Belladonna (band)
Encyclopedia
Belladonna is an Italian Rock noir
Rock noir
Rock noir is a term used to identify a sub-genre of rock characterized by dramatic performances of theatrically rendered lyrical storytelling. It was originated by Italian band Belladonna, whose debut album Metaphysical Attraction is the first full-length Rock noir album ever released...
band.
Metaphysical Attraction
Belladonna was formed on February 14, 2005 in Rome, Italy by Luana Caraffa and Dani Macchi. During the course of the following months Belladonna wrote and recorded many songs, eleven of which would become their first full album: Metaphysical Attraction. It was during this time of transition that Caraffa and Macchi created a new music genreMusic genre
A music genre is a categorical and typological construct that identifies musical sounds as belonging to a particular category and type of music that can be distinguished from other types of music...
: Rock noir
Rock noir
Rock noir is a term used to identify a sub-genre of rock characterized by dramatic performances of theatrically rendered lyrical storytelling. It was originated by Italian band Belladonna, whose debut album Metaphysical Attraction is the first full-length Rock noir album ever released...
. The two songwriters, Caraffa and Macchi, experimented with minor keys and piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
arpeggios. They found that by adding haunting feminine backup vocals combined with a method thespian
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
female role singing lead, they could create a dramatic performance of theatrically rendered lyrical storytelling
Storytelling
Storytelling is the conveying of events in words, images and sounds, often by improvisation or embellishment. Stories or narratives have been shared in every culture as a means of entertainment, education, cultural preservation and in order to instill moral values...
, not unlike Film noir
Film noir
Film noir is a cinematic term used primarily to describe stylish Hollywood crime dramas, particularly those that emphasize cynical attitudes and sexual motivations. Hollywood's classic film noir period is generally regarded as extending from the early 1940s to the late 1950s...
. Within months of creating a MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
account in 2005, Belladonna became the most played Italian band on MySpace next to Lacuna Coil
Lacuna Coil
Lacuna Coil is an Italian gothic metal band from Milan. Formed in 1994, the group has had two name changes since being previously known as Sleep of Right and Ethereal and was inspired by the combination of gothic imagery and music...
.
As Belladonna's celebrity status grew in 2006, they were interviewed by major media outlets such as GQ. Glamour
Glamour (magazine)
Glamour is a women's magazine published by Condé Nast Publications. Founded in 1939 in the United States, it was originally called Glamour of Hollywood....
magazine did a two-page photo spread on the band and their MySpace fame. In early 2007 National Italian television La7
La7
La7 is an Italian television channel owned by Telecom Italia Media and operated by Telecom Italia.-History:In 2001, Lorenzo Pellicioli and Roberto Colaninno, of Telecom Italia announced they had acquired Telemontecarlo, in order to create a strong competitor against the six other national channels...
resounded Belladonna's web popularity in a news story that described them as "the most listened to Italian band on MySpace".
In August 2007, Belladonna released the music video of Mystical Elysian Love which was filmed on location in Berlin, Germany. The video reached #73 on the worldwide YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
most watched music videos chart on the same day it was released. In November 2007 Belladonna was the headliner musical act for the Erotica 07 event at The Grand Hall, Olympia in London. Sharing the stage with Belladonna at Erotica 07 was burlesque artist Dita Von Teese
Dita Von Teese
Dita Von Teese is an American burlesque dancer, model, costume designer, author and actress.-Early life:...
, Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
's former wife. The attendance of the Erotica 07 event was estimated at over 100,000 people.
In 2008, two tracks from Belladonna's first album Metaphysical Attraction, Black Swan and Foreverland, were nominated in the Ballot of the 2008 Grammy Awards for Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocals (Category 16) and for Best Rock Song (Category 20).
The Noir Album
In June 2008 Belladonna collaborated with Sylvia MassySylvia Massy
Sylvia Massy is an entrepreneur, record producer, and studio engineer in the United States. Massy is perhaps best recognized for her work on 1993's Undertow, the full-length double platinum-selling debut for Los Angeles rock band Tool.-History:...
at Radiostar Studios to produce recordings for their second album. Sylvia Massy
Sylvia Massy
Sylvia Massy is an entrepreneur, record producer, and studio engineer in the United States. Massy is perhaps best recognized for her work on 1993's Undertow, the full-length double platinum-selling debut for Los Angeles rock band Tool.-History:...
has produced bands such as Tool
Tool (band)
Tool is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1990, the group's line-up has included drummer Danny Carey, guitarist Adam Jones, and vocalist Maynard James Keenan. Since 1995, Justin Chancellor has been the band's bassist, replacing their original bassist Paul D'Amour...
, System of a Down
System of a Down
System of a Down, also known by the acronym SOAD and often shortened to System, is a rock band from Southern California. The band was formed in 1994. It consists of Serj Tankian , Daron Malakian , Shavo Odadjian and John Dolmayan...
, Skunk Anansie
Skunk Anansie
Skunk Anansie is an English rock band whose members include Skin , Cass , Ace and Mark Richardson .Skunk Anansie formed in March 1994, disbanded in 2001 and reformed in 2009...
, and Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
. In December 2008 Belladonna embarked on a promotional tour that included a show at The Fly in London.
Belladonna's second album The Noir Album was released on March 6, 2009. The band played showcases at the Key Club in Los Angeles (CA) on March the 16th and at South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
on March the 18th. In May 2009 Belladonna appeared the cover of the USA magazine Muen with Lacuna Coil
Lacuna Coil
Lacuna Coil is an Italian gothic metal band from Milan. Formed in 1994, the group has had two name changes since being previously known as Sleep of Right and Ethereal and was inspired by the combination of gothic imagery and music...
. From September 2009 the album's first single Till Death Do Us Part received airplay on UK's BBC Four
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British television network operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation and available to digital television viewers on Freeview, IPTV, satellite and cable....
, where Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
singer Bruce Dickinson
Bruce Dickinson
Paul Bruce Dickinson is an English singer, songwriter, airline pilot, fencer, broadcaster, author, screenwriter, actor and marketing director, best known as the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden....
aired it on his Friday Rock Show
Friday Rock Show
The Friday Rock Show was a radio show in the United Kingdom that was broadcast on BBC Radio 1 from 10pm to midnight on Friday nights from 1978 to 1993. Throughout most of its run it was hosted by Tommy Vance. Ostensibly for the genre of rock in general, it was most closely associated with heavy metal...
.
On tour around the world
In June 2009 Belladonna played a show as special guests to Guns N' RosesGuns N' Roses
Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band, formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. The band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album...
/Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver
Velvet Revolver is an American hard rock supergroup consisting of former Guns N' Roses members Slash, Duff McKagan, and Matt Sorum, alongside Dave Kushner formerly of punk band Wasted Youth. Stone Temple Pilots vocalist Scott Weiland was Velvet Revolver's lead singer from their formation until...
bass player Duff McKagan
Duff McKagan
Michael Andrew "Duff" McKagan is an American musician and writer. He is best known for his twelve-year tenure as the bassist of the hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s...
's band Loaded
Loaded (band)
Loaded is an American hard rock band from Seattle, Washington, formed in 1999. Since 2001, the band's line-up has included vocalist and rhythm guitarist Duff McKagan , lead guitarist Mike Squires and bassist Jeff Rouse Loaded (also known as Duff McKagan's Loaded) is an American hard rock band...
, and in an open air music festival in Milan with Mars Volta, Korn
Korn
Korn is an American nu metal band from Bakersfield, California, formed in 1993. The current band line up includes four members: Jonathan Davis, James "Munky" Shaffer, Reginald "Fieldy" Arvizu, and Ray Luzier. The band was formed as an expansion of L.A.P.D.The band released their first demo album,...
and Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
In October 2009 Belladonna performed at the Fonda Theater in Los Angeles alongside other well-known Italian artists such as Franco Battiato
Franco Battiato
Francesco Battiato is an Italian singer-songwriter, composer, filmmaker and, under the pseudonym Süphan Barzani, also a painter. Battiato's songs contain esoteric, philosophical and religious themes...
, Giovanni Allevi
Giovanni Allevi
Giovanni Allevi is an Italian pianist and composer.-Education:Allevi attained a first-class diploma both in piano at the "F. Morlacchi"'s conservatoire in Perugia and in composition at the "G...
, and Afterhours
Afterhours (band)
Afterhours is an Italian alternative rock band. The name is a tribute to the same-titled Velvet Underground's song.-Biography:The Afterhours were formed in 1985 in Milan around Manuel Agnelli, a Velvet Underground fan...
.
On the 26th of November 2009 Belladonna played a UK showcase at The Garage in London.
In 2010 Belladonna toured Belgium once and the UK twice, and gigged regularly around Italy.
Collaboration with Michael Nyman
In December 2010 Belladonna released Let There Be Light, a single written in collaboration with English composer Michael NymanMichael Nyman
Michael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
and based on his The Heart Asks Pleasure First from the soundtrack of the Jane Campion
Jane Campion
Jane Campion is a filmmaker and screenwriter. She is one of the most internationally successful New Zealand directors, although most of her work has been made in or financed by other countries, principally Australia – where she now lives – and the United States...
movie The Piano
The Piano
The Piano is a 1993 New Zealand drama film about a mute pianist and her daughter, set during the mid-19th century in a rainy, muddy frontier backwater on the west coast of New Zealand. The film was written and directed by Jane Campion, and stars Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, and Anna Paquin...
. Michael Nyman himself plays piano on the track.
And There Was Light
In August 2010 the band started pre-production on their third album And There Was Light, which they recorded in November in Los Angeles., produced by Dani Macchi with the help of Grammy-nominated producer Alex Elena and of MetallicaMetallica
Metallica is an American heavy metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1981 when James Hetfield responded to an advertisement that drummer Lars Ulrich had posted in a local newspaper. The current line-up features long-time lead guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Robert Trujillo ...
's Metallica (album)
Metallica (album)
Metallica is the self-titled fifth studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. Mainly produced by Bob Rock, it was released on August 12, 1991 through Elektra Records to critical acclaim...
engineer Mike Tacci, and mixed by Macchi in the band's studio in Rome. The album features several musical guests, including Imani Coppola
Imani Coppola
Imani Francesca Coppola is an American singer-songwriter and violinist probably best known for her 1997 hit "Legend of a Cowgirl" which sampled the instrumentals from "Sunshine Superman" by Donovan...
and Ruby Friedman
Ruby Friedman
-Biography:Ruby Friedman is a Los Angeles based singer/songwriter/composer and leader of the Ruby Friedman Orchestra. Her song Shooting Star was selected for promotional use on the television program America's Got Talent in 2010. The band will be releasing their debut album in 2011...
, as well as spoken word contributions by British occultist Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley
Aleister Crowley , born Edward Alexander Crowley, and also known as both Frater Perdurabo and The Great Beast, was an influential English occultist, astrologer, mystic and ceremonial magician, responsible for founding the religious philosophy of Thelema. He was also successful in various other...
and German psychologist Carl Jung
Carl Jung
Carl Gustav Jung was a Swiss psychiatrist and the founder of Analytical Psychology. Jung is considered the first modern psychiatrist to view the human psyche as "by nature religious" and make it the focus of exploration. Jung is one of the best known researchers in the field of dream analysis and...
In May 2011 And There Was Light was released on iTunes worldwide. The album enters the Italian iTunes Top 100, and reaches the number one spot in the CD Baby
CD Baby
CD Baby is an online music store specializing in the sale of CDs and digital music downloads from independent musicians to consumers. The company is also a digital aggregator of independent music recordings, distributing content to several online digital music retailers.CD Baby has achieved recent...
chart of the best selling rock albums worldwide.
In Sept 2010 Belladonna are mentioned alongside Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
, Moby
Moby
Richard Melville Hall , better known by his stage name Moby, is an American musician, DJ, and photographer. He is known mainly for his sample-based electronic music and his outspoken liberal political views, including his support of veganism and animal rights.Moby gained attention in the early...
and Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson
Marilyn Manson may refer to:* Marilyn Manson , an American rock musician* Marilyn Manson , the American rock band led by the singer of the same name...
in Motley Crue
Mötley Crüe
Mötley Crüe is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981. The group was founded by bass guitarist Nikki Sixx and drummer Tommy Lee, who were later joined by lead guitarist Mick Mars and lead singer Vince Neil...
's frontman Vince Neil
Vince Neil
Vincent Neil Wharton is an American vocalist and musician, best known as the lead vocalist of heavy metal band Mötley Crüe.-Early life:Neil was born in Hollywood, California to Odie and Shirley Wharton...
's autobiography "Tattoos and Tequila" as one of the most important acts that have been influenced by Motley Crue in recent years.
Band members
Current members- Luana Caraffa - VocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...
- Dani Macchi - GuitarGuitarThe guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
- Licia Missori - PianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
- Tam Scacciati - BassBass guitarThe bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
- Mattia Mari - drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Past members
- Alice Pelle - PianoPianoThe piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
- Alex Giuliani - drumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
Albums
- Metaphysical Attraction (2006)
- The Noir Album (2009)
- And There Was LightAnd There was LightThis article is about the book And There was Light.And There was Light is a history book by Myron F. Wehtje published by the Atlantic Press in 1982...
(2011)
Filmography
Black Swan (2005) - is a short film produced by Belladonna. Directed by Dani and featuring Luana as the ruthless agent Rosabel, the eight minute short features three Belladonna songs; Black Swan, Foreverland, and Holy Flame which were specifically written and recorded for the script to reflect Belladonna's flavor of delivering story driven music in a theatrical atmosphere.Remember Me, My Love (2003) - Belladonna's song Killer was featured in this movie by Gabriele Muccino
Gabriele Muccino
Gabriele Muccino is an Italian film director. He is the elder brother of actor Silvio Muccino, who often appears in his brother's films....
. A music video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
of Killer was shot by Australian director Richard Lowenstein
Richard Lowenstein
Richard Lowenstein is an Australian film director. He has written, produced and directed the feature films He Died With A Felafel In His Hand, Dogs In Space, Say a Little Prayer, Strikebound and Ghost Story, as well as numerous ground-breaking and award-winning music videos for bands such as INXS...
. At the time Belladonna were known under their earlier moniker Zoo di Venere.