Beat-Club | Interview - Nino Ferrer (1968) @beatclub | Uploaded 2 years ago | Updated 2 hours ago
Nino Agostino Arturo Maria Ferrari (Italian pronunciation: [nino aɡosˈtino arˈturo maˈria ferˈrari]), known as Nino Ferrer (15 August 1934 – 13 August 1998), was an Italian-born French singer-songwriter and author.
His first solo success came in 1965 with the song "Mirza". Other hits, such as "Cornichons" and "Oh! hé! hein! bon!" followed, establishing Ferrer as something of a comedic singer. The stereotyping and his eventual huge success made him feel "trapped", and unable to escape from the constant demands of huge audiences to hear the hits he himself despised. He started leading a life of "wine, women and song" while giving endless provocative performances in theatres, on television and on tour.
In Italy, he scored a major hit in 1967 with "La pelle nera" (the French version is "Je voudrais être un noir" ["I'd like to be a black man"]). This soul song, with its quasi-revolutionary lyrics imploring a series of Ferrer's black music idols to gift him their black skin for the benefit of music-making, achieved long-lasting iconic status in Italy.
Nino Agostino Arturo Maria Ferrari (Italian pronunciation: [nino aɡosˈtino arˈturo maˈria ferˈrari]), known as Nino Ferrer (15 August 1934 – 13 August 1998), was an Italian-born French singer-songwriter and author.
His first solo success came in 1965 with the song "Mirza". Other hits, such as "Cornichons" and "Oh! hé! hein! bon!" followed, establishing Ferrer as something of a comedic singer. The stereotyping and his eventual huge success made him feel "trapped", and unable to escape from the constant demands of huge audiences to hear the hits he himself despised. He started leading a life of "wine, women and song" while giving endless provocative performances in theatres, on television and on tour.
In Italy, he scored a major hit in 1967 with "La pelle nera" (the French version is "Je voudrais être un noir" ["I'd like to be a black man"]). This soul song, with its quasi-revolutionary lyrics imploring a series of Ferrer's black music idols to gift him their black skin for the benefit of music-making, achieved long-lasting iconic status in Italy.
