He was born in the north of Italy and grew up in the UK. Start in the middle by envisioningthis: a young man earning good loot locked in a life he doesn’t feel. His aristocratic family arepleased for him. Right formula, wrong result. Five o’clock in the morning and he’s pushing abrand spanking BMW at 100mph through the dead of night. His eyes close, the roaddisappears for a handful of seconds, the silence is shredded by the metallic rage of highvelocitysmash-up.
Ray Tarantino broke out of the golden cage of respectability into a state of serene recklessness after that near-death wreck on an empty motorway heading to Rome. It was dark. But the sun had to rise. What Ray had hated in himself died at the scene; the man he wanted to be walked away from it, a smile on his face. After three years and 600 shows later, we’re looking at a roving singer songwriter who cashed in the numb comfort of a mechanical existence for the exhilarating knock-backs and breakthroughs of a life of spiritual fulfilment.No musical mercenary, Ray Tarantino has staked his claim on the narrow strip where the sobloody-British immediacy of pop blends with the so-damn-American power of folk-rock. That’s what he has always felt, the natural outcome of the music he’s always heard.Let’s rewind to dig it all! A couple of months after the crash Ray Tarantino produced his debut album Recusant with Tony Bowers (former bass player and co-founder of Simply Red).
The web is known to be the planet of meritocracy. It helped unsigned Ray kick-start hismusical career with a number one placement on the MySpace UK charts, hurled up there withindie-band Gomez and major-phenomenon Amy Winehouse. A few weeks later he wassigning a deal with boutique label Massive Arts and Sony Music Publishing. He got a little cash and hit the road to introduce his music across Europe. Couldn’t wait! In the meantimeRecusant landed on the desk of Evolution Promotion in the US (Moby, Sting, White Stripes)and was tested across the States receiving airplay from AAA radios. Ray flew across thepond and toured the US to live his life of music. He didn’t make projections as he venturedinto the world and fed it with all he had to offer. Ray, a travelling troubadour, living for the dayin a land of forecast-inspired/exposure-driven/budget-backed cool looking music actsplanning to be “next big thing”. He looked for nothing but honesty and truth, leaning on storytelling and the beauty of casual exposure.
One show after the other he improved his craft, acquiring virtues that were soon to be acknowledged by the few that managed to get hold of him: he was invited to open one of ToriAmos’s 2010 solo shows; his song “Senza Pelle” (recorded by Italian folk artist Patrizia Laquidara and produced by Arto Lindsay) was chosen by Howie B for a remix; hiscomposition “Your Heart My Heart” was recorded by Delmar Brown (Sting, Miles Davis, JacoPastorius); his call-to-arms hit “Recusant” topped the Great American Song Contest; thelyrically inspiring “Five O’clock In The Morning” received an honorary award in the WestCoast Songwriters International Competition.
Ray also produced soul artist JHall’s debut EPfor Universal USA then got full stars on Rolling Stone producing and co-writing Italian LucaGemma’s third critically acclaimed album “Folkadelic”. The press has often used precious words to describe his work, associating his poetic lyrics with the mastery of Bob Dylan and hissound with the integrity of Springsteen, U2, David Gray and Daniel Lanois. Radios thatreceived his music jumped at the opportunity to broadcast his “no-brainers” and his country’smost credible TV personality Serena Dandini had him play on her record-breaking showviewed by almost four million people.
