Franco Battiato native language Italian
Biography
Early years and experimental period
Battiato was born in Ionia, Sicily, Italy. After graduating from high school at the Liceo Scientifico "Archimede" in Acireale, and following the death of his father (truck driver and longshoreman in New York), in 1964 he moved first to Rome, and then to Milan at age 19, and soon after won his first musical contract.
His single, "La Torre", was released and Battiato appeared on TV to perform the song. He scored some success with the romantic song È l'amore. After some works as a guitarist and sound engineer for popular singers, he traveled to America for a small tour where he had considerable success. After that, Battiato met the experimental musician Juri Camisasca in 1970 and collaborated with Osage Tribe, an Italian psychedelic-progressive rock band. As a solo artist, he released the science-fiction single La convenzione (The convention), one of the finest Italian progressive rock songs of the 1970s.
Starting from 1971, Battiato devoted much of his efforts to experimental electronic music, producing a series of LPs that remained almost unknown at the time, but are now eagerly sought by collectors worldwide. Starting out with electronic progressive rock with some emphasis on vocals, his music became increasingly experimental, gradually moving into the realms of musique concrète and minimalism. Fetus, his first album, was produced in January 1972, followed by Pollution (1973), Sulle Corde di Aries (1973), Clic (1974) and M.elle le "Gladiator" (1975).
In 1975, he moved to the Dischi Ricordi label, producing Battiato (1977), Juke Box (1978) and the experimental it:L'Egitto prima delle sabbie ("Egypt Before the Sands", 1978), which won the Stockhausen award for contemporary music. Battiato's early research about sound represented an important innovation as the basis of the THX and Stereophonic Sound.
mother tongue first language mother language primary language L1