Marco Pirroni
Encyclopedia
Marco Francesco Andrea Pirroni (born 27 April 1959, Camden Town
, North London
, England) is an English
guitarist
, songwriter
and record producer
. He has worked with Adam Ant
, Sinéad O'Connor
, Siouxsie and the Banshees and many others in a career spanning the late 1970s to the present day.
. Attended art school briefly, but truanted to hang out at Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren's famous SEX (boutique)
in the King's Road.
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
.
(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 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.
ist 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 Award, 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.
'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 is currently co-writing her new album, which is expected to be released early 2010.
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 is currently a member of The Wolfmen
with Chris Constantinou. They have released one EP, several singles, written music for television advertisement
s and released a debut album, entitled Modernity Killed Every Night. The Wolfmen are due to release their second album, Married to the Eiffel Tower in spring 2011.
With Adam Ant
With Sinéad O'Connor
With Spear of Destiny
With The Slits
With The Wolfmen
Camden Town
-Economy:In recent years, entertainment-related businesses and a Holiday Inn have moved into the area. A number of retail and food chain outlets have replaced independent shops driven out by high rents and redevelopment. Restaurants have thrived, with the variety of culinary traditions found in...
, North London
North London
North London is the northern part of London, England. It is an imprecise description and the area it covers is defined differently for a range of purposes. Common to these definitions is that it includes districts located north of the River Thames and is used in comparison with South...
, England) is an English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
, songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
and record producer
Record producer
A record producer is an individual working within the music industry, whose job is to oversee and manage the recording of an artist's music...
. He has worked with Adam Ant
Adam Ant
Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...
, Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
, Siouxsie and the Banshees and many others in a career spanning the late 1970s to the present day.
Biography
Born in Archway, he lived with his parents in Camden Town, until 15 years old, when they moved to HarrowHarrow, London
Harrow is an area in the London Borough of Harrow, northwest London, United Kingdom. It is a suburban area and is situated 12.2 miles northwest of Charing Cross...
. Attended art school briefly, but truanted to hang out at Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren's famous SEX (boutique)
SEX (boutique)
SEX was a boutique run by Malcolm McLaren and Vivienne Westwood at 430 King's Road, London between 1974 and 1976. It specialized in clothing that defined the look of the punk movement.-History:...
in the King's Road.
Siouxsie and the Banshees
A lynchpin of the UKUnited Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
scene, Pirroni’s first appearance on stage was with Siouxsie and the Banshees. It was their debut gig
Concert
A concert is a live performance before an audience. The performance may be by a single musician, sometimes then called a recital, or by a musical ensemble, such as an orchestra, a choir, or a musical band...
and at 1976’s 100 Club Punk Festival
100 Club Punk Festival
The 100 Club Punk Special was a two-day event held at the 100 Club—a typically jazz-oriented venue in Oxford Street, London, England—on 20 and 21 September 1976. The gig showcased eight punk rock bands, most of which were unsigned...
and the Banshees, with Pirroni on guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
and Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious
Sid Vicious was an English musician best known as the bassist of the influential punk rock group Sex Pistols...
on drums
Drum kit
A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
.
Short-lived bands
Pirroni then formed The ModelsThe Models
The Models was a short-lived punk band formed in Harrow, London, England. It consisted in Cliff Fox on vocals and guitar, Marco Pirroni on guitar, Mick Allen on bass and Terry Day on drums....
(who recorded the single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "Freeze", in 1977) and then Rema-Rema
Rema-Rema
Rema-Rema was a short-lived English music group, consisting of Gary Asquith , Marco Pirroni , Mick Allen , Mark Cox and Max ....
, whose "Wheel in the Roses" EP
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
appeared on the 4AD
4AD
4AD is a British independent record label that was started in 1979 by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent, funded by Beggars Banquet Records, and is still active today...
record label the following year. In those days he formed part of Cowboys International
Cowboys International
Cowboys International were a New Wave and synthpop band formed by vocalist and songwriter Ken Lockie that put out one album in 1979, the influential The Original Sin, and a handful of 45s before dissolving in 1980...
but it was for short time. He then teamed up with then cult punk outfit - Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants were a British rock band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The original group, which existed from 1977 to 1980, became notable as a cult band marking the transition from the late-1970s punk rock era to the post-punk and New Wave era...
– in 1980 and within a year the band
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
was on the brink of worldwide acclaim.
Adam Ant
An integral part of the band, Pirroni acted as lead guitarLead guitar
Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...
ist and co-songwriter
Songwriter
A songwriter is an individual who writes both the lyrics and music to a song. Someone who solely writes lyrics may be called a lyricist, and someone who only writes music may be called a composer...
, penning two UK number one singles
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
and a further four Top Ten hits, with Ant. The two albums he co-wrote for Adam & the Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier
Kings of the Wild Frontier
Kings of the Wild Frontier is a New Wave album by Adam and the Ants, released in 1980 . This album introduced the new Burundi drum sound. After having his previous backing band wooed away by producer Malcolm McLaren, who used them to form Bow Wow Wow, Adam Ant recorded Kings of the Wild Frontier...
and Prince Charming
Prince Charming (album)
Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine rated Prince Charming three-and-a-half out of five stars. He explained that it was "a markedly different record than [Kings of the Wild Frontier], intentionally so", and that "the songs just aren't there." However, he concluded by stating that it "simply has style...
– both made the Top 10 in the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for 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
Friend or Foe (album)
Friend or Foe was the first solo album by Adam Ant, released after Adam and the Ants disbanded in early 1982. Friend or Foe also became Adam Ant's most successful solo album giving him the hit song "Goody Two Shoes" which peaked at #1 on the UK charts, and at #12 in the USA; along with the...
), followed by nine more Top 20 hits. Adam and Pirroni won two shared Ivor Novello Award, for "Stand and Deliver
Stand and Deliver (song)
"Stand and Deliver" was Adam and the Ants' most successful single. It entered the UK Top 40 at Number One and stayed there for five weeks. It was featured on their Prince Charming album...
".
Adam Ant, working with Pirroni, left an indelible commercial and creative stamp across the 1980s and pop music
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
in general. Adam sold more than eighteen million records worldwide, scoring Number ones in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Greece
Greece
Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....
, Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
as well as in the UK
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. Their partnership
Partnership
A partnership is an arrangement where parties agree to cooperate to advance their mutual interests.Since humans are social beings, partnerships between individuals, businesses, interest-based organizations, schools, governments, and varied combinations thereof, have always been and remain commonplace...
's success was not just confined to the 1980s, with Ant's solo
Solo (music)
In music, a solo is a piece or a section of a piece played or sung by a single performer...
hits going Top 10 in the U.S.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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'ConnorSinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
's debut album The Lion and the Cobra
The Lion and the Cobra
The Lion and the Cobra is the 1987 debut album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor. O'Connor, age 20 at the time, recorded the album while heavily pregnant with her first child....
. Then in 1990 he worked with her again, on her second album I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got is the second album by Sinéad O'Connor. It was released in 1990 on Chrysalis Records.-Description:The critically acclaimed album contains her most famous single, "Nothing Compares 2 U", and was one of the best selling records in the world in 1990, topping the charts...
. In 1994 he worked with her to record her fourth album, Universal Mother
Universal Mother
Universal Mother is the fourth album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor. It was released in 1994, and sold 1.5 million copies worldwide.-Track listing:# "Germaine" – 0:38...
. He is currently co-writing her new album, which is expected to be released early 2010.
Recent years
The present decade has seen Pirroni increasingly cited as an authority on the punk movement – both on record and in print. Having consulted on two major compilationsCompilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
Punk and Dread Meets The Punk Rockers Uptown, he released the SEX: Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die
SEX: Too Fast To Live Too Young To Die
SEX: Too Fast to Live Too Young to Die was a compilation album edited by Marco Pirroni, which was compiled from the records on the jukebox at Malcolm McLaren's shop SEX.- Track listing :#Psychotic Reaction - Count Five#Through My Eyes - The Creation...
and Biba: Champagne and Novocaine on his own label, Only Lovers Left Alive.
Pirroni played on The Slits
The Slits
The Slits were a British punk rock band. The quartet was formed in 1976 by members of the bands The Flowers of Romance and The Castrators. The members were Ari Up , who died of cancer in October 2010, and Palmolive , with Viv Albertine and Tessa Pollitt replacing founding members, Kate Korus and...
' EP
Extended play
An EP is a musical recording which contains more music than a single, but is too short to qualify as a full album or LP. The term EP originally referred only to specific types of vinyl records other than 78 rpm standard play records and LP records, but it is now applied to mid-length Compact...
, Revenge of the Killer Slits in 2006. He is currently a member of The Wolfmen
The Wolfmen
The Wolfmen are a rock music band formed in 2004 and centres around Marco Pirroni and Chris Constantinou...
with Chris Constantinou. They have released one EP, several singles, written music for television advertisement
Television advertisement
A television advertisement or television commercial, often just commercial, advert, ad, or ad-film – is a span of television programming produced and paid for by an organization that conveys a message, typically one intended to market a product...
s and released a debut album, entitled Modernity Killed Every Night. The Wolfmen are due to release their second album, Married to the Eiffel Tower in spring 2011.
Discography
With Adam and the AntsAdam and the Ants
Adam and the Ants were a British rock band active during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The original group, which existed from 1977 to 1980, became notable as a cult band marking the transition from the late-1970s punk rock era to the post-punk and New Wave era...
- Kings of the Wild FrontierKings of the Wild FrontierKings of the Wild Frontier is a New Wave album by Adam and the Ants, released in 1980 . This album introduced the new Burundi drum sound. After having his previous backing band wooed away by producer Malcolm McLaren, who used them to form Bow Wow Wow, Adam Ant recorded Kings of the Wild Frontier...
(1980) - Prince CharmingPrince Charming (album)Allmusic's Stephen Thomas Erlewine rated Prince Charming three-and-a-half out of five stars. He explained that it was "a markedly different record than [Kings of the Wild Frontier], intentionally so", and that "the songs just aren't there." However, he concluded by stating that it "simply has style...
(1981)
With Adam Ant
Adam Ant
Adam Ant is an English musician who gained popularity as the lead singer of New Wave/post-punk group Adam and the Ants and later as a solo artist, scoring ten UK top ten hits between 1980 and 1983, including three No.1s...
- Friend or FoeFriend or Foe (album)Friend or Foe was the first solo album by Adam Ant, released after Adam and the Ants disbanded in early 1982. Friend or Foe also became Adam Ant's most successful solo album giving him the hit song "Goody Two Shoes" which peaked at #1 on the UK charts, and at #12 in the USA; along with the...
(1982) - Strip (1983)
- Vive Le RockVive Le RockVive Le Rock is the third solo album by Adam Ant, released in 1985.This album at first received only minor attention in the United States, peaking only at #131. In the United Kingdom, it peaked at #42...
(1985) - Manners & PhysiqueManners & PhysiqueManners & Physique is the fourth solo album from Adam Ant. It was released by March 1990 by MCA Records. The single "Room at the Top" peaked at number 13 in England and number 17 in America...
(1990) - Persuasion (Adam Ant album)Persuasion (Adam Ant album)Persuasion was the planned fifth studio solo album by Adam Ant, planned for 1992-3 but never released. The album has however surfaced as bootlegs and nowadays circulates on file sharing networks...
(Unreleased) (1993) - WonderfulWonderful (Adam Ant album)Wonderful is Adam Ant's fifth solo studio album, the eighth LP overall of his career and at present his most recently released album. It peaked at #143 on the Billboard 200 chart. The band for this album included ex-Ruts drummer Dave Ruffy and Morrissey's guitarist Boz Boorer and Marco Pirroni...
(1995)
With Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad O'Connor
Sinéad Marie Bernadette O'Connor is an Irish singer-songwriter. She rose to fame in the late 1980s with her debut album The Lion and the Cobra and achieved worldwide success in 1990 with a cover of the song "Nothing Compares 2 U"....
- The Lion and the CobraThe Lion and the CobraThe Lion and the Cobra is the 1987 debut album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor. O'Connor, age 20 at the time, recorded the album while heavily pregnant with her first child....
(1987) - I Do Not Want What I Haven't GotI Do Not Want What I Haven't GotI Do Not Want What I Haven't Got is the second album by Sinéad O'Connor. It was released in 1990 on Chrysalis Records.-Description:The critically acclaimed album contains her most famous single, "Nothing Compares 2 U", and was one of the best selling records in the world in 1990, topping the charts...
(1990) - Universal MotherUniversal MotherUniversal Mother is the fourth album by Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor. It was released in 1994, and sold 1.5 million copies worldwide.-Track listing:# "Germaine" – 0:38...
(1994)
With Spear of Destiny
Spear of Destiny (band)
Spear of Destiny is a British rock band, established in 1982 by singer and songwriter Kirk Brandon and bassist Stan Stammers. It has had an ever-changing line-up through the years.-Biography:...
- Outland (1987)
With The Slits
The Slits
The Slits were a British punk rock band. The quartet was formed in 1976 by members of the bands The Flowers of Romance and The Castrators. The members were Ari Up , who died of cancer in October 2010, and Palmolive , with Viv Albertine and Tessa Pollitt replacing founding members, Kate Korus and...
- Revenge of the Killer Slits (2006)
With The Wolfmen
The Wolfmen
The Wolfmen are a rock music band formed in 2004 and centres around Marco Pirroni and Chris Constantinou...
- Modernity Killed Every Night (2008)