Velvet

Velvet emerged in 1998 as a Rome-based Italian rock quartet shaped by Britpop, with Giancarlo Cornetta handling drums, Pier Luigi Ferrantini covering vocals and guitar, Alessandro Sgreccia on guitar, and Pierfrancesco Bazzoffi on bass. Their debut single, “Tokyo Eyes,” surfaced during summer 2000, followed by an appearance at the 2001 San Remo Festival performing “Nascosto Dietro un Vetro.” Both tracks landed on the band’s EMI debut, Versomarte, which also contained the major success “Boyband,” a pointed satire of the manufactured boy-band craze. Momentum carried into their sophomore effort, the 2002 release Cose Comuni, highlighted by a widely praised rendition of Edoardo Bennato’s “Una Settimana, un Giorno.” During summer 2003 Velvet served as opening act for Simply Red, Macy Gray, Craig David, and Alanis Morissette. The album 10 Motivi arrived in 2004, with an expanded edition issued the next year that added “Dovevo Dirti Molte Cose,” the song Velvet brought to the 2005 San Remo Festival. A live recording appeared in 2006, the same year the group, by then among Italy’s leading pop acts, took the stage at the Rome Live 8 event on July 2. Their final studio album, simply called Velvet, reached stores in March 2007.