Alan Sorrenti -

Alan Sorrenti (born Dec 9, 1950) is an Italian vocalist who emerged with the experimental 1972/73 albums Aria and Come un vecchio incensiere all’alba di un villaggio deserto. He shifted toward disco and soul on the 1977–79 albums Figli delle stelle and L.A. & N.Y., which yielded the Italian hits “Figli delle stelle” and “Tu sei l’unica donna per me,” the latter a 14-week No. 1 and Festivalbar winner. Sorrenti represented Italy at the 1980 Eurovision Song Contest with “Non so che darei,” which placed sixth, and continued recording across subsequent decades.

Background

Alan Sorrenti was born Dec. 9, 1950, in Naples, Italy, to Neapolitan father Francesco Sorrenti and Welsh mother Gwendalin Thomas. Gwendalin came from Aberystwyth and sang Welsh traditional material in a choir. Francesco, a former child singer, worked as a draftsman for the Naples transit authority. Their daughter, Jenny Sorrenti, became a singer/songwriter and co-founded Saint Just. The Sorrentis spent time between Aberystwyth and the Vomero district of Naples.

At sixteen, Sorrenti attended a private school in Folkestone, Kent, to strengthen his English. He heard Otis Redding and The Beatles in local pubs and saw Cream at a Folkestone club without initially knowing the identity of guitarist Eric Clapton. Sorrenti returned to Naples and enrolled in medicine, where he passed one examination before abandoning the course for music.

Sorrenti began singing and formed a Vomero group that performed songs by Bob Dylan and Traffic at a local club. He drew stage ideas from singer Roger Chapman after attending several Family concerts in London, where he also witnessed King Crimson and other British progressive groups. Photographer Umberto Telesco introduced Sorrenti to imported records at a Via Tasso studio, where Sorrenti heard Tim Buckley and Van der Graaf Generator. Inspired by Buckley’s vocal experiments, Sorrenti extended the range and function of his voice.

Sorrenti spent further periods in London and returned to Naples with guitar-and-voice originals preserved on cassette. Music journalist and RAI presenter Michelangelo Romano passed several Sorrenti guitar demos to Per voi giovani director Paolo Giaccio, who aired the tracks and generated listener response. Sorrenti then developed songs in a storage room connected to Francesco’s stove business, where percussionist Tony Esposito joined through local contacts. Producer Corrado Bacchelli heard the developing material and arranged an introduction to EMI. EMI-Harvest signed Sorrenti for the recordings that became Aria.

Discography: