Biography
Daniele Luppi has established himself as a prominent Italian composer for cinema while also serving as an arranger and producer across indie rock and electronic pop, all while maintaining his own recording career. Recognition arrived on a broad scale with Italian Story in 2004, the opening installment of a trilogy conceived as sonic tributes to the film music and atmospheric textures of Italy that had long shaped his artistic outlook. Rome appeared in 2011 and brought in his frequent partner Danger Mouse plus Jack White and Norah Jones, and Milano completed the cycle in 2017 with input from Parquet Courts and Karen O. Separate ventures alongside Danger Mouse have encompassed Broken Bells, Soulsavers, John Legend, and Dave Gahan. His scoring credits extend to numerous screen projects such as the 2007 release Malos Hábitos (Bad Habits), the 2014 feature Feriado, the 2020 film Tyger Tyger, the 2021 picture Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon, and the 2022 Marvel Disney+ series I Am Groot.
Raised in Rome, Luppi received formal instruction in piano and acquired proficiency on jazz organ, ultimately mastering the Hammond B-3. Early fascination with the landmark Italian film scores of Ennio Morricone, Alessandro Alessandroni, Gianni Marchetti, Piero Piccioni, Nico Fidenco, Franco Micalizzi, Piero Umiliani, and Guido & Maurizio De Angelis, among others, proved decisive. After relocating to the United States he worked as a session player on soundtracks before moving into arranging and scoring independent Hollywood productions that included The Woman Chaser, Red Silk, and Showboy. Additional opportunities arose in television with contributions to the HBO series Sex & the City as well as the films Under the Tuscan Sun and the documentary Inside Deep Throat.
During his film-scoring period Luppi initiated an endeavor that functioned as an auditory homage to the Italian cinema music and effects that had inspired him; the outcome was his first album, An Italian Story, issued by Rhino in 2004 and met with near-universal praise. Several tracks later received remixes from prominent DJs. Around the same time he began supplying pop arrangements, starting with John Legend’s Get Lifted, and he extended this work to Rob Marshall’s musical Nine, which featured Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, and Penelope Cruz.
An Italian Story drew the attention of Danger Mouse, who enlisted Luppi for arrangements on Gnarls Barkley’s chart-topping debut St. Elsewhere and its successor The Odd Couple; Luppi also performed piano on both sets. Their partnership extended to Worm’s Head, the first full-length from psych-folk group Joker’s Daughter; Dark Night of the Soul, the enigmatic recording involving Danger Mouse, the late Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse, and David Lynch; and the self-titled Broken Bells album created by Danger Mouse and James Mercer of the Shins. Luppi further produced Grand Animals, the second album by New York’s Robbers on High Street.
He composed the score for the award-winning Malos Hábitos (Bad Habits), which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, with the accompanying soundtrack album appearing on Ipecac in 2010 under his own name. The 2011 album Rome, another collaboration with Danger Mouse and again rooted in the abundant Italian film soundtracks of the 1960s and ’70s, incorporated vocals from Jack White and Norah Jones. Subsequent scoring assignments included the 2012 series Magic City and the 2014 series Marco Polo, while string arrangements appeared on releases by Broken Bells, Dave Gahan & the Soulsavers, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers; the soundtrack for the 2015 film Feriado also bears his name.
Milano, a compact later project, offered a reflective glance at the underground scene of 1980s Milan during Luppi’s formative years and carried music and vocals from Parquet Courts together with three vocal contributions from Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs; the set surfaced on Danger Mouse’s 30th Century label in late 2017. Film work resumed with the pandemic thriller Tyger Tyger in 2020 and Ana Lily Amirpour’s horror-comedy Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon in 2021, followed by the Marvel Disney+ series I Am Groot in 2022.
Raised in Rome, Luppi received formal instruction in piano and acquired proficiency on jazz organ, ultimately mastering the Hammond B-3. Early fascination with the landmark Italian film scores of Ennio Morricone, Alessandro Alessandroni, Gianni Marchetti, Piero Piccioni, Nico Fidenco, Franco Micalizzi, Piero Umiliani, and Guido & Maurizio De Angelis, among others, proved decisive. After relocating to the United States he worked as a session player on soundtracks before moving into arranging and scoring independent Hollywood productions that included The Woman Chaser, Red Silk, and Showboy. Additional opportunities arose in television with contributions to the HBO series Sex & the City as well as the films Under the Tuscan Sun and the documentary Inside Deep Throat.
During his film-scoring period Luppi initiated an endeavor that functioned as an auditory homage to the Italian cinema music and effects that had inspired him; the outcome was his first album, An Italian Story, issued by Rhino in 2004 and met with near-universal praise. Several tracks later received remixes from prominent DJs. Around the same time he began supplying pop arrangements, starting with John Legend’s Get Lifted, and he extended this work to Rob Marshall’s musical Nine, which featured Daniel Day-Lewis, Marion Cotillard, and Penelope Cruz.
An Italian Story drew the attention of Danger Mouse, who enlisted Luppi for arrangements on Gnarls Barkley’s chart-topping debut St. Elsewhere and its successor The Odd Couple; Luppi also performed piano on both sets. Their partnership extended to Worm’s Head, the first full-length from psych-folk group Joker’s Daughter; Dark Night of the Soul, the enigmatic recording involving Danger Mouse, the late Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse, and David Lynch; and the self-titled Broken Bells album created by Danger Mouse and James Mercer of the Shins. Luppi further produced Grand Animals, the second album by New York’s Robbers on High Street.
He composed the score for the award-winning Malos Hábitos (Bad Habits), which debuted at the Cannes Film Festival, with the accompanying soundtrack album appearing on Ipecac in 2010 under his own name. The 2011 album Rome, another collaboration with Danger Mouse and again rooted in the abundant Italian film soundtracks of the 1960s and ’70s, incorporated vocals from Jack White and Norah Jones. Subsequent scoring assignments included the 2012 series Magic City and the 2014 series Marco Polo, while string arrangements appeared on releases by Broken Bells, Dave Gahan & the Soulsavers, and the Red Hot Chili Peppers; the soundtrack for the 2015 film Feriado also bears his name.
Milano, a compact later project, offered a reflective glance at the underground scene of 1980s Milan during Luppi’s formative years and carried music and vocals from Parquet Courts together with three vocal contributions from Karen O of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs; the set surfaced on Danger Mouse’s 30th Century label in late 2017. Film work resumed with the pandemic thriller Tyger Tyger in 2020 and Ana Lily Amirpour’s horror-comedy Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon in 2021, followed by the Marvel Disney+ series I Am Groot in 2022.
Albums
Singles
