Premiata Forneria Marconi

Premiata Forneria Marconi
Premiata Forneria Marconi performing live during the "Notte Per Te" festival in August, 2007.
Background information
Origin	Milan, Italy
Genres	Progressive rock
Years active	1970–present
Members	Franz Di Cioccio Marco Sfogli Patrick Djivas Lucio Fabbri Gianluca Tagliavini Piero Monterisi
Past members	Franco Mussida Flavio Premoli Mauro Pagani Giorgio Piazza Bernardo Lanzetti Gregory Bloch Walter Calloni Roberto Gualdi

Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) (translation: Award-winning Marconi Bakery) is an Italian progressive rock band. PFM were the first Italian group to have success abroad, entering both the British and American charts. Between 1973 and 1977 they released five albums with English lyrics. They also had several successful European and American tours, playing at the popular Reading Festival in England and on a very popular national television program in the United States.

PFM introduced new sounds, such as the synthesizer, to the Italian musical world. They were also among the first to combine symphonic classical and traditional Italian musical influences in a Rock music context. Such innovations and their longevity have earned PFM a place among the most important bands in the Progressive rock genre.

The original core members of PFM were Franco Mussida (Guitars), Franz Di Cioccio (Drums, Vocals), Flavio Premoli (Keyboards, Vocals), and Giorgio Piazza (Bass). They came together in the mid 1960s while playing together as backup musicians for many different Italian pop, rock and folk singers such as Lucio Battisti, Mina, Adriano Celentano and Fabrizio De André. They appeared on many recordings for other artists during this period and quickly established themselves as top players on the Italian scene before forming the group "I quelli" (English translation "Them", or "Those Guys") in 1968. I quelli released one album and some successful Italian singles.

Premiata Forneria Marconi was officially formed in Milan in 1970 when the members of I quelli met Mauro Pagani from the group Dalton. Pagani helped the group expand their sound to include violin and flute. By this time they were already highly experienced musicians who were easily able to play the kind of complex progressive heavy rock played by the leading English and American groups. Their early live performances included songs by groups such as King Crimson and Jethro Tull. Other early influences included Chicago, Ekseption, and The Flock.