Henry (or Henri) Padovani (born 13 October 1952) is a French musician (from the
Mediterranean
The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western Europe, Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa ...
French isle of
Corsica), noted for being the original guitarist of English rock band
The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...
.
He was a member of the band from January 1977 to August 1977 and was replaced by
Andy Summers
Andrew James Summers (born 31 December 1942), is an English guitarist who was a member of the rock band The Police. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a band member in 2003. Summers has recorded solo albums, collaborated wi ...
, who had originally been part of the band as a second guitarist. Following his departure from the band, Padovani was handed the rhythm guitar spot with
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs were part of the first wave of punk bands from the 1970s. The band was headed by Georgia-born singer Jayne County and became known for their campy, foul-mouthed ballads, glam punk inspired songs and image which ...
, before forming his own band, The Flying Padovanis.
Biography
Early life and punk years
Henri Padovani grew up between
Algeria
)
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, map_caption =
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, relig ...
and
Corsica from
Santo-Pietro-di-Venaco. While studying Economics at
Aix-en-Provence, he began listening to
Jimi Hendrix and was inspired to form his own band, Lupus, made up of various school friends. He moved to London in December 1976, where a friend took him to one of
Curved Air's last gigs. Though unimpressed by the performance, afterward he ended up talking with American expatriate drummer
Stewart Copeland
Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is a Scottish-American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the English rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with th ...
, who showed him some songs he had been writing and introduced him to the rising
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
scene. After a show at the
Roxy Club, Padovani decided he wanted to join a punk band and shaved off his waist-length hair and beard. He then auditioned for the band
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and was offered the job.
[Sutcliffe, Phil & Fielder, Hugh (1981). ''L'Historia Bandido''. London and New York: Proteus Books. .]
However, when he told Copeland of his plans, Copeland petitioned him to join his own band, the Police. Copeland was already under the impression that he had convinced singer and bassist
Sting to join, but despite heavy use of word-of-mouth and advertisements in musical publications, Padovani was the only guitarist he could find who was interested in punk and had actual playing ability.
Copeland later recalled of Henry Padovani:
He couldn't speak much English but he'd picked up some musicians' slang and he used to say 'Where can I put my homp (amplifier)? or 'where do I put my rope (lead)?'. He knew a few chords and he was really enthusiastic and when he'd had his hair cut and stuff he really looked the part. I mean, he could play guitar better than I could and I could play guitar better than Joe Strummer... well, in those days. So I reckoned he'd be OK but I didn't figure Sting would see it that way...
With Sting on lead vocals and bass guitar, Padovani on lead guitar and Copeland doubling on rhythm guitar as well as drums, the Police
recorded in February 1977 their first single "
Fall Out" b/w "Nothing Achieving" which the band released on 1 May 1977.
However, Sting was dissatisfied with Padovani's technical abilities, paving the way for Andy Summers, whom they met after a brief tour as part of
Mike Howlett
Michael John Gilmour Howlett (born 27 April 1950) is a record producer and teacher based in the United Kingdom and Australia.
Career
In the late 1960s, Howlett was the bassist in Sydney pop band the Affair, which included vocalist Kerrie Bidde ...
's band
Strontium 90
Strontium-90 () is a radioactive isotope of strontium produced by nuclear fission, with a half-life of 28.8 years. It undergoes β− decay into yttrium-90, with a decay energy of 0.546 MeV. Strontium-90 has applications in medicine and ...
. For a brief period in July and August 1977, the Police performed as a four-piece with Padovani and Summers sharing guitar duties. Having insisted from the start that he wanted to be the sole guitarist for the band, Summers was unhappy with the situation.
Padovani himself felt that the disparity in technical ability between the two of them made this an awkward lineup.
The night after an aborted studio session with former
Velvet Underground
Weave details visible on a purple-colored velvet fabric
Velvet is a type of woven tufted fabric in which the cut threads are evenly distributed, with a short pile, giving it a distinctive soft feel. By extension, the word ''velvety'' means ...
multi-instrumentalist
John Cale in the producer's chair, Copeland called Padovani and asked him to leave the band.
[Summers, Andy (2006). ''One Train Later''. New York: St. Martin's Press. .]
Being cast out of the Police did not slow Padovani's musical career. After taking a two-month vacation in Corsica, he returned to London and was immediately handed the rhythm guitar spot with
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs
Wayne County & the Electric Chairs were part of the first wave of punk bands from the 1970s. The band was headed by Georgia-born singer Jayne County and became known for their campy, foul-mouthed ballads, glam punk inspired songs and image which ...
, who at the time were far better known than the Police.
The Police were actually their support act in 1977.
The band's first album with Padovani, ''Storm the Gates of Heaven'', was also his debut as a songwriter. Besides a pair of group compositions, he wrote the music for the song "Cry of Angels". After one more album, ''Things Your Mother Never Told You'', Wayne County & the Electric Chairs split in two. Padovani remained with bassist Val Haller and drummer J.J. Johnson, and the trio recorded a final single, "So Many Ways", as simply The Electric Chairs, before management problems forced them to disband completely.
During this period, Padovani and Haller took turns on lead vocals.
New directions
The collaboration among Padovani, Haller, and Johnson did not end with the breakup of the Electric Chairs. In 1980, they put together a band called The Mystere Five's, which consisted of the three of them as well as Chris Reeves, who played guitar. Marc "Frenchie" Gloder, who had no performance role in the band but wrote all the lyrics, designed the sleeves to their records, and owned the record label. All the members except Gloder did lead vocals. The group used a deliberately anonymous image, never crediting individual members. Except for a cover of "Shake Some Action" by
Flamin' Groovies
Flamin' Groovies is an American rock band that formed in San Francisco in 1965, originally co-led by Roy Loney and Cyril Jordan. After the Groovies released three albums, on Epic ('' Supersnazz'') and Kama Sutra (''Flamingo'' and '' Teenage Hea ...
, all their songs were credited as being written and produced by the group as a whole.
The Mystere Five's recorded two indie singles that were released in 1980, "Shake Some Action" b/w "No Message" and "Never Say Thank You" b/w "Heart Rules the Head".
Both were successful, receiving good reviews (''
New Musical Express'' called the first single "A perfect record" and later reviewed the second single as being "actually better"), high placings in the indie charts, and a good deal of radio play.
However, by the time the singles were released, the band members had moved to other projects, with Padovani having formed
The Flying Padovanis
Henry (or Henri) Padovani (born 13 October 1952) is a French musician (from the Mediterranean French isle of Corsica), noted for being the original guitarist of English rock band The Police. He was a member of the band from January 1977 to Augu ...
.
This new band released the double A-sided single "Western Pasta" b/w "Vas plus haut" (1981).
The Flying Padovanis recorded an EP, ''Font L'Enfer'', and an album, "''They Call Them Crazy'', before disbanding at the end of 1987.
In 1988, Henri took part in the recording of
Johnny Thunders and
Patti Palladin
Patti Palladin is an American singer and musician of the punk rock and post-punk / new wave genres. She is primarily known for her work with Snatch (with Judy Nylon), Johnny Thunders, and the Flying Lizards.
Career
Palladin was a member o ...
's ''
Copy Cats'' album which also featured
Jayne County
Wayne Rogers (born July 13, 1947), better known by her stage name Jayne County is an American singer, songwriter, actress and record producer whose career has spanned six decades. Under the name Wayne County (inspired by Wayne County, Michigan), ...
on backing vocals.
In 1988,
Miles Copeland III
Miles Axe Copeland III (born May 2, 1944) is an American music and entertainment executive and former manager of The Police. Copeland later managed Sting's musical and acting career. In 1979, Copeland founded the I.R.S. Records label, producin ...
, The Police's manager, and elder brother of Stewart Copeland, appointed Padovani as Vice President of
IRS Records
I.R.S. Records was an American record label founded by Miles Copeland III, Jay Boberg, and Carl Grasso in 1979. I.R.S. produced some of the most popular bands of the 1980s, and was particularly known for issuing records by college rock, new wave ...
, a role he performed until 1994 while also managing the Italian musician
Zucchero
Adelmo Fornaciari (; born 25 September 1955), more commonly known by his stage name Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero (), is an Italian singer, musician and songwriter. His stage name is the Italian word for "sugar", as his elementary teach ...
.
After a five-year sabbatical, Padovani returned to guitar playing. In 1998 he contributed to a
Johnny Thunders tribute album
An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records c ...
by performing "Cosa Nostra". He recorded a solo album, ''À croire que c'était pour la vie'', in 2007 with record producer Yves Aouizerate. The album was sung in French, and both Stewart Copeland and Sting played on the track "Welcome Home", representing the first time that the original members of The Police had recorded together since "Fall Out".
Manu Katché
Manu Katché (born 27 October 1958) is a French drummer and songwriter of Ivorian descent. He has worked extensively as a session musician, notably with Sting and Peter Gabriel, and his solo albums as a bandleader are largely in the jazz fusion ...
,
Steve Hunter,
Glen Matlock
Glen Matlock (born 27 August 1956) is an English musician, best known for being the bass guitarist in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is credited as a songwriter on 10 of the 12 songs on the Sex Pistols' only albu ...
and Chris Musto (of the Flying Padovanis) also appeared on the album.
Padovani also wrote the score for the films ''La Vie comme elle va'' (2005) and ''Ici Najac, à vous la Terre'' (2006
Cannes Film Festival
The Cannes Festival (; french: link=no, Festival de Cannes), until 2003 called the International Film Festival (') and known in English as the Cannes Film Festival, is an annual film festival held in Cannes, France, which previews new films o ...
official selection). In 2006 he published his autobiography ''Secret Police Man'', recounting episodes of his lifestyle in the late 1970s and the early days of The Police.
Padovani was a judge for the spring 2011 season of ''
X Factor
''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003) ...
'' in France, on the television channel
M6.
In 2017 he produced and starred in the rockumentary ''Rock'n'roll... Of Corse!''. It features contributions by
Sting,
Stewart Copeland
Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is a Scottish-American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the English rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with th ...
,
Andy Summers
Andrew James Summers (born 31 December 1942), is an English guitarist who was a member of the rock band The Police. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a band member in 2003. Summers has recorded solo albums, collaborated wi ...
,
Topper Headon
Nicholas Bowen "Topper" Headon (born 30 May 1955) is an English drummer, best known as the drummer of punk rock band the Clash. Known for his instrumental contributions to the drumming world, Headon was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fa ...
,
Mick Jones,
Glen Matlock
Glen Matlock (born 27 August 1956) is an English musician, best known for being the bass guitarist in the original line-up of the punk rock band the Sex Pistols. He is credited as a songwriter on 10 of the 12 songs on the Sex Pistols' only albu ...
and
Kim Wilde among others. The film was directed by Lionel Guedj and Stephane Bebert.
Band reunions
The Flying Padovanis reformed in 2007 for an album made of old and new material, ''Three for Trouble'' released in May that year, followed by a tour which included an appearance at the Fuji rock festival in Japan. The band now plays regular dates in
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
and
France
France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...
.
During the 2007
The Police Reunion Tour
The Reunion Tour was a 2007–2008 worldwide concert tour by The Police, marking the 30th anniversary of their beginnings. At its conclusion, the tour became the third (now sixteenth) highest-grossing tour of all time, with revenues reaching o ...
, Padovani joined the band on stage for the final encore of their show in Paris on 29 September. The Police as a four-piece played "
Next to You" from the band's first album ''
Outlandos d'Amour
''Outlandos d'Amour'' is the debut studio album by English rock band the Police, released on 2 November 1978 by A&M Records. Elevated by the success of its lead single, " Roxanne", ''Outlandos d'Amour'' peaked at No. 6 on the UK Albums Chart a ...
''.
In 2017 Padovani performed a solo gig on acoustic guitar and vocals for the Festa in Lisula in Corse. A recording of the event was later issued under the title ''Live in Fericy''.
Discography
Studio albums
As a solo artist
*''À croire que c'était pour la vie'' – (2007)
*''I Love Today'' – (2016)
*''Live in Fericy'' – (2019)
*''Corsican Gumbo'' – (2022)
With The Flying Padovanis
*''Font L'Enfer'' – (1982)
*''They Call Them Crazy'' – (1987)
*''Three for Trouble'' – (2007)
*''Live at the 100 Club'' – (2008)
With Wayne County & The Electric Chairs
*''Storm the Gates of Heaven'' – (1978)
*''Things Your Mother Never Told You'' – (1979)
With The Police
*''
Message in a Box: The Complete Recordings'' (2003)
*''
The Police
The Police were an English rock band formed in London in 1977. For most of their history the line-up consisted of primary songwriter Sting (lead vocals, bass guitar), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums, percussion). The Polic ...
'' (2007) (#3 UK Albums; #11 US
Billboard 200
The ''Billboard'' 200 is a record chart ranking the 200 most popular music albums and EPs in the United States. It is published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine and is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of ar ...
)
Singles
As a solo artist
*"La Vie Comme Elle Va"/"A Vous La Terre" (2004)
*"Welcome Home" (Radio version)/"Welcome Home" (Album version) (2006)
With The Flying Padovanis
*"Western Pasta"/"Vas Plus Haut" – (1981)
With The Police
*"
Fall Out"/"Nothing Achieving" – (1977) (#47 UK Singles)
With Wayne County & The Electric Chairs
*"Trying To Get On The Radio"/"Evil Minded Momma" (1978)
*"So Many Ways"/"J'Attend Les Marines" – (1979)
With the Mystere Five's
*"Never Say Thank You"/Heart Rules the Head" (1980)
*"No Message"/"Shake Some Action" (1980)
Compilation albums
*''I Only Play R&R for Kids to Dance: Tribute to Johnny Thunder'' – (1998)
Videography
*''Reggatta de Blanc'' (2007)
*''Rock'n Roll... Of Corse!'' (2017)
Notes
References
External links
MyspaceOfficial websiteCNN Interview with Padovani
{{DEFAULTSORT:Padovani, Henry
1952 births
Living people
People from Bastia
The Police members
French people of Corsican descent
French rock guitarists
French male guitarists
French television personalities
French rock musicians
French expatriates in the United Kingdom
Lead guitarists
Rhythm guitarists
French singer-songwriters
French film score composers