Raffaele Riefoli
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Raf | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Raffaele Riefoli |
| Born | September 29, 1959 Italy |
| Origin | Italy |
| Genre(s) | Adult Contemporary, Soft Rock, Pop |
| Occupation(s) | Singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals |
| Years active | 1983–present |
| Label(s) | Warner Music Group Carrere |
| Website | Raf Official Site |
Raf (born Raffaele Riefoli on September 29, 1959 Margherita di Savoia, Italy) is an Italian popular singer.
Contents |
[edit] Biography
Riefoli lived the few first years of the 80s in London, England before he started out his musical career in 1984 mostly landing in the New Wave scene with his English language album Raf. His first single "Self Control" (which was later sung by an American singer Laura Branigan) was a huge hit not only in his native Italy but also in many other European countries including Germany where the single climbed as high as no. 2 in the Media Control chart.[1] In the beginning his name appeared in the charts as Raff, the second "f" in his stage-name lasted only for as long as he was being marketed while singing in English. Raf released two other singles from his English sung album "Change Your Mind" and "Hard" which were not as successful as the first single. Riefoli also wrote songs for other Italian artists; the track "Si può dare di più" that he wrote for the trio Morandi-Ruggeri-Tozzi won the first prize at San Remo Festival. Riefoli was also responsible for the Europe-wide hit song "Gente di mare" which he wrote for Umberto Tozzi. Despite all the success that Raf was experiencing by releasing his records in English language, in 1988, he decided to produce the rest of his upcoming albums in his native language, the sounds of which were switched from New Wave into simply pop. Raf has released 10 albums throughout the years, including 1993 album called Cannibali which has been certified six times platinum, the album contains many successful tracks like "Il battito animale", "Due", "Stai con me".
[edit] Discography
[edit] Albums
- Raf 1984
- Self Control 1987 (this album contains 2 new songs "Hard", "London Town" the other 9 songs are from the 1984 album)
- Svegliarsi 1988
- Cosa Restera 1989
- Sogni 1991
- Cannibali 1993
- Manifesto 1995
- Collezione Temporanea 1996 (Best of)
- La Prova 1998
- Iperbole 2001
- Ouch 2004
- Passeggeri Distratti 2006
[edit] Singles
- Self Control [#1 Italy, #2 Germany, #1 Switzerland]
- Change Your Mind [#15 Italy, #19 Germany, #12 Sweden]
- I Don't Want To Lose You [#26 Italy]
- London Town [#25 Italy]
