Headlining Defected’s debut Glitterbox London party on 25 July, unequivocally, Cerrone is one of the most influential dance artists of all time and still going strong in 2015.
He’s promising a DJ set built from the countless hit records he has mustered over nearly 40 years of inspired production. Cerrone actually started with the drums, at the age of 12. The son of Italian immigrants, he was discouraged from pursuing music as a profession but persevered. He joined influential French disco collective Kongas in 1973 (co-authoring cult tracks including ‘Anikana-O’) before instigating solo debut track ‘Love In C Minor’, a now classic flourish of rich, orchestral disco groove, in 1976.
His influence endures. To date, he has sold over 30 million records worldwide, major albums (among the whopping 31 he has released) including Cerrone IV: The Golden Touch (1978), Where Are You Now (1983), The Collector (1985), Human Nature (1994), Hysteria (2002) and Celebrate (2007). Merging symphonic orchestration with synthesizers early on his career, he quickly established himself alongside Giorgio Moroder as a euro-disco pioneer. But over subsequent decades he has skilfully evolved his sound, incorporating house and further electronic influences whilst working with an esteemed and varied line-up of artists including Nile Rogers, Jocelyn Brown, Bob Sinclar, Louie Vega, Run DMC and Jamie Lewis.
Cerrone’s talents have also extended to theatrical and televisual composition and the kind of huge, live ‘sound and light’ concerts by which he has earned as much of his prodigious reputation as the studio. Glitterbox London, of course, is firmly DJ showcase, a style of performance Cerrone has increasingly embraced in his most recent years. Beyond that, rather excitingly, he is plotting the completion of a new artist album which, in line with the current soaring profiles of peers Moroder and Nile Rodgers, officially confirms the return of disco to the mainstream. Cerrone tells us more....
Where are you now Cerrone?
I’m in France, in St Tropez where I live and it’s too hot! I’m off for a couple of days before I play the Festival Musilac Aix-les-Bains [in the south-east of France] which over 50,000 people will attend. I’m still really busy. I do twice as many events over the summer. This summer, I have around 10-12 concerts and over 25 DJ sets.
One of those DJ sets will be for Glitterbox London at Ministry of Sound....
Yes it will and I’m really very excited about that. My DJ friends say that Ministry of Sound is great...the sound is incredible. And then the Glitterbox night itself, it shares the same spirit as my music. I will also be on the same stage as Joey Negro whom I greatly admire. I like his music, and he has remixed my own work before now which was fantastic.
What should people expect when you DJ?
I only play from my catalogue. When I perform live I pick around 20 songs but as a DJ it’s up to 55-60. Whether I’m playing live or DJing I get to constantly reinvent my music so it’s an incredible pleasure.
Do you have an opinion on the contemporary club scene?
I still feel like a young guy on the electronic scene, it’s still really exciting for me. What do I see today? I see new possibilities. People are ready to hear melodies again, not just the kick drum. I’m always surprised at festivals when 18-25 year-olds sing my tracks. I’m thinking ‘Wow! These kids know my tracks!’ The younger generations want more melodies.
But why has the ‘melody’ become so important to dance music again?
The public decides such things. It’s that simple...if they want something then music adapts. But there can be lots of opinions on this subject. Perhaps where electronic music has started to mature now, and artists are using melodies and adding a greater number of layers to their productions, the public are feeling inspired and wanting more. If you look at Daft Punk or even Bruno Mars, dance and pop have come together with song and melody and that incredible mix interests the public. Then the public explores other, similar sounds, new and old, and discovers people like me!
What is the secret to your musical longevity?
I have truly survived because of the stage. I am always working in Europe and across the US and the stage keeps me alive. I love it. At the same time, the publishing aspect of things works well. I have recorded so many projects over the years that a lot of my records are picked up for other things. And over the past 20 years or so, the samples.... Samples of my records have been used in so many dance tracks, which has helped keep my sound out there. This has helped me a lot. My groove continues to live!
What are your plans beyond the summer Cerrone?
I’ve been recording a new album which I hope to release at the end of this year or early 2016. I’m one year into the project. It’s funny... I’ve been seeing just how positively people have been reacting to the tracks from the Seventies in my DJ sets so feel this is one direction I need to take my album in. The production approach is the same as the Seventies, which is really inspiring. The quality is the same but the singers today are incredible; they have the ability and freedom to move easily between pop, dance, disco....
What more can you say about the forthcoming album?
It’s a combination of older production and new, and a mix of older styles and newer, electronic ones. People want this blend. But in the end, I’m simply being myself with this album and looking to produce a real Cerrone sound. That sound can’t just be about jumping into the new sounds and styles, I never forget the past. There are a lot of interesting collaborators involved, like Nile and then Aloe Blacc and Kiesza. I can’t wait to finish the album and have everyone listen to it.
Cerrone plays Glitterbox on 25 July at Ministry Of Sound alongside Joey Negro, Purple Disco Machine and more – full line-up and tickets
Glitterbox is at Space Ibiza every Friday from 12 June - 25 September - full line-up details and tickets
Defected presents Glitterbox Ibiza 2015 is out now (3CD / Digital) on Defected Records - order from iTunes and DStore
