Simone Sello (born July 4, 1968) is an Italian born guitarist, music producer, composer, filmmaker and music journalist. He is known for his work with the

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

Orchestra, Chicanery,

Billy Sheehan William Sheehan (born March 19, 1953) is an American musician. He is best known for playing the bass guitar with acts such as Talas, Steve Vai, David Lee Roth, Mr. Big, Niacin, and The Winery Dogs. He is also known for his "lead bass" playing ...

Aaron Carter Aaron Charles Carter (December 7, 1987November 5, 2022) was an American singer and rapper. He came to fame as a teen pop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among preteen and teenage audiences during the first years of the ...

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Vasco Rossi Vasco Rossi (born 7 February 1952), also known mononymously as Vasco or with the nickname Il Blasco, is an Italian singer-songwriter and poet. During his career, he has published 30 albums (not including unofficial releases) and has written over ...

, Amber Lily, and

Warren Cuccurullo Warren Bruce Cuccurullo (born December 8, 1956) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, restaurant owner and former body builder who first worked with Frank Zappa during the 1970s. He was also a founding member of Missing Persons in the 1980s ...

, both as a producer and guitarist; and as a journalist for the magazines ''Chitarre'', ''Strumenti Musicali'', ''Accordo'' and ''Ganzo''. He is an owner of music production companies RedRum Productions and MusicDemoProducer.com, with each company oriented towards a distinct clientele: RedRum Productions is geared towards contemporary music production for artists, film and TV and MusicDemoProducer.com aims to bring a simplified approach to professional music production to any user, over the web. His musical upbringing is based on classical violin studies, as well as watching and hearing his father play guitar, but he never took a formal guitar lesson, in spite of his career as a guitar player. His influences include major classical and jazz composers and performers, (

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

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), pop and rock acts (

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), and experimental artists (

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). Equally interested in performing, composing and producing music, Simone started getting hired to play guitar for recording sessions and live performances by artists in his hometown

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when he was 17 years old, and eventually became known on a national level. While building a long list of musical collaborations, he started writing articles for magazines, thus achieving a different kind of exposure, still in the music field. At the age of 29, he moved to Los Angeles to push his musician and journalist careers, by joining a big international scene.

Early professional career

After studying the violin, he started his professional career as a guitarist in

, recording a guitar solo on the song "Incinerator", soundtrack of the homonymous movie, produced in 1982 and never shown until 2020, then recording the song ''The Fighter'' with his band Waterfall, for the compilation ''Metal Attack'' (

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

1987). Then, he got hired to play with Italian pop singers

Renato Zero Renato Fiacchini (born 30 September 1950), known by the stage name Renato Zero (), is an Italian singer, songwriter, producer, dancer and actor whose career spans from the 1960s to the 2020s. Zero is the only artist to have reached the top of th ...

Tullio De Piscopo Tullio De Piscopo (born 24 February 1946 in Naples, Italy) is an Italian drummer, percussionist and singer- songwriter. De Piscopo was born in Naples. His father was an orchestra percussionist. In 1969 he moved to Turin and two years later he move ...

Nino Buonocore Nino Buonocore (born 26 July 1958) is an Italian singer-songwriter, best known for the songs "Rosanna" and "Scrivimi". Life and career Born Adelmo Buonocore in Naples, he debuted at 20 years old with an auto-produced single "Sferisterio". Put un ...

and Michele Zarrillo, and in several national TV shows. From 1994 to 1997 he joined the orchestra of the Sanremo Festival, where he had a chance to play with several international musicians, such as

Ray Charles Ray Charles Robinson Sr. (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential singers in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Ge ...

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, pla ...

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He is the leader of the Pat Metheny Group and is also involved in duets, solo works, and other side projects. His style incorporates elements of progre ...

Michael Bolton Michael Bolotin
, The Jewish Historical Society of New Haven, 1998. (born February 26, 1953), known professio ...

Celine Dion Céline Marie Claudette Dion ( ; born 30 March 1968) is a Canadian singer. Noted for her powerful and technically skilled vocals, Dion is the best-selling Canadian recording artist, and the best-selling French-language artist of all time. Her ...

Kenny G Kenneth Bruce Gorelick (born June 5, 1956), known professionally as Kenny G, is an American smooth jazz saxophonist, composer, and producer. His 1986 album ''Duotones'' brought him commercial success. Kenny G is one of the best-selling artis ...

Nek Filippo Neviani (born 6 January 1972), known by his stage name Nek, is an Italian singer-songwriter and musician. Nek is popular in Italy and throughout the Spanish-speaking world, and has performed and released most of his albums in both Italian ...

, and

Laura Pausini Laura Pausini (; born 16 May 1974) is an Italian singer. She rose to fame in 1993, winning the newcomer artists' section of the 43rd Sanremo Music Festival with her debut single "La solitudine", which became an Italian standard and an internat ...

. During that time, he also arranged the song ''Non Ci Sto'' which brought the singer Syria to win the Sanremo singing contest in the "new artists" category, in 1996.

Music journalism

Meanwhile, he started writing articles on the music magazine ''Chitarre'', based on analysis of rock, pop and jazz musicians. Then occasionally on ''Strumenti Musicali'' and – recently – on the web magazines ''Accordo'' and ''Ganzo''. In ''Chitarre'' and ''Accordo'', Simone Sello's articles have included interviews with, among other notable musicians,

Steve Vai Steven Siro Vai (; born June 6, 1960) is an American guitarist, composer, songwriter, and producer. A three-time Grammy Award winner and fifteen-time nominee, Vai started his music career in 1978 at the age of eighteen as a transcriptionist for ...

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, and Vasco Rossi. Encouraged by the appeal his early articles had to young musicians, he published two instructional books and DVDs: ''Tecniche e segreti della chitarra elettrica dalla A alla Z'' (1996) and ''La chitarra rock – il fraseggio e l`improvvisazione'' (1997).

Move to Los Angeles

In 1997 he moved to

Los Angeles, California Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, where he kept pursuing his musician and journalist careers. Through a referral by guitar legend

, he met the bass player

, with whom he started a long collaboration. After playing and programming Billy Sheehan's first two solo records (''

Compression Compression may refer to: Physical science *Compression (physics), size reduction due to forces *Compression member, a structural element such as a column *Compressibility, susceptibility to compression * Gas compression *Compression ratio, of a ...

'' in 2001 – which features

and drummer

Terry Bozzio Terry John Bozzio (born December 27, 1950) is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons and Frank Zappa. He has been featured on nine solo or collaborative albums, 26 albums with Zappa and seven albums with Missing Person ...

– and '' Cosmic Troubadour'' in 2005) he produced Billy's third record, entitled '' Holy Cow'' (2009), which also includes guest appearances by

Billy Gibbons William Frederick Gibbons (born December 16, 1949) is an American musician who is the guitarist and lead singer of the rock band ZZ Top. He began his career in the band the Moving Sidewalks, which recorded a full-length album entitled, ''Flas ...

Paul Gilbert Paul Brandon Gilbert is an American hard rock and heavy metal guitarist. He is the co-founder of the band Mr. Big, and was also a member of Racer X, with whom he released several albums. In 1996, Gilbert launched a solo career, for which h ...

and

Doug Pinnick Douglas Theodore Pinnick (born September 3, 1950), sometimes stylized as dUg Pinnick or simply dUg, is an American musician best known as the bass guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and songwriter for the hard rock and progressive metal band King's ...

. Meanwhile, he had joined pop star

`s live band, with whom he appeared in several US TV shows, including ''

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'' and '' Donnie & Marie''; he also appears in the live DVD ''Aaron`s Party'' (2002) along with

Aaron According to Abrahamic religions, Aaron ''′aharon'', ar, هارون, Hārūn, Greek (Septuagint): Ἀαρών; often called Aaron the priest ()., group="note" ( or ; ''’Ahărōn'') was a prophet, a high priest, and the elder brother of ...

`s brother Nick Carter, from

Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. Lou Pearlman formed the group in 1993 in Orlando, Florida. The gr ...

. In 2014, he plays guitars in Cristina Scuccia's debut album (also known as Suor Cristina or Sister Christina), along with other LA musicians, such as

Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2014. Colai ...

and

Tim Pierce Tim Pierce (born 1959 in Albuquerque) is an American session guitarist. He has worked for artists such as Joe Cocker, Crowded House, Goo Goo Dolls, Michael Jackson, Beth Hart, Roger Waters, Alice Cooper, Johnny Hallyday, Phil Collins, and the ...

Disney

Through fellow producer

Marco Marinangeli Marco Marinangeli is a Grammy-nominated Italian composer, songwriter, arranger, orchestrator and producer. He is the president of Magelic Productions, Inc., in Hollywood. He is a writer and producer of Josh Groban, Donna Summer, Plácido Doming ...

, he started a series of collaborations with

, including ''La Vida Mickey'' (2000), ''Disney Pop Dreamers'' (2002), ''Superstar Kidz'' Vol. 1 and 2 (2003–2004),

's ''

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'' (2008), a series of Disney Mobile commercials for Japan featuring

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, and a remix of the song '' Now Or Never'' from ''

High School Musical 3 ''High School Musical 3: Senior Year'' is a 2008 American musical film written by Peter Barsocchini and directed by Kenny Ortega. The sequel to ''High School Musical 2'' (2007) and the third installment of the ''High School Musical'' film series, ...

''.

Warren Cuccurullo and Chicanery

After meeting guitarist Warren Cuccurullo (formerly with

Frank Zappa Frank Vincent Zappa (December 21, 1940 – December 4, 1993) was an American musician, composer, and bandleader. His work is characterized by wikt:nonconformity, nonconformity, Free improvisation, free-form improvisation, sound experimen ...

Missing Persons A missing person is a person who has disappeared and whose status as alive or dead cannot be confirmed as their location and condition are unknown. A person may go missing through a voluntary disappearance, or else due to an accident, crime, de ...

and

Duran Duran Duran Duran () are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor (bass guitarist), John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger ...

), he produced the debut CD of surreal alternative rock band Chicanery (dPulse 2010) at RedRum Studios. In the album Simone Sello also plays bass, guitar, violin and synths; other remarkable musicians include vocalist

Neil Carlill Neil Carlill (born 20 March 1967 in Ripon, England), is an English singer, lyricist, poet, composer, and musician. He is known for his work with experimental and alternative rock bands including 1990s UK acts Delicatessen and Lodger, and more ...

and guest drummer

. . He also co-produced Warren's album '' Playing in Tongues'' (2009 Edel Records Europe – Zappa Records USA), and a concept album entitled ''N'Liten Up''.

Vasco Rossi

In 2008 he started working with Italian rockstar Vasco Rossi, appearing in the videoclip for ''Il Mondo Che Vorrei'' (2008) and on the short documentary ''Quello che non si potrebbe'' (2008). He is listed as backing vocalist in the song ''Gioca Con Me'', along with rock guitarist

Slash Slash may refer to: * Slash (punctuation), the "/" character Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Slash (Marvel Comics) * Slash (''Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles'') Music * Harry Slash & The Slashtones, an American rock band * Nash ...

. Then he collaborated to the CD''Tracks II – Inediti e rarità'' (2009), programming the hit song ''Sto Pensando A Te'' and playing lead guitar on ''Ho Fatto Un Sogno''; in 2011, Vasco Rossi released a new studio album ''Vivere O Niente'', which features Simone Sello on guitar, keyboards and programing on several tracks, and includes a song he co-wrote with Vasco and

Saverio Principini Saverio Principini (also known as "Sage") is a certified multi-platinum music producer and songwriter active in the Los Angeles music scene since 1987. Early life and career Sage began his musical career in Italy as a bassist for cult heavy me ...

, called ''Manifesto Futurista Della Nuova Umanità''. In 2013 Vasco Rossi released two more singles: in the first one, called '' L'uomo più semplice'' Simone Sello is credited as guitarist, keyboardist and programmer, and in the second, called '' Cambia-menti'' he is credited as guitarist and co-writer. In Vasco's 2014 album ''

Sono innocente ''Sono innocente'' is a studio album by Italian singer-songwriter Vasco Rossi, produced by Guido Elmi and Rossi himself and released by Universal on 4 November 2014. The album was previewed on 30 November 2014, during the Medimex, the annual Exh ...

'', he appears again as a co-writer, in ''Lo Vedi'', and as a guitar player, in ''L'Ape Regina'' and ''Marta Piange Ancora''. On January 1, 2021, Vasco Rossi released the single '' Una Canzone D’Amore Buttata Via'', which features a guitar solo by Simone Sello.

Amber Lily

In 2011 Simone wrote and produced ''Coming To Life'' the debut CD of young American pop singer Amber Lily, whose song ''I`m Into It'', got used in the movie ''Christmas Cupid'' (2010), and participated in Disney's Next Big Thing contest in 2010 with the songs "''2 2 2 L 8'' (too too too late)" and ''Next To You''.

Scoring

In 2004 Simone wrote part of the soundtrack of the movie ''The Youngest Guns'', and in 2005 he scored a short movie called ''4 and 1/4'' with Alex Alessandroni Jr. With Saverio Principini, he co-scored the documentary ''Una su Tre'' (2011), and in 2012 he contributed to the soundtrack of the documentary ''Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp'', directed by Jorge Hinojosa and produced by Ice-T.

Songwriting and production

As SimoneX, he had the song ''Lines of Change'' licensed in the movie '' Two Lovers'' (2008) and with Mafia Bianca Llc he had the song ''I Am Changing'', co-written with Steven E. Heinstein, used in the movie '' When in Rome'' (2010 Touchstone Pictures) and its CD soundtrack. Another one of their songs ''I Know I am Broken'' made it into the episode ''Where`s Kaylie'' in the TV series ''

Make It or Break It ''Make It or Break It'' ( ''MIOBI)'' is an American teen/family drama television series that focused on the lives of teen gymnasts who strived to make it to the Olympic Games in 2012. The series was inspired by Touchstone's 2006 teen comedy-dra ...

'' (2009).

Filmmaking

In 2018 Sello made the experimental movie ''Organum Mathematicum'', consisting of original videos and images assembled over a continuum of 6 electronic musical pieces. The project won an award at the 9th monthly season of the Cult Critic Movie Awards and achieved an honorable mention award at the May 2018 edition of the Festigious Film Festival.

Selected discography

Compilation

Album

Solo

Album

As producer, composer, writer, programmer, sound engineer, arranger, performer on other artists' albums

Filmography

Film

* '' The Youngest Guns'' (2004), theme music performed by Simone Sello – composer * '' 4 1/4'' (2005 Posh Films), soundtrack score performed by Simone Sello and Alex Alessandroni, jr. – composer * '' Vasco - Quello che non si potrebbe'' (2008 Wonderland Entertainment) cast member * '' Two Lovers'' (2008 Magnolia Pictures) '' Lines of Change'', performed by SimoneX – writer * '' When in Rome'' (2010 Touchstone Pictures) ''

I am Changing "I Am Changing" is a song from the second act of the long-running Broadway musical ''Dreamgirls''. Written by Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen, the song was performed by the character Effie White, originally portrayed on Broadway by Jennifer Holliday ...

'' performed by Mafia Bianca, LLC – co-writer * '' Una su Tre'' (2011 Cinerentola), soundtrack score performed by Simone Sello – composer * '' Iceberg Slim: Portrait of a Pimp'' (2012 Ice-T), soundtrack score performed by Simone Sello – composer * '' Organum Mathematicum'' (2018), directed by Simone Sello – director and composer

Television

* Sanremo Music Festival

Rai 1 Rai 1 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's flagship television channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream and general ...

1994–1997 performer/arranger * ''

'' ABC Family TV series 2009 Season 1, Episode 9 ''Where's Kaylie?'' ''I Know I'm Broken'' producer/writer * '' Christmas Cupid'' TV movie 2010 ''I'm Into It'' writer

References

External links

Red Rum Productions website

Session Recording website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sello, Simone 1968 births Living people Italian record producers Pop guitarists Italian rock guitarists Italian male guitarists