Pierre Baroni (30 October 1955 – 9 March 2021) was an Australian radio broadcaster, artist, and musician.

Career

Pierre Baroni was born in

Kew, Victoria Kew (;) is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 5 km east from Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Boroondara local government area. Kew recorded a population of 24,499 at the 2021 census. A city ...

in 1955, and grew up in Glenroy. He was a member of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

pub band Carmine in the mid-1970s who were described by Ian "Molly" Meldrum as "one of the future top bands of Australia" on his ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

'' tv program. After the band broke up, Baroni formed Power by Beat! (P.X.B.) in 1977, who released one EP in 1978. In late 1980, Baroni joined New Wave band The Aliens, who had previously released singles and an album on Mushroom Records. After Baroni joined, The Aliens released their single ''I Don’t Care'' in 1981 and then broke up. During this time he began DJing his collection of 60s vinyl records at a Monday night called ''Shout'', run by Rob Furst, owner of

Beat Magazine ''Beat'' is a free monthly tabloid-sized music magazine (street press) published and distributed in Melbourne, Australia. It was Melbourne's longest running street press, and one of the earliest street press after TAGG. ''Beat'' paused its ...

, before joining his brother Dean Baroni in a new band Filed of Knives, who then became The Pony. Formed in 1986, The Pony released two albums ''Thorns and Cutlery'' (1987) and ''Memories of Daydreams (1989)'' before breaking up in 1990''.'' Baroni then began working in the art department for Mushroom Records in 1990, designing record covers, and later directing music videos. After three months he was promoted to Art Director, and he created artwork for albums such as

Archie Roach Archibald William Roach (8 January 1956 – 30 July 2022) was an Australian singer, songwriter and Aboriginal activist. Often referred to as "Uncle Archie", Roach was a Gunditjmara and Bundjalung elder who campaigned for the rights of Abori ...

’s ''

Charcoal Lane ''Charcoal Lane'' is the debut studio album by Australian singer song writer Archie Roach, released in 1990. Name From the 1960s through to the 1980s, the inner-city Melbourne suburb of Fitzroy was a meeting place for Aboriginal people who had ...

'', and others for

Tina Arena Filippina Lydia "Tina" Arena (born 1 November 1967) is an Australian singer-songwriter, musician, musical theatre actress and record producer. She is one of Australia's highest-selling artists and has sold over 10 million records worldwid ...

and

Jimmy Barnes James Dixon "Jimmy" Barnes (née Swan; born 28 April 1956) is a Scottish-born Australian rock singer. His career, both as a solo performer and as the lead vocalist with the rock band Cold Chisel, has made him one of the most popular and best- ...

. His work for Mushroom was nominated and won

ARIA Awards The Australian Recording Industry Association Music Awards (commonly known informally as ARIA Music Awards, ARIA Awards, or simply the ARIAs) is an annual series of awards nights celebrating the Australian music industry, put on by the Austra ...

for Best Cover Art. During the 90s, Baroni was a regular guest on Vince Peach's ''Soul Time'' radio program for Melbourne community radio station

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

. He then began presenting his own program ''Soulgroove’66'' in 2003, sourcing records from his own collection of around 5,000

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest atte ...

, funk and R&B singles. In March 2021 he died from cancer, with PBS posting a series of tributes from his friends and listeners of his radio program. The theme song to ''Soulgroove’66'' by

Renée Geyer Renée Rebecca Geyer (born 11 September 1953) is an Australian singer who has long been regarded as one of the finest exponents of jazz, soul and R&B idioms. She had commercial success as a solo artist in Australia, with " It's a Man's Man's ...

was released on vinyl as a tribute to Baroni following the news of his death. The recording featured Geyer and Baroni with organist Jake Mason, drummer Danny Farrugia, and bass player Yuri Pavlinov as the fictional band The New Cobras. Pierre Baroni was inducted posthumously into

Music Victoria Music Victoria is an independent, not-for-profit organisation and peak body for contemporary music in Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, representing musicians, venues, music businesses and professionals, and music lovers across the contemp ...

’s Hall of Fame at the

2021 Music Victoria Awards The 2021 Music Victoria Awards were the 16th Annual Music Victoria Awards. The ceremony took place on 9 December 2021 at the Melbourne Recital Centre. The 2021 awards featured a number of changes, including a brand new category for Best Pop Act ...

, with tributes from Jimmy Barnes and Archie Roach.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Baroni, Pierre 1955 births 2021 deaths Australian radio people Australian artists Artists from Melbourne People from Kew, Victoria People from the City of Merri-bek Radio personalities from Melbourne Musicians from Melbourne