Italo disco

Italo disco originated in the 1970s and had its big time in 1980s. It is characterized by a typical 4/4 beat, octave baselines, a spherical sound and simple catchy melodies. Italo disco has a strong focus on the vocals which are mostly sung in English and produced a lot of so-called »one hit wonders«.

The earliest example of Italian disco music is probably Marcella Bella’s »Nessuno mai« (1974). Other genre pioneers were duo La Bionda and their 1978 hit »One for You, One for Me«. Beginning of the 1980s, Italian disco music gathered attention outside of the country. The term Italo disco was coined by by Bernhard Mikulski of German record label ZYX who licensed tracks for a string of compilation albums.

A typical example of Italo disco is »Self Control« (1984) by Raf which has also successfully been released by US singer Laura Branigan the same year. Further notable Italo disco artists and tracks include Baltimora and »Tarzan Boy« (1985), Gazebo and »I Like Chopin«, Ryan Paris and »Dolce Vita« (both 1983) as well as Righeira and »Vamos a la playa« (1983) and » No tengo dinero« (1984). Later well- known genre examples are Den Harrow with »Don’t Break My Heart« and Sabrina with »Boys« (both 1987).