released between 2013 and 2015, when Gaudi put his signature trademark on: Deep Forest, Banco De Gaia, Dub FX, Sizzla, The Orb, N.O.I.A, Natacha Atlas, David Starfire, Beats Antique, Dub Pistols, Suns Of Arqa, Hang Massive, The Beat, Danny Ladwa, Tsuyoshi Suzuki, Asian Dub Foundation, Captain Hook, Almamegretta, Loungedelic, Caparezza and Michael Franti.

To celebrate the 10th anniversary from the release of his album "Bass, Sweat & Tears", Gaudi reworked on the tracks from it and created a newer dub version titled "Dub, Sweat & Tears", released worldwide by Six Degrees Records in the same year.

Many are the productions, collaborations and remixes in 2016 for Gaudi: Hollie Cook, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Soom T, Barrington Levy, Tripswitch, Martin "Youth" Glover, Beats Antique, Deep Forest. After having signed a record deal with experimental UK record label RareNoiseRecords, Gaudi released a 10inches white vinyl containing the songs "Electronic Impromptu in E-flat Minor" and "30Hz Dub Prelude", featuring caliber musicians such as Bill Laswell, Colin Edwin (from Porcupine Tree), Steve Jansen (from art-pop band Japan), Eraldo Bernocchi, Roger Eno, Ted Parsons (from cult band Killing Joke), Masami Akita, Lorenzo Feliciati, Coppe' e Alessandro Gwis. In 2017 Gaudi produced the EP "2063 : A Dub Odyssey" in collaboration with highly acclaimed music producer Martin "Youth" Glover, released on a 10inches green vinyl by London record label Liquid Sound Design. The latest Gaudi album "Magnetic" has been released on 30 June 2017 by RareNoiseRecords, followed by the concept album "Circuit" (out in September 2017), in collaboration with multi-million selling artist and Grammy Award's winner Deep Forest.

Bands and pseudonyms

Albums

Singles, EP's & 12in