I Profeti ("The Prophets") were an Italian pop group, mainly successful in the late sixties and in the seventies.

Career

The group formed in 1964 in

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

. They initially had a beat repertoire, and released their first single in 1966, "Bambina sola", a cover of

The Grass Roots The Grass Roots are an American rock band that charted frequently between 1965 and 1975. The band was originally the creation of Lou Adler and songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. In their career, they achieved two gold albums, two ...

' "You're a Lonely Girl". In 1967 the band released their first album, ''Bambina sola'', which was widely influenced by American contemporary folk music. In 1968 the band got their first domestic hit with "Gli occhi verdi dell'amore", a cover of Chip Taylor's " Angel of the Morning". The song signalled a progressive distancing from the Beat genre. In 1970 lead singer

Renato Brioschi Renato Brioschi (born 20 April 1948), also known as Renato dei Profeti, is an Italian singer, composer, musician and producer. Born in Milan, the son of the sculptor Remo, Brioschi was founder, frontman and singer of the musical group I Profeti, ...

recorded, with the name "Renato dei Profeti", the song ″

Lady Barbara "Lady Barbara" is a song written by Totò Savio, Giancarlo Bigazzi, and Claudio Cavallaro and performed by Renato dei Profeti, founder of the group I Profeti at his first solo venture. The song won the Un disco per l'estate festival and peake ...

,″ which peaked at first place on the Italian hit parade. Following the success of the song, Brioschi left the group to pursue a solo career. From then Profeti gradually switched to a more melodic, pop-oriented sound. Their singles "Era bella", "Prima notte senza lei" and "Io perché, io per chi", released between 1971 and 1973, all charted on the Italian hit parade, respectively peaking at sixth, eighteenth and tenth place. In 1976 Profeti entered the main competition at the

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annual ...

, ranking fifteenth with the song "Cercati un'anima". The group disbanded shortly after, before briefly reuniting in the late 1980s for a series of live performances and television appearances.

Personnel

* Renato Brioschi – voice, electric guitar (1964–1970) * Nazareno La Rovere – guitar (1964–1968; 1970–1977) * Donato Ciletti – bass guitar(1964–1966; 1969–1977) * Osvaldo Bernasconi – drums (1964–1967; 1968–1972; 1974–1977) * Danny Besquet – bass guitar (1966–1967) * Roberto Margaria – bass guitar, guitar (1967–1969; 1969–1970) * Franco D'Onofrio – drums (1967–1968) * Raffaele Favero – drums, flute (1967–1968) * Maurizio Bellini – organ (1969–1973) * Claudio Belloli – drums (1972–1974) * Beppe Tiranzoni – organ, keyboards (1974–1977)

Discography

; Albums * 1967: ''Bambina sola'' (CBS, S 52436) * 1971: ''Era bella'' (CBS, S 64758) * 1974: ''L'amore è...'' (CBS, S 69033) * 1976: ''Cercati un'anima'' (CBS, S 69144)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Profeti 1964 establishments in Italy Italian pop music groups Musical groups disestablished in 1977 Musical groups established in 1964 Musical groups from Milan