Pappo

Norberto Aníbal Napolitano (10 March 1950 – 25 February 2005), popularly known as Pappo, was an Argentine rock musician, guitarist, singer and songwriter.

One of the most influential figures in Argentine music, he was a forerunner of Argentine rock, heavy metal and blues.

He is considered by various Argentine musicians, by the public and by the specialized press as the best guitarist in the history of Argentine rock, while B. B. King considered him one of the best guitarists of all time.

He was a member of popular Argentine rock bands such as Los Abuelos de la Nada, Engranaje, Los Gatos and Billy Bond y La Pesada del Rock and Roll.

During the late 1960s and through the 1970s, he was a pivotal part of the Argentine rock scene.

Pappo started playing as an occasional guitarist for Manal but soon joined Los Abuelos de la Nada and later Los Gatos, with whom he recorded two albums in 1969 and 1970.

He also founded the blues rock band Pappo's Blues; the hard rock band Aeroblus, in the 1970s; and the heavy metal band Riff in the 1980s.

He also founded a band in United States called The Widowmakers.

His pseudonym came from various deformations of the abbreviation of his surname, Napo.

Another nickname with which he was popularly known was Carpo, alluding to the dominance he possessed when moving the carpus of his hand while playing guitar.

B. B. King nicknamed him "The Cheeseman" due to a gift he received from Pappo consisting of an Argentine cheese and a red wine.

Pappo was born in La Paternal, Buenos Aires.

He showed interest in blues and rock 'n' roll music starting at a young age, with his early influences being The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, Freddie King, B.B. King, Jimi Hendrix, Muddy Waters, Eric Clapton, and Manal.

He formed his own band, Pappo's Blues, in 1970 and released its first album in 1971.

In the 1970s, Pappo's Blues saw constant line-up changes, with Pappo being the only permanent member of the band and main songwriter.

The band was also part of the 1973 rock documentary Hasta que se ponga el sol, filmed during the third edition of the B.A. Rock festival.

Between 1975 and 1980, Pappo lived alternately in England and Argentina.

In the United Kingdom, he made contact with new genres such as punk rock and the new wave of British heavy metal.

He formed the power trio Aeroblus in 1977 with ex-Manal bassist Alejandro Medina and Brazilian drummer Castello Jr. Pappo relocated to Argentina permanently in 1980 and formed the band Riff.

In a televised interview in 1985 on the programme Noche de Brujas, journalist Alicia Barrios confronted Pappo over an attempted sexual attack when the journalist was 20 years old at Estadio Luna Park, Buenos Aires.

In the duration of the interview conducted in Spanish, Pappo admitted to semi-violacion (semi-raping), and responded that "one always has ideas of raping people as pretty as you."

In 1990, he appeared as a guest guitarist on Sandra Mihanovich and Celeste Carballo's album Mujer contra mujer.

He revived Pappo's Blues in the 1990s, alternating the activity of this group with eventual reunions of Riff.

Pappo released a solo classic blues and hard rock album called Buscando un amor in 2003, which turned out to be his last record.

Pappo died in February 2005 in a motorcycle accident.

Buenos Aires dedicated a monument in his honour.

Pappo's discography encompasses almost four decades, from the late 60s with Los Gatos and Los Abuelos de la Nada until his death in 2005.