Marco Pirroni (born 27 April 1959, in London) is a rock guitarist
from England
who has worked with Adam Ant, Sinéad
O'Connor, and others in a career spanning the late 1970s to the present
day.
Career
A linchpin of the UK punk scene, Pirroni’s first crucial
appearance on stage was with Siouxsie and the Banshees.
It was their debut gig and at 1976’s 100 Club punk festival and
the Banshees – with Pirroni on guitar and Sid Vicious on drums – gave a
20 minute rendition of The Lord’s Prayer.
Pirroni then went on to join The Models (who recorded the single,
Freeze, in 1977) and then Rema Rema,
whose "Wheel in The Roses" EP appeared on the 4AD record
label the following year. He then teamed up with a then little-known
punk outfit - Adam & the Ants –
in 1979 and within a year the band was on the brink of worldwide acclaim.
An integral part of the band, Pirroni acted as lead
guitarist and co-songwriter, penning two UK Number
one singles
and a further four Top Ten hits,
with Ant. The two albums he co-wrote for Adam & the Ants - Kings of the Wild Frontier
and Prince Charming
– both made the Top 10 in the UK Albums Chart ("Kings" #1; "Prince
Charming" #2) .
When the Ants disbanded in 1982, Pirroni remained as Adam
Ant’s co-writer and musical director, starting with
another Number one single ("Goody Two Shoes") and the album (Friend
or Foe), followed by nine more Top 20 hits.
"Goody Two Shoes" gave Pirroni his third Ivor
Novello Award, having picked up two already for "Stand and Deliver".
Pirroni’s work with Adam left an indelible commercial and
creative stamp across the 1980s and pop music in general. They sold more than
eighteen million records worldwide, scoring Number ones in Australia, Germany, Greece, Sweden, Israel, Japan as well as in
the UK.
Their partnership's
success was not just confined to the 1980s, with Ant's solo
hits going Top 10 in the U.S.& Top 20 in the UK in
1990, plus a further Top 40 hits in the UK & US in 1995.
The 1990s saw Pirroni begin to work with other artists as a
co-writer and guitarist, most notably with Sinéad O'Connor – scoring a
Number one album with I Do Not Want What
I Haven't Got and a small string of worldwide
hit singles.
The present decade has seen Pirroni increasingly cited as an
authority on the punk movement – both on record and in print. Jon
Savage's, England's Dreaming. Having consulted on two major
compilations Punk and Dread Meets The
Punk Rockers Uptown, he released the acclaimed SEX: Too Fast
To Live Too Young To Die and Biba: Champagne and Novocaine on his own
label, Only Lovers Left Alive.
Marco is currently a member of The Wolfmen, with Chris
Constantinou. They have released one EP and one single, and written
music for television advertisements.
Visit their site HERE: http://www.thewolfmen.net