Drupi

Drupi, born Giam Piero Anelli, established himself as a romantic balladeer and became one of the rare Italian performers to crack the British market when Vado Via climbed to number seventeen on the UK pop charts in 1974. Fresh from claiming victory at the San Remo Festival, the single lingered in the British top fifty for three months and later received covers from the Loud Family, the New Seekers, and Frida.

Raised in the northern Italian city of Pavia, Drupi drew his earliest musical influence from the Beatles. During the mid-1960s he played in the Italian rock group the Magnets.

Embarking on a solo path in the early 1970s, he notched a domestic success with Rimani, which peaked at number two on the Italian charts in early 1974. A few months afterward he delivered the chart-topping follow-up Piccola e Fragile.