In those early days I had just turned twenty years old and I was still immersed in my studies at the conservatory, but it was the demo of “Masterpiece”, recorded on a teac reel-to-reel 4 track that led me to interrupt my studies temporarily and inspired me to search for a record company to release it.
All of the Italian record company people told me that a song like “Masterpiece” sung in English by an unknown artist could not possibly compete with the great international pop artists of the time.
They insisted that I should stop writing my music and focus on becoming an arranger for the Italian-Music singers of the time but I replied that I would rather commit suicide than to help produce what I felt was little more doggerel.
I was in a state of despair when an roman D.J. found me, and proposed first to record the song in a small studio, then sell the master not to a record company but a record broker in Milan!
At the time I was doubtful but given the circumstances I accepted.
I recorded the arrangement in two days in a broken-down small studio that was equipped with a tascam 1″ 16 track tape recorder and a couple of external effects…
Not withstanding I was able to create an uncommon technological-sounding recording, partly because of the mix between the cheap out-of-tune vertical piano that was present in the studio and the synthesisers.
All of this cheapness added a romantic quality to the track. The record came out as a misterious white-label mix with only the title and the two writer’s aliases of “Taheri” for the music, and “Pomerol” for the lyrics (myself and Gazebo respectively).
Incredibly without any promotion the record began to capture the attention of deejays and club-goers, and subsequently exploded when “Baby Records” aquired the record and began to market it.
This was the beginning of my producing and compositional career, and the beginning of the “Gazebo” project.
“Masterpiece” was the first in a series of international hits that, with modesty, helped to establish the “dance made in Italy” in the 80’s.