Romano Musumarra (born 21 July 1956) is an Italian composer, arranger, musician and record producer.

Life and career

Born in Rome, Musumarra approached music as a child, learning to play

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ''ranks ...

at his church. He studied piano, composition and conducting at the

Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia ( en, National Academy of St Cecilia) is one of the oldest musical institutions in the world, founded by the papal bull ''Ratione congruit'', issued by Sixtus V in 1585, which invoked two saints prom ...

, and in 1975 he formed the melodic pop-rock group La Bottega dell'Arte, with whom he achieved some significant success throughout the 1970s. Eddy Anselmi (2009). "Romano Musumarra". ''Festival di Sanremo: almanacco illustrato della canzone italiana'', Panini Comics. .Riccardo Giagni (1990). "Musumarra, Romano". Gino Castaldo (ed.) ''Dizionario della canzone italiana''. Curcio Editore. In 1983 he left the group, and devoted himself to the activity of arranger and composer, arranging among others works by

Riccardo Cocciante Riccardo Cocciante (; born 20 February 1946), also known in French-speaking countries and the U.S. as Richard Cocciante (), is an Italian singer, composer, theatre man and musician. He acquired French citizenship. Personal life Cocciante was b ...

Mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree ''Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South a ...

Fred Bongusto Alfredo Antonio Carlo Buongusto (6 April 1935 – 8 November 2019), known by his stage name Fred Bongusto, was an Italian light music singer, songwriter and composer who was very popular in the 1960s and 1970s. Career history Bongusto was born ...

and

Franco Califano Franco Califano (14 September 1938 – 30 March 2013) was an Italian lyricist, composer, singer-songwriter, author and actor. During his career he sold about 20 million records. Life and career Born in an airplane above Tripoli, Libya, Califan ...

, and composing the music for

Severino Gazzelloni Severino Gazzelloni, born Severino Gazzellone (5 January 1919 – 21 November 1992) was an Italian flutist. Biography He was born in Roccasecca and died in Cassino. Gazzelloni was the principal flautist with the RAI National Symphony Orchestr ...

's album ''Azzurra''. In 1984, after listening to an audition of her, he asked to newcomer

Jeanne Mas Jeanne Mas is a French pop singer. She is well known in France, Switzerland, Canada and Belgium for a number of hit singles released in the 1980s. Her first success was "Toute première fois" in 1984. This song was simultaneously released in the ...

to record one of his compositions, "Toute Première Fois". After hearing the song, which featured an unusual mix of acoustic and electronic sounds for the time,

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British Transnational corporation, transnational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in March 1 ...

signed Mas and the resulting single was a great success in France, reaching the number eight on the singles chart. Musumarra continued his collaboration with Mas, composing and producing the tracks on her first two albums, including " Johnny, Johnny" and " En rouge et noir", both number one in the French chart. Due to the success of his work with Jeanne Mas he was increasingly in demand by French artists, so at the end of 1985 he decided to move to France. In 1986 he contributed to the musical success of

Princess Stéphanie of Monaco Princess Stephanie Marie Elisabeth of Monaco (born 1 February 1965) is the youngest child of Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, and American actress Grace Kelly. She is the younger sister of Albert II, Prince of Monaco, and Caroline, Princess of Han ...

, for whom he composed the hits " Ouragan" (initially proposed to Jeanne Mas) and " Flash/One Love to Give". The same year he made his debut as a film score composer with

Régis Wargnier Régis Wargnier (; born 18 April 1948) is a French film director, film producer, screenwriter and film score composer. His 1992 film ''Indochine (film), Indochine'' won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 65th Academy Awards. ...

's ''

The Woman of My Life ''The Woman of My Life'' (french: La Femme de ma vie) is a French film by Régis Wargnier released in 1986. Plot Simon is a famous violinist who became a drunkard. His wife Laura created seven years earlier a classical orchestra of which he wa ...

'' and was instrumental in launching

Elsa Lunghini Elsa Lunghini, stage name Elsa (born 20 May 1973), is a French singer and actress. She was a teenage pop-star in the late-1980s. In 1986, she was the youngest singer to reach number one in the French charts, with the single " T'en va pas", and sh ...

(then simply Elsa), for whom he wrote and produced the debut single " T'en va pas", number one in the French charts for two months. In addition to launching new names, Musumarra has composed songs for established artists such as

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, Alain Delon,

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Régine Regine () or Régine is a feminine given name. Regine is a German-French form of Regina, and Régine is a French form of Regina. People with the first name include: Regine * Regine Heitzer (born 1944), Austrian figure skater * Regine Hildebrandt ...

, Garou, Bruno Pelletier, and

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. Since the 2000s, he has dedicated himself to composing songs in the operatic pop genre, collaborating with Luciano Pavarotti,

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, Katherine Jenkins,

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, among others. In 2016, his song "

On écrit sur les murs "On écrit sur les murs" (English: "We Write on the Walls") is a 1989 song by Greek singer Demis Roussos from the album ''Voice and Vision''. Written by Romano Musumarra and Jean-Marie Moreau, it was released as first single from the album in Janu ...

", originally composed for

Demis Roussos Artemios "Demis" Ventouris-Roussos ( ; el, Αρτέμιος "Ντέμης" Βεντούρης-Ρούσσος, ; 15 June 1946 – 25 January 2015) was a Greek singer, songwriter and musician. As a band member he is best remembered for his work in ...

, reached number three in the French hit parade thanks to a cover by the group

Kids United Kids United was a French singing group between 2015 and 2021 that consisted of six, later five, children born between 2000 and 2009. It was created to support UNICEF campaigns and is sponsored by Hélène Ségara and Corneille , two Francophon ...

Selected filmography

* ''

'' (1986) * ''

My True Love, My Wound My True Love, My Wound (french: Mon bel amour, ma déchirure) is a 1987 French drama film directed by José Pinheiro. Cast * Stéphane Ferrara - Patrick * Catherine Wilkening - Catherine * Véra Gregh - The director * Véronique Barrault - Cl ...

'' (1987) * '' Maladie d'amour'' (1987) * '' Faceless'' (1988) * ''

L'enfance de l'art ''L'enfance de l'art'' is a 1988 French drama film directed by Francis Girod. It was entered into the 1988 Cannes Film Festival. Cast * Clotilde de Bayser – Marie * Michel Bompoil – Simon * Anne-Marie Philipe – Régine * Yves Lambrec ...

'' (1988) * ''

Day of Atonement Yom Kippur (; he, יוֹם כִּפּוּר, , , ) is the holiest day in Judaism and Samaritanism. It occurs annually on the 10th of Tishrei, the first month of the Hebrew calendar. Primarily centered on atonement and repentance, the day's o ...

'' (1992) * '' The Teddy Bear'' (1994)

Honours

* 1988 - Knight of Arts and Letters

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Musumarra, Romano 1956 births Living people Musicians from Rome Italian composers Italian music arrangers Italian record producers Italian songwriters Italian film score composers Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia alumni Recipients of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres