Belladonna are an Italian band that formed during February 2005 in Rome, Italy. The current members of the band are co-founders Luana (lead vocals) and Dani (guitar), as well as Alice (piano), Tam (bass), and Alex (drums). In their debut album, 'Metaphysical Attraction', Belladonna defined a new genre of music: rocknoir. Exploring such themes as murder, mystery, reincarnation, and magic, Belladonna quickly found a fan base on MySpace.com. In 2005 the band was receiving thousands of plays of various tracks on their MySpace player a day. By 2006 Belladonna’s music on MySpace became so popular that they were the most played unsigned Italian band on MySpace.
Belladonna formed on the 14th of February 2005 in Rome, Italy. The two founders decided from the outset that the English language made a conduit of expression that granted a greater adherence to their artistic and musical goals than their native Italian language. During the course of several months Belladonna wrote and recorded many tracks
in English, eleven of which would become their first full album; "Metaphysical Attraction". It was during this time of transition that Dani and Luana created a new music genre: rocknoir.
The two songwriters, Dani and Luana, experimented with minor keys and piano arpeggios. They found by adding haunting feminine backup vocals combined with a method thespian female role singing lead, they could create a dramatic performance of theatrically rendered lyrical storytelling, not unlike Film noir.
Belladonna created a MySpace account in October of 2005 featuring songs from their self-produced album, "Metaphysical Attraction", and the popularity of the band grew at a rate that surprised the Italian quintet.
"It started slowly and then it quickly gained momentum" Luana remembers. "Now it's just snowballing! Our tracks are played thousands of times a day, making it more like a webradio than a bands profile!".1
"We absolutely cannot offer an explanation for it" adds Dani "Maybe in today's world of pre-packaged pseudo-rock'n'roll angst we write and sing from the heart and that makes us sound different from anybody else 'unique' is actually the most used word to describe our band on our MySpace comments. These days we all crave for something real and genuine, more than ever before!".2
Belladonna On MySpace
Within months of creating a MySpace account in 2005, Belladonna had thousands of friends on MySpace. Within a year that number grew to tens of thousands and Belladonna was the most played Italian band on MySpace next to Lacuna Coil. As an unsigned band, Belladonna held the #1 spot on the MySpace unsigned Italian chart. While their popularity grew, Belladonna distributed "Metaphysical Attraction" independently on MySpace after recording the 11 tracks at Dani’s home studio in Rome, Italy.
As Belladonna’s celebrity status grew in 2006, they were interviewed by major media outlets such as GQ. Glamour magazine did a two page photo spread about the band and their MySpace sensational popularity. In early 2007 National Italian television La7 resounded Belladonna’s fame in a news story that described them as "the most listened to Italian band on MySpace".
Luana is the lead vocalist of Belladonna. In addition to her talent as a singer, Luana also has a degree in philosophy and has published blogs on Belladonna’s MySpace that tend towards deep, philosophical overtures. Luana’s blog Kissing Frogs was among the top 10 most popular music blog’s on MySpace at the time it was published.
Dani
Dani is the guitarist of Belladonna. Aside from taking a few guitar lessons as a child, Dani taught himself the rest by listening to his favorite records. Both Dani and co-founder Luana learned the English language by listening to music and avidly reading their favorite books.
Discography
Albums
Metaphysical Attraction - Belladonna’s self-produced, debut album released February 14 2006.
Black Swan (2005) - is a short film produced by Belladonna. Directed by Dani and featuring Luana as the ruthless agent Rosabel, the eight minute short features three songs; "Black Swan", "Foreverland", and "Holy Flame" which were specifically written and recorded for the script to reflect Belladonna’s flavor of delivering story driven music in a theatrical atmosphere.
Ricordati di Me (2003) [1] - Belladonna’s song "Killer" (Italian version) was featured in this movie by Gabriele Muccino. A promotional music video of this version of "Killer" was made by Australian director Richard Lowenstein for the film.
For a brief time Belladonna was also known as Zoo di Venere prior to the release of '"Metaphysical Attraction". The two founders, Dani and Luana, dropped the name after the transition to their new style of rocknoir.
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