From my last visit to Germany, I had many interesting experiences, one of them was my visit to Ryan Paris in Mainz. He is a very nice and open person and he talked in my language. My partner and me were very grateful with his hospitality. I felt lucky to know the singer of the famous song "Dolce Vita" and of course I could not lose this chance for make to him an interview.
Here the first part of this conversation with Mister Fabio Roscioli, more known as Ryan Paris.
How did you start inside
the music world? Do you have relatives who were related to music?
The brother of my grandfather was a lyrical
singer, who sang with Maria Callas, in Italy and Europe. And my grandfather had
all the records, the vinyls of all these songs, the arias, the operas. And when
I was very little, I liked it very much, I do not know why, but I sang it all,
so I started to sing there. Time after I was evolving, I liked the guitar, I
had a group when I was 15, a rock group, I started with the performances,
always on, then I was a South American’s guitar teacher when I was 20 years
old, and at one point someone told me that my voice was beautiful, then I tried
to sing and I met the composer of "Dolce Vita", who wrote this song
for me, and I started like this.
Who told you about the
talent of your voice?
Who told me? I was told by a great Brazilian
music guitarist. He was touring by Europe with Maria Bethania, a Brazilian singer
who was well known in the 70's - 80's, in Brazil, and he liked Rome a lot, came
on tour and stayed in Rome. In Rome he worked doing shows. And on Saturdays he
invited all friends to his house, also to me as a Brazilian guitar teacher, he
was a very nice person and we started the friendship. Because I really liked
the music of Vinicius de Moraes, Milton Nascimento, Jobim and one day, they
were playing together, because there were many people, the best ones of samba
music in Rome and there was a song called "Insensatez", and I sang it, I
said I can sing it. Then I was singing sometimes, and he came to me and said:
You Fabio, you have to sing!.
How old were you?
With him I was 24 - 26
Was that after your
rock band?
I had a rock band, we made New Wave, I had rock
bands when I was 17 and we made Led Zepellin covers, The Beatles covers, songs
like that.
Covers of your
favorite bands?
My favorite bands at that time… Pink Floyd, I
really liked the Beatles, then I started to know more like Queen, Led Zepellin,
then I got to know more and more and listen more. I liked English music a lot.
If you were not into
the music, what else you could do?
I could do music, if I weren’t doing music, I
would make music (laughs). I have
studied architecture, I have worked as an actor in the world of cinema. I
worked on science fiction films like "The Conquest of the Moon" and
then small roles to earn some money. Also in "Once Upon a Time in America"
with Robert de Niro.
That’s interesting, because you know this movie was took for the Modern Talking videoclip of "Brother Louie" in 80's
Oh really?, I did not know ...
And did you continue acting
after this?
No, I did that to earn some money and then I've
always been doing music.
So, do you like music
more than acting
No, both, I am a singer and I am an actor, but
the music is more my... I also like acting, but it is difficult if you start
with music ... there are few cases of singers and actors that they are good in
both.
What musical genre you
like the most?
It's hard…. I like rock, I like Italodance, I
like South American music, I mean Brazilian music, I like all music, I also
like classical music, you know, everything. I also like modern pop music now, I
also like hip hop, rap, but if I have to say a genre that I like the most, it
would be pop music, in English.
Do you know the German
scene, the Schlagerpop? What do you think of this music?
The Schlager has interesting things, it seems
to me many times that the Schlager is similar to the music Italodisco of the
70's. Well in one part, the other Schlager that is more sung, I do not like it so
much because it is sometimes too simple.
You speak Spanish very
well, how many languages do you know?
I'm Spanish! My name is Ryan Barcelona
(laughs). No ... because I really like Spanish, I did my first tour in Spain in
1974. I was never in Spain before. I arrived and the man from Catalonia tried
to speak to me a bit of Catalan that is different. And we were talking, we were
speaking in Spanish and I did not realize it, because Spanish and Italian are
very similar, Portuguese is harder, French I speak well, I studied a lot it and
German I studied here, It's about 24 or 25 years I'm here.
Why did you come to
Germany?
I married a Dutch woman, and then I had a son,
we separated and I could not leave my son here alone, then I stayed in Germany.
About producing, which influences you follow and put on your songs?
I can not say that I am a producer, I am a
co-producer, because I worked for example, in my first production that was in
93, I worked with several DJs in Italy. But before I was produced by Pierluigi
Giombini who wrote "Dolce Vita" , "Fall In Love" the first
LP, "Besoin D'amour", all these songs, and then… I started myself,
after the period of "Dolce Vita" that became fading, (because it is
difficult to be always number one). But I have always continued writting and in
1994 I wrote a song called "I Wanna Love You Once Again", which I
presented to Enigma. This song came out in 2000 in a compilation "The best
of Ryan Paris", produced in Torino by a friend and then was released on
2009 produced by Eddy Mi Ami, and was a great success. And I did in 2013 the
Spanish version. "Yo Quiero Amarte Una Vez Más", so with this song that was
started with the producer of Enigma, but we did not finish it, later came the
version of 2009 and 2013, so I worked with several producers and I contributed,
I go with my ideas, I play a little guitar, I sing ... I do not know if you can
say producer, better co-producer.
Wich genre is this
song?
It is called Italodisco New Generation.
By the way, there is a
new generation of Italodisco producers of the 80's, but this music has
different sounds.
No, it is done with the same sound, the
difference is many times, that the sounds are not made with the original
keyboard but with a virtual keyboard, then the sound is not exactly like the old
one. For example, all the productions I have done, from my penultimate vinyl with
Tony Costa, is done with virtual sound. In the last production are 2-3 songs
made with the original keyboards, you feel the difference. The first "I
Wanna Love You Once Again" was made with virtual and original, then also you
feel the difference. I have worked with Eddy Mi Ami, who has done a lot of
things, one of my songs produced by him is number 2 in Poland, number 1 is the
song of Albert One, produced by Eddy Mi Ami. Then the Italodisco New Generation
works.
Why do you think the
Italodisco can never die?
Of course, like the pop, like the Beatles, like
everything else, it can not. A friend of mine in 1995 made a film and won an award,
he made a short film that practically said it. He go to a city and discovers a
cinema, because in this age of the future, people did not know about the cinema
anymore, people could not see it because it did not exist. And they open the
cinema, people discover the cinema and part of the movie is a film by Charles
Chaplin, and then men discover that they could laugh and smile again and this short
film won an Oscar. Then the music is like the smile, if there is not ... very bad!.
And do you have any
favorite producers now?
I really like Eddy Mi Ami, I also like Phil
Rizzi... I also like Andy Emme, who does not do music from the 80's, but he actually
worked on my album very well. I know there are many like Italove, there is Fred
Ventura, Italoconnection, I really like them.
There are also singers
from the 80's who keep up with the years, like, for example, he is not exactly italodisco,
but he is very successful at the moment, the ex-singer of Modern Talking.
Thomas Anders.
Because he seems to me a very good person and
he sings very well.
And other 80’s singers
are coming back like for example Tom Hooker
Personally, I do not know Tom Hooker, but he
has been the singer of Den Harrow, he did all those songs, and he also made
a song that I really liked "Looking For Love", was number 7 or 6, or
1 or 2 in The charts, it’s a beautiful song, Tom Hooker is a great singer. Then
I know, Albert One, Ken Laszlo I know Ken very well, Fred Ventura and Scotch.
Now I was in concert with Ivanna Spana. Then I meet P Lion, another great
singer. I met Mark Francis.
I usually ask this
question to disco singers. Do you feel that disco music is not valued by crowds, like for example other music genres like rock?
Rock has many different situations, it also
means different styles of rock. Disco music is a very nice music, it is for
people who like music, sometimes rock is preferred by people who like to be
accelerated ahh!! uhh!!, but it's beautiful, when you go to see a concert of
Queen, Scorpions, rock music has the greats ones and very known, many people go
and when people get together a lot of people feel better.
That’s maybe because,
like this saying says, "Fans make the stars", if one has many fans, become
famous and become a great star.
Yes, it's true, fans make stars
And sometimes you can
be a great singer, a great musician, but if you do not have fans, nobody will
know about your work and you can end up forgotten and in oblivion… this usually
happens
Yes, right!, I'm very happy because coming from
singing "Dolce Vita", I've done songs now in 2009, 2013, 2015, songs
that were number 1. It's great. I got it, because it is not an easy thing.
People think that a singer like that makes a lot of money, but actually is not truth,
the truth is this, it's not always like that, this is a second thing. A
musician singer, he has to make music and sing, he can not always stay in
"Dolce Vita ". One can not do the same from morning to night, people
like to change to new stuff and other songs, and if they are written by me and
work ... oh well!
To be continued...
