1980s

In his early days, he founded the group “Rocking Chairs” in 1981, performing then on numerous tours in Italy and abroad, and making four albums-New Egypt, Freedom Rain, No Sad Goodbyes, and Hate & Love Revisited-all composed by original songs written by him and some “covers” of Dylan, Van Morrison, Bruce Springsteen, and Rolling Stones.

The last two albums are recorded in the USA (New York and Nashville), providing a great opportunity of growth for the group (then finished since 1995 with Ligabue) and for the singer/songwriter, the core of all the band’s creativity, the chance to duet with great American artists such as Elliott Murphy, Willie Nile, Ashley Cleveland, Robert Gordon. The excellent reviews obtained by those albums, in which instrumentalists of absolute value such as guitarist Chris Spedding, the Uptown Horns (wind section with the Rolling Stones), keyboardist Mike Lawler (James Brown, Steve Winwood, Allman Brothers Band) and many others took part, combined with the enthusiasm of the public exalted an artistic proposal then atypical for Italy, a mixture of folk, classic rock and rhythm & blues combined with a typically European sense of melody. Authentic gems remain from those years such as “Freedom Rain,” “Road to Justice,” “No Sad Goodbyes” and “Cast the Stone,” which are just a few of the many songs in the Rocking Chairs repertoire.

read the biography on the artist’s official website