Carlo Marrale

Best known for his work in Matia Bazar, guitarist, singer, and songwriter Carlo Marrale was born in Genova in 1952. In 1973, alongside guitarist Piero Cassano and bassist Aldo Stellita, he formed the group Jet, who, after an unsuccessful attempt at that year's Sanremo Festival, decided to join up with singer Antonella Ruggiero and drummer Giancarlo Golzi as Matia Bazar. After staying with the band in a two-decade run that included numerous lineup changes and the release of songs that have become near-classics in the Italian pop repertoire ("Solo Tu," "Vacanze Romane," and "Ti Sento," the latter of which was covered by Irene Cara as "You Need Me" in 1996), Marrale left Matia Bazar in order to pursue his own solo career. In 1994 he released his debut, Tra le Dita la Vita, but spent the next decade or so writing for others, and it wasn't until 2007 that his full-length follow-up, Melody Maker — which included new arrangements of "Vacanze Romane" and "Ti Sento" as well as "L'Acensore" from Tra le Dita la Vita — came out.