Giorgio Moroder

Giorgio Moroder
Giorgio Moroder in 2007
Background information
Birth name	Hansjörg Moroder
Also known as	Giorgio
Born	(1940-04-26) 26 April 1940 Urtijëi, South Tyrol, Italy
Genres	Dance, disco, synthpop, electronic, Italo disco, pop, rock
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, record producer
Instruments	Synthesizers, vocals
Years active	1965–present
Labels	London, Oasis, Casablanca, Hansa, RCA, Virgin
Associated acts	Donna Summer, Freddie Mercury, Limahl, Daft Punk
Website	www.moroder.net

Giorgio Moroder (born Hansjörg Moroder, 26 April 1940) is an Italian record producer, songwriter and performer.

When in Munich in the 1970s, he started his own record label called Oasis Records, which several years later became a subdivision of Casablanca Records. He collaborated with Donna Summer during the era of disco (including "Love to Love You Baby" and "I Feel Love") and is the founder of the former Musicland Studios in Munich, which was used as a recording studio by artists including the Electric Light Orchestra, Led Zeppelin, Queen and Elton John.

In addition to producing several hits with Donna Summer, Moroder also produced a number of electronic disco hits for The Three Degrees, two albums for Sparks, a handful of songs on Bonnie Tyler's album Bitterblue as well as her 1985 single "Here She Comes" and a score of songs for performers including David Bowie, Irene Cara, Madleen Kane, Melissa Manchester, Blondie, Japan, and France Joli.

Music career

Moroder made his first steps in music in Berlin by releasing a few singles under the name "Giorgio" beginning in 1966, singing in Italian, Spanish, English, and German. He came to prominence in 1969, when his recording "Looky Looky", released on Ariola Records, was awarded a gold disc in October 1970. He then began making a name for himself in studios around Germany in the early 1970s. Often collaborating with lyricist Pete Bellotte, Moroder had a number of hits in his own name including "Son of My Father" in 1972 before releasing the synthesizer-driven From Here to Eternity, a notable chartbuster in 1977, and in the following year releasing "Chase", the theme from the film Midnight Express. These songs achieved some chart success in the United Kingdom, the United States, and across Europe, and everywhere disco-mania was spreading. The full film score for Midnight Express won him his first Academy Award for best film score in 1978. In 1979, Moroder released his album E=MC². Text on the album's cover stated that it was the "first electronic live-to-digital album." He also released three albums between 1977–1979 under the name Munich Machine.

In 1984, Moroder worked with Philip Oakey of The Human League to make the album Philip Oakey & Giorgio Moroder; which was a UK singles chart hit with "Together in Electric Dreams", title track to the 1984 film Electric Dreams. The same year saw him collaborating with Kajagoogoo frontman Limahl for their worldwide hit "Neverending Story". In 1986, Moroder collaborated with his protégé Harold Faltermeyer (of "Axel F.") and lyricist Tom Whitlock to create the score for the film Top Gun (1986) which included Kenny Loggins' hit "Danger Zone" and Berlin's "Take My Breath Away". He also wrote the theme song to the film Over The Top (film) "Meet Me Half Way" which was also performed by Kenny Loggins. "Chase" was also used as an entrance theme for wrestling's group The Midnight Express. In 1987, Moroder produced Falco's song "Body Next to Body".

In 1997, Moroder and Donna Summer won the Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording for the song "Carry On".

On 20 September 2004 Moroder was honored at the Dance Music Hall of Fame ceremony, held in New York, when he was inducted for his many outstanding achievements and contributions as producer. In 2005, he was given the title of Commendatore by the then President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi. On September 5, 2010 Moroder received the Great Order of Merit of the South Tyrol.

In 2013, it was revealed that Moroder had been working with Daft Punk as a collaborator on their fourth studio album Random Access Memories; admitting that he had been a fan of their song "One More Time" before working with the group. His voice and story is featured on the album's track "Giorgio by Moroder". In the track he states "my name is Giovanni Giorgio, but everybody calls me Giorgio."

Film work

Throughout much of his musical career, Moroder has been involved in soundtrack work for various motion pictures.

In 1978, he wrote the Academy Award-winning soundtrack to Midnight Express, which featured one of his best-known pieces, "Chase".

In 1980, he composed and produced two film soundtrack albums: the first for Foxes and the second for American Gigolo. A double album of the Foxes soundtrack was released on the disco label Casablanca Records which includes Donna Summer's hit single "On the Radio", which Moroder both produced and co-wrote. The American Gigolo soundtrack featured the Moroder-produced Blondie's "Call Me", a US and UK number one hit. All singles from the album also went to number two for five weeks on the disco/dance charts. In 1982 he wrote the soundtrack of the movie Cat People, including the hit single "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" featuring David Bowie.

In 1983, Moroder produced the soundtrack for the film Scarface. During its initial release, the album was only available in a few countries and strictly through import in the United States. Notable Moroder-produced tracks included "Scarface (Push It to the Limit)" by Paul Engemann, "Rush Rush" by Debbie Harry, and "She's on Fire" by Amy Holland. In 2006, the soundtrack was featured in the game Scarface: The World Is Yours, which is based on the film and also includes some previously-unreleased instrumentals by Moroder.

In 1984, Moroder compiled a new restoration and edit of the silent film Metropolis (1927) and provided it with a contemporary soundtrack. This soundtrack includes seven pop music tracks from Pat Benatar, Jon Anderson, Adam Ant, Billy Squier, Loverboy, Bonnie Tyler and Freddie Mercury. He also integrated the old-fashioned intertitles into the film as subtitles as a means of improving continuity, and he also increased the film's framerate to 24 frames a second. Since the original speed was unknown this choice was controversial. Known as the "Moroder version", it sparked debate among film buffs, with outspoken critics and supporters of the film falling into equal camps.

Moroder also scored other films in the 1970s and 1980s, including Flashdance, The Never Ending Story, Thief of Hearts, Electric Dreams, Cat People and Over the Top.

In 2002, he wrote the score for Leni Riefenstahl's final film, Impressionen unter Wasser, a marine documentary.

Video games

His score for "Scarface" has been used in the video game Grand Theft Auto III while Moroder's "From Here to Eternity" and "Chase" were used in the Sony PlayStation Portable and PlayStation 2 game Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories. "Together In Electric Dreams", a collaborative effort of Giorgio Moroder and Philip Oakey (of The Human League) features in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories.

Sporting events and other media

Moroder wrote the official theme songs, "Reach Out", for the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, and "Hand in Hand", for the 1988 Seoul Olympics and "Un'estate italiana" for the 1990 Football World Cup. "The Chase" is now also used as the theme bumper-music for the US AM talk radio program Coast to Coast AM. The BBC used Moroder's film soundtrack "Ivory Tower" as theme song during the broadcast of the motor-racing event Formula 1 Grand Prix, during the late 1980s and the early/mid-1990s. He also composed the song "Forever Friends" for the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Other

In the late 1980s, Moroder collaborated with Claudio Zampolli to create the Cizeta supercar.

Awards

Moroder has won three Academy Awards: Best Original Score for Midnight Express (1978); Best Song for "Flashdance...What a Feeling", from the film Flashdance (1983); and Best Song for "Take My Breath Away", from Top Gun (1986).

Moroder also won two of his three Grammy Awards for "Flashdance": Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television Special and Best Instrumental Composition, for the track "Love Theme from Flashdance".

In 2005, Moroder was named a Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana, and in 2010 Bolzano awarded him the Grande Ordine al Merito della Provincia autonoma di Bolzano.

Notable collaborations

• Philip Oakey – "Together in Electric Dreams" (1984)
• María Conchita Alonso – "Vamos a Bailar"
• Adam Ant
• Pat Benatar – "Here's My Heart"
• Edoardo Bennato
• Berlin
• Big Trouble – Big Trouble (1988)
• Blondie – "Call Me"
• David Bowie – "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" (1982)
• Japan – "Life in Tokyo" (1979)
• The Three Degrees – New Dimensions (1978), 3D (1979)
• Bonnie Tyler
• Freddie Mercury
• Daft Punk – Random Access Memories (2013)

Discography

Main article: Giorgio Moroder discography

Sampling and other uses

• The British alternative rock duo Curve covered "I Feel Love" in 1992. The song was later included on the double CD compilation The Way of Curve, released in 2004.
• Bronski Beat have covered "I Feel Love" and "Love to Love You Baby" for their debut album The Age of Consent (1984).
• "On Fire", the second single from rapper Lil Wayne's seventh studio album Rebirth; contains allusions from Amy Holland's song "She's on Fire" and was inspired in its entirety by Scarface.
• "Push It", the second single from rapper Rick Ross' debut album Port of Miami; samples "Scarface (Push It to the Limit)" and the story of the video has a very similar theme to the film Scarface. It was produced by J. R. Rotem.
• His song "Tears" was sampled and used as the basis of the DJ Shadow song "Organ Donor" on his 1996 album Endtroducing...... Canadian Hip Hop group Swollen Members sampled the song in "Fuel Injected" and "Meltdown". It also appears on the song "Tragedy" by RZA. The main melody and chord progression form the basis of "Marz" by folk musician John Grant and "Only Light" by Australian ska band The Cat Empire.
• The Hip Hop-duo Mobb Deep used a sample from the song "Tony's Theme" in their song G.O.D. Pt. III.
• His Song "E=MC2" was sampled and used for J. Dilla's song of the same title.
• One of his early compositions, "Doo-Bee-Doo-Bee-Doo" from 1969, would be featured for many years in silent sketches on The Benny Hill Show, as part of a medley that also included "Mah Nà Mah Nà", a 4/4 adaptation of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Für Elise", and "Gimme Dat Ding".
• The theme from Midnight Express was sampled by hip-hop duo OutKast for their song "Return of the Gangsta", and by hip-hop producer J Dilla for "Phantom of the Synths", a beat later used by MF DOOM for "Gazzillion Ear" and by Jay Electronica for "Dimethyltryptamine".
• Moroder's opening theme from the film Scarface is sampled by Nas and Mobb Deep for the track "It's Mine".
• "Leopard Tree Dream" from Cat People is sampled by Cannibal Ox in the song "Iron Galaxy."
• "The Legend Of Babel" theme From the "metropolis" soundtrack was covered By DJ Dado.
• British electronica musician Little Boots covered "Love Kills", which was written in collaboration with Freddie Mercury.
• "Future Lovers", a song from American recording artist Madonna's 2005 album Confessions on a Dance Floor, has a bass line inspired by Donna Summer's Moroder-produced hit "I Feel Love". Furthermore, Madonna opened her 2006 Confessions Tour with a medley of "Future Lovers" and "I Feel Love".
• For the "Chase" instrumental, see that article
• Suns of Arqa's album "Technomor" includes the track "Moroder Vibe" which contains elements of "I Feel Love".
• Soundtrack for Google's Racer, a mobile Chrome experiment
• Underworld's 1999 album, Beaucoup Fish, contains a song titled Shudder/King Of Snake, which contains an interpolation of the bass line from "I Feel Love".

See also

• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart
• Cizeta Moroder V16 supercar project

External links

• Soundcloud - Giorgio Moroder
• discog.info: Giorgio Moroder discography
• Giorgio Moroder discography at Discogs
• Giorgio Moroder at the Internet Movie Database