Italo disco pioneer Carmelo La Bionda has died

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Album cover for "I Love You" by Carmelo La Bionda (1984)

He shaped the Italo disco sound, now Carmelo La Bionda has died at the age of 73.

This was reported by several Italian media, citing family members of the musician, and a message on Carmelo La Bionda's Facebook page announced the artist's death.

According to the news portal »Rai News«, he was diagnosed with cancer and died last Saturday, November 5, 2022, at his home in San Donato, Milan.

Carmelo La Bionda and his brother Michelangelo are regarded as pioneers of Italo disco, a variety of electronic dance music characterized by catchy melodies.

Her work includes electronic as well as acoustic sounds.

In the 1970s, the brothers founded the music group La Bionda, later also calling themselves DD Sound (short for »Disco Delivery Sound«).

In 1972 they released their debut album, Fratelli La Bionda srl, which featured acoustic guitar-borne tracks such as Il Primo Giorno Dell'Anno.

At the end of the 1970s, the La Bionda single »One for You, One for Me«, which simultaneously triggers holiday feelings and makes one think of shiny disco balls, was a hit in Europe.

The song reached number 2 in the single charts in Germany.

In the 1980s, the brothers founded a studio in Milan, where Ray Charles, Robert Palmer and Depeche Mode worked, among others.

They produced music like that of Italo-disco duo Righeira (1983's »Vamos A La Playa«).

The brothers also composed film music, for example for Bud Spencer and Terence Hill films such as "Zwei Asse trumpen auf".

The La Bionda brothers' last album, In Beatween, was released in 1998.

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