Giorgio Moroder Giovanni Giorgio Moroder is an influential
Italian record producer, songwriter, performer and DJ.
Moroder is frequently credited with pioneering synth disco and electronic dance music.
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. A recording studio used
by many renown artists including 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 the
Scotch-Club in Aachen and then released a few singles under the name "Giorgio" beginning
in 1966 after moving to Berlin, 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, a No. 1 hit in Great
Britain for Chicory Tip, before releasing the synthesizer-driven From Here to Eternity,
a notable chartbuster in 1977. That same year he co-wrote and produced the seminal Donna
Summer hit single I Feel Love. The following year he released "Chase", the theme from the
film Midnight Express. "Chase" is often used on the American syndicated late night radio
show "Coast to Coast" and was also used as an entrance theme for wrestling's group The
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 Original Score in 1979. 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 "The
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 "Meet Me Half Way" which was also performed
by Kenny Loggins. In 1987 Moroder produced and co-wrote 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.
Moroder contributed to Daft Punk's 2013 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". On the track he states,
"My name is Giovanni Giorgio, but everybody calls me Giorgio."
Moroder is working on a new album. The title and tracklist haven't been revealed yet.
In 2014, Giorgio Moroder reworked an old classic from the 60s called “Doo Bee Doo” (2014
version), which was used in the Volkswagen 2014 Super Bowl commercial entitled "Wings".
On the 28th of March 2014, singer Kelis announced a collaboration with Moroder on her Facebook-page.
On the 21st of April 2014, Giorgio released his official remix of Coldplay's “Midnight”
from their upcoming album Ghost Stories (Coldplay album).
In April / May 2014, Giorgio Moroder announced that he will work with the french electro-pop
producer Madeon and US-american singer Lana Del Rey.
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 Foxes soundtrack also contains a song titled Bad Love, written and performed by
the singer-actress Cher and produced by Moroder. 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 games Grand Theft Auto III and Scarface: The World Is Yours 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. More recently he composed, produced and performed the theme
music for Google's "Racer". 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 display of the starting grid during the motor-racing programme 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. In summer 2013, Giorgio started to DJ, giving
his US debut at the Red Bull Music Academy in New York City. He is touring around the
globe and playing his classics from the 70s and 80s but also new remixes.
In spring 2014, he announced his upcoming DJ-gigs and tour dates.
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".
The third was won for Best Dance Recording for the song "Carry On".
In 2005, Moroder was named a Commendatore Ordine al Merito della Repubblica Italiana,
and in 2010 Bozen awarded him the Grande Ordine al Merito della Provincia autonoma di Bolzano.
In 2011, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award from the World Soundtrack Academy.
In 2014, Giorgio Moroder won his 4th Grammy Award for Daft Punk's Random Access Memories
(Album of the Year). Notable collaborations
Donna Summer – Love to Love You Baby (1975) The Three Degrees – New Dimensions (1978),
3D (1979) Sparks – No. 1 in Heaven (1979)
Japan – "Life in Tokyo" (1979) David Bowie – "Cat People (Putting Out Fire)"
(1982) Irene Cara – What a Feelin' (1983)
Philip Oakey – "Together in Electric Dreams" (1984)
Sigue Sigue Sputnik – "Flaunt It" (1985) - creation of the "Cyberpunk sound"
Big Trouble – Big Trouble (1988) María Conchita Alonso – "Vamos a Bailar"
Adam Ant Kenny Loggins - "Danger Zone", "Meet Me Halfway"
Pat Benatar – "Here's My Heart" Edoardo Bennato
Berlin – "Take My Breath Away" Blondie – "Call Me"
Bonnie Tyler Freddie Mercury
Daft Punk – "Giorgio by Moroder" (2013) 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". The version of "Live To Tell" Madonna performed on The Confessions
Tour heavily samples Moroder's song "Tears". 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".