Gaudi

Daniele Gaudi (born 12 July 1963), better known simply as Gaudi, is an Anglo-Italian musician, solo artist and record producer based in London, who specialises in dub music, electronica, reggae and worldbeat.

His career started in the early 1980s, his musical foundations were set in electronic music, post-punk and reggae.

In the mid-1980s, Gaudi started to gain recognition in the underground music scene for his works as a keyboardist with bands such as: The Gang -on the album 'Barricada Rumble Beat', 1985-, Disciplinatha -on the album Abbiamo pazientato 40 anni, ora basta, 1987- and Violet Eves.

Gaudi's career started in 1981 in his native country Italy as a keyboard player for new-wave bands such as: Wild Planet, Red Light and Violet Eves, the latter band playing an important role in the Italian underground music scene combining electronica, post-punk and traditional Italian melodies.

A few years later he joined the reggae band Bamboo Company which whom spent 5 years and developed his skills as a reggae music producer.

With three members of the Bamboo Company, Gaudi founded Raptus, one of the first Hip Hop act using Italian lyrics, releasing the 12in single "Peggio della colla" in 1986 on Multimedia Attack Punk Records and being subsequently spotted by Italian rocker Vasco Rossi and his production team Terryball which produced their next single.

While expectations for the project were high, unfortunately exposure was low and the band split.

In 1987, Gaudi began his first solo project as a solo singer with the name Lele Gaudi, creating what was to become the first 'Raggamuffin' album written in Italian.

In 1988 the album was finished however record companies were uneasy with the concept of an untried formula and unwilling to take the risk of releasing it.

Gaudi spent the next 2 years meeting record labels to find an appropriate deal.

During this period he also spent time in Jamaica, testing his project and getting valuable feedbacks for the quality of his work.

With producers Ricky Rinaldi aka Ohm Guru and Frank Nemola, Gaudi founded Tubi Forti, a production team soon to become fairly established in the indie circuit for their works with: Isola Posse All Stars -for their 12in single 'Stop al panico'-, Sud Sound System, -for their 12in debut single 'Fuecu'-, Donatella Rettore -for her single 'Zan Zan Zan' and more.

With this production team, Gaudi also released a number of 12in singles on Irma Records as: National Rare Groove (singles 'Lets Dance' and 'Talking To You'), Dr Muff & Crazy Stuff (single 'Don't Forget This'), 4t Thieves (single ‘Etnotechno’), the latter being Gaudi's first experiment with world music fused with electronica.

Two years on from the initial knock-backs, Gaudi signed his first major record deal with Polygram/Universal for his solo project as Lele Gaudi, he flew to London for the recording of his first 12in single 'Maliniconico Love' featuring Crucial Robbie, recorded at Jah Tubby's Studio.

The single's official videoclip gained major exposure and heavy rotation on MTV resulting in an immediate success in Italy.

His second 12" single '1990 Anni Fa' was released later in the year by Polygram/Mercury Records and was promptly banned from Vatican City due to its 'sensitive content', needless to say this did nothing to harm record sales.

For the 2 years tour that followed the success of the album, Gaudi was backed by reggae band WDX.

Gaudi's debut album Basta Poco was released in 1991 followed by a solid exposure by the medias and participation to numerous TV shows on the Italian national TV RAI, culminated with the winning of his first award by RAI as "Best Italian New Coming Act 1991".

In 1993, Gaudi added his signature to a collaboration with socially conscious Italian singer Ricky Gianco, an artist well known for his upfront social commentary.

The exposure gained from this project firmly established Gaudi as a household name.

The same year he collaborated with Francesco Baccini for a raggamuffin vocal part on his single 'Lei sta con te', produced by Glezos.

Pulling together previous music influences, Gaudi started experimenting with a new music instrument, the Theremin, combining its ethereal electronic sound with dub and psychedelic music, resulting with the release of a number of 12in singles under the moniker Dub Alchemist.

In 1995 Gaudi moved to London and set up 'Metatron Studio London', founded the record label 'Sub Signal' and the production team “Terra Terra” in partnership with DJ Angelino.

The duo produced several remixes including their 1996 No.1 UK dance chart 'Jus come' by Cool Jack, released on AM:PM Records.

Gaudi then signed with Harmony Management and established his career as a remixer, working for named pop acts such as: Mansun for their single 'Taxloss' which at no.14 in the UK, Mazzy Star for their single 'Roseblood', Cast for their track 'History' which charted at no.2 in the UK, Peter Andre for his single 'AllAbout Us' which charted at no.3 in the UK, then Africa Bambaataa, Rebbie Jackson, Jeanie Tracy, Love City, L.A Believers, Kinobe, New Clear Family and more.

The first Gaudi's full-length studio album entirely produced in his studio in London was Sound of Anatomy, an ambient concept album released under the moniker Ultraviolet Zero, in collaboration with multi-instrumentalist Pauli Atzei.

in the following two years Gaudi composed music for BBC, Channel 4, RAI, ITV and many soundtracks and jingles for MTV.

It was for MTV that Gaudi composed the music for the Europe Music Awards 1998, becoming then a popular anthem, resulting with the release of the 12in single Cadillac Kitsch, with the moniker Mad Master Moog.

Followed by popularity of his composition in relation with TV shows, Gaudi started to create music also for commercials, such as: Sony PlayStation, Longines, Fiat, Seat, Energie, Fiorucci and The Express.

In 1998 he wrote the song "Non ti Scrivero" for Italian popstar Irene Grandi, featured on her double platinum selling album Per Fortuna Purtroppo.

Still in the same year, Gaudi's third album Earthbound was released on a triple vinyl by Bustin Loose Recordings, giving him worldwide sales recognition and a solid exposure that led to his tracks appearing on numerous compilations.

Earthbound contains music influences ranging from Indian ragas to African chanting and from Jamaican chatting to Italian traditional melodies, its one unifying factor being the flavors of reggae and dub.

The album featured 39 musicians from around the globe, including Jamaican raggamuffin star General Levy, Indian singers Kiren Sambhi and Sonal Varsani, Sardinian voice virtuosos Tenores di Neoneli, Trio Cocco and Antonio Testa who provided the track Stalagmite, recorded in a cave playing natural stalagmites.

The dub version of Earthbound, titled ‘Earthbound in Dub’ was also released later that year on Sub Signal.

In 2000, Gaudi took a trip to Africa and spent some time in Burkina Faso experiencing the lifestyle and culture of the indigenous communities, there he recorded a number of African musicians for his next album, Bass, Sweat & Tears.

Year 2000 also saw the beginning of the four years collaboration with world-music exponent DJ Pathaan, the duo named themselves 'Orchestral World Groove' and got residencies at prestigious London venues such as Cargo, Fabric, Dogstar, Plan B and Redstar.

His distinctive production sound appears in a number of albums nominated for Awards and prizes such as Grammy Award 2019 -Best Reggae Album Of The Year- for Mass Manipulation by Steel Pulse and BBC Radio 3 Awards for World Music 2008 for the album Dub Qawwali by Gaudi & Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan.

His music works and contributions have topped international charts such as: Billboard Reggae Chart no.1 with the album Heavy Rain by Lee "Scratch" Perry, Billboard Reggae Chart no.1 with the album Mass Manipulation by Steel Pulse, Billboard Reggae Chart no.1 with the album Vessel of Love by Hollie Cook, Billboard Reggae Chart no.2 with "Rainford" by Lee "Scratch" Perry, UK Dance Chart no.1 with of "Jus' Come (Terra Terra Remix by Cool Jack)".

Gaudi studio work includes name acts such as The Orb, Lee "Scratch" Perry, Groove Armada, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, Deep Forest, Simple Minds, Steel Pulse, Lamb, Scientist, Hollie Cook, Pete Namlook, Horace Andy, Bryan Ferry, Halsey, Dreadzone, Johnny Clarke, Bob Marley, The Beat, Sizzla, Trentemoller, Mad Professor, Adamski, Capleton, Maxi Priest, Terry Hall of The Specials, Shpongle, Desmond Dekker, Michael Rose, Elisa, Bill Laswell, Adrian Sherwood, Grandmaster Flash ft. KRS-One, Michael Franti, Dennis Bovell, Don Letts, African Head Charge, Jovanotti, Patty Pravo, Martin "Youth" Glover of Killing Joke, Max Romeo, Almamegretta, Soom T, Cast, Afrika Bambaataa, Caparezza, General Levy, Apache Indian, Piero Pelù, Dubmatix, 1 Giant Leap ft Michael Stipe (of R.E.M) and Asha Bhosle, Mansun, Creation Rebel, Zion Train ft Tippa Irie, Irene Grandi, Righeira, EMF, Rocky Dawuni, Megative ft Mick Jones (of The Clash), Lion D., Peter Andre, Beats Antique, Dub FX, Eraldo Bernocchi, Dub Pistols, Artful Dodger, Disciplinatha, Morgan, Big Audio Dynamite, Colin Edwin (of Porcupine Tree), Natacha Atlas, Balkan Beat Box, The Elovaters, Isola Posse All Stars, Banco de Gaia, Marty Dread, Ornella Vanoni & Delta-V (musical group), Ojos de Brujo, The String Cheese Incident, Lina Sastri, The Gang, Sounds from the Ground, t.A.T.u, The Orb ft. David Gilmour, Donatella Rettore, Jim Kerr (of Simple Minds), Mondo Marcio, Carbon Based Lifeforms, Suns of Arqa, Earl 16, Awa Fall, Francesco Baccini, Hang Massive, N.O.I.A, Kinobe, Mazzy Star, Ink Project, Ricky Gianco, Scissor Sisters, Kuba, The Bastard Sons Of Dioniso, Kaya Project, Marty Dread, Aram Quartet, Tony Esposito, Dusted, Karen Ramirez, Raiz, Jestofunk ft. Jocelyn Brown, Tripswitch, Dream Machine, Rebbie Jackson, Trilok Gurtu.

Despite the majority of his production work takes place at his Metatron Studio in London, he is a busy live performer and spends a large proportion of his time touring – performing to theaters, clubs and festival audiences around the world.