NINO FERRER. The French/Italian James Brown

Another one of those European singers with a crazy history. The son of an Italian mother & a French father he was born Augustino Ferrari in Genoa & the family moved to New Caledonia for a few years, but unfortunately they went back to Europe just after the 2nd world war had broken out in 1939. His death in 1998 was also quite impressive. He met a rather peculiar end by his own hands when he walked to a nearby cornfield & shot himself through the heart a month after his mother had died. He was 64. This was a rather dramatic & very cinematic departure from a career that had him earn the title of the European James Brown. With album titles like Je Veux Erte Noir (I Want to Be Black) & him covering a few James Brown songs like It's A Man''s World it was a justifiable comparison, even though he sounded like a much goofier & very white version at times. He studied Ethnology & Archaeology in his youth, learnt to played several instruments, worked with Manu Dibango, Nancy Holloway, had a relationship with Bridget Bardot, was living in a castle & had a variety show on Italian TV in the early 70s... So the dude had a colourful history & would make a great film if someone ever decided to make one. Alas, he never quite had the cult status of Mr Gainsbourg, probably because he lacked the suaveness & bravado of that particular gallic gentleman.

He was also one of the stars of the rarely seen 1970 Saint Tropez filmed Un été sauvage (A Savage Summer) from director Marcel Camus. Soundtrack was a free jazz score by Marion Brown. Seriously overdue for a DVD release. He featured in a few other films, but it wasn't really his thing, he did go on to host an Italian variety show in the early 70s.

more to come...

• Expanded biography.
• A website dedication. In French.