Roberto Zanetti is Savage

Tuscan singer Roberto Zanetti is one of the definitive stars of Italo disco.  From his debut single in 1983, Don't Cry Tonight which is actually quite slow and heavily influenced by new wave, to many others including Only You, Radio and Time.  He became one of the most successful artists of the genre.  He geniously mixed sadness with a dance beat and came upon a successful sound which built upon new wave and influenced a lot of Italo Disco that came after it.  Don't Cry Tonight went on to sell 50,000 maxi singles and 200,000 45's in Italy alone.  It then got licensed to many different countries in many of which it became a hit and sold well there too.

In an interview for the book Italo Disco Story Roberto states that the Pet Shop Boys were heavily inspired by Don't Cry Tonight and I've read elsewhere that they idolized Bobby O (an italian american producer) and in fact collaborated with him on their first releases until their contract was bought out and Bobby was kicked to the curb.

Savage Greatest Hits
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He also used aliases such as Robyx, Rubix, Scatt, Joey Moon, Creavibe and the genius Stargo with the italo disco classic Capsicum.  Capsicum

He even worked with Zucchero in the seventies and then again in 1983 in the group Taxi who had a single release called To Miami.

One of my favorites is I'm Loosing You from 1988.  It too has a bit of the melancholy of Don't Cry Tonight though tinged with a real HiNrg/Euro Dance feel that was prevalent in the mid to late 80's.  I also love the fact that the title is not spelled correctly.

Roberto mostly worked with Disco Magic which was just about my favorite italo disco label.  He also produced other hits like Run to Me by Lena, which I've blogged before and Magic Carillion by Rose and Tango's Computerized Love.  Computerised Love

Roberto was also able to reinvent himself becoming hugely successful producer of Euro Dance.  Writing for and credited with propelling the careers of such artists as Double You (huge euro dance cover of K.C. and the Sunshine Band Please Don't Go), Ice MC and Alexia.  Lots of long standing number 1 hits in the lot.  He formed the company DWA and had another roll in the biz.  This time his work was also able to really make a difference in his home country.  Believe it or not a lot of italo disco music was snubbed in Italy during it's heyday.  Italians have for a long time had this type of inferiority complex that always makes them look toward international things, particularly pop music.  There are times when the entire  top spots in the charts are by international artists.

He even worked with his old friend Zucchero again being responsible for huge hits like Baila Morena, Bacco Perbacco and Ahum.

Now not much music is being produced in Italy at all.  Apart from a few huge stars like Eros Ramazotti and Laura Pausini and a few others.  The Italian music industry is in a sorry state and very far from it's huge successes of the 80's which brought Italo Disco throughout the world and resulted in sales in the millions.