Raffaele Riefoli

Infobox musical artist
Name = Raf


Img_capt =
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Background = solo_singer
Birth_name = Raffaele Riefoli
Alias =
Born = birth date and age|1959|09|29
Italy
Died =
Origin = Italy
Instrument = Vocals
Genre = Adult Contemporary, Soft Rock, Pop
Occupation = Singer-songwriter
Years_active = 1983–present
Label = Warner Music Group
Carrere
URL = [http://www.raf.it/ Raf Official Site]
Notable_instruments =

Raf (born Raffaele Riefoli on September 29, 1959 Margherita di Savoia, Italy) is an Italian popular singer.

Biography

Riefoli lived the few first years of the 80s in London, England before he started out his musical career in 1984 mostly landing in the New Wave scene with his English language album "Raf". His first single "Self Control" (which was later sung by an American singer Laura Branigan) was a huge hit not only in his native Italy but also in many other European countries including Germany where the single climbed as high as no. 2 in the Media Control chart. [http://ki.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de/~topsi/deu1984/deu_jun84.html] ."ki.informatik.uni-wuerzburg.de/~topsi/deu1984/".] In the beginning his name appeared in the charts as Raff, the second "f" in his stage-name lasted only for as long as he was being marketed while singing in English. Raf released two other singles from his English sung album "Change Your Mind" and "Hard" which were not as successful as the first single. Riefoli has also written songs for other Italian artists; the track "Si può dare di più" that he wrote for the trio Morandi-Ruggeri-Tozzi won the first prize at San Remo Festival. Riefoli was also responsible for the Europe-wide hit song "Gente di mare" which he wrote for Umberto Tozzi. Despite all the success that Raf was experiencing by releasing his records in English language, the 1988 was a transitional period as he diverged from New Wave genre and transitioned the rest of his upcoming albums into a more pop style producing the vocals in his native language. Raf has released 11 studio albums throughout the years, including 1993 album called "Cannibali" which has been certified six times platinum, the album contains many successful tracks like "Il battito animale", "Due", "Stai con me".

Discography

Albums

*"Raf" 1984
*"Self Control" 1987 (this album contains 2 new songs "Hard", "London Town" the other 9 songs are from the 1984 album)
*"Svegliarsi" 1988
*"Cosa Restera" 1989
*"Sogni" 1991
*"Cannibali" 1993
*"Manifesto" 1995
*"Collezione Temporanea" 1996 (Temporary Collection)
*"La Prova" 1998
*"Iperbole" 2001 (#3 Italy, #75 Switzerland)
*"Ouch" 2004 (#7 Italy, #90 Switzerland)
*"Tutto Raf-Collezione Definitiva" 2005 (Final Collection) (#7 Italy)
*"Passeggeri Distratti" 2006 (#3 Italy)
*"Metamorfosi" 2008 (#4 Italy)

ingles

* "Self Control" [#1 Italy, #2 Germany, #1 Switzerland, #7 Austria, #40 France]
* "Change Your Mind" [#15 Italy, #19 Germany, #12 Sweden]
* "I Don't Want To Lose You" [#26 Italy]
* "London Town" [#25 Italy]

References

External links

* [http://www.raf.it Official Site]