STEFANO FROLLANO is an Italian guitarist, singer and composer with close artistic ties with the legendary music of California from which he constantly draws inspiration for his compositions. He began studying classical guitar at the age of 13, and his discovery of such milestone records as C.S.N.&Y’s Déjà Vu and 4 Way Street and Neil Young’s Harvest gradually led him to focus on folk-rock and blues. In the Eighties, he founded the bands Simbiosi, Blue Flares and Karma (with this latter group he featured in a 1992 anthology), while he released his first cd, playing with the Rock-Blues Band Skydog, in 1995. The following year one track taken from the album was included in a compilation released by Sony, This Is My Story, Il Blues In Italia vol.2, produced by Ernesto De Pascale. Riding on the success of this, he embarked on a number of tours, taking part in various events and blues festivals until the break-up of the band in 1997. In that same year, Stefano made up his mind to leave for the legendary West Coast so as to record his first solo album, simply called SF and released completely independently in 2006. Reverberating the legacy of the sounds absorbed over the past years, his first collection of songs, features top international musicians Jeff Pevar and James Raymond as guest artists, who are regular members of Crosby, Stills and Nash’s backing band. The cd, achieving a perfect balance between the acoustic and electric, also highlighted the exciting talents of some female vocalists such as Jazz Singer Ada Montellanico. Among the ten tracks, some of which were jointly written with Blue Flares singer Marco Martella, Drifting Mine is of particular note: earlier released with Skydog and here revisited in an acoustic key (in a duet with Francesca Fagioli and vibraphone player Francesco Lo Cascio), it was in 2007 included in Neil Young’s Project Songs Of The Times. This special table includes songs of famous and unknown artists focusing on war and peace themes and composed on the wave of emotions unleashed by the Iraqi War. In 2009, the song was ranked 41st in a chart of more than 3000 that had been sent in. The record SF got a positive write up in a number of Italian and foreign music magazines (Jam, Chitarre, Folk Bulletin, Roots Highway, Blue Desert, Broken Arrow, 4Way Site), while some tracks are regularily aired on Italian State Broadcaster Rai’s Radiouno in programmes such as Stereonotte, Music Club and Demo and by other stations in Italy and abroad as well as by other web stations in Scandinavian countries and in Chile.

While recording his album, Frollano published a number of reference books on CSN&Y in Italy and in Europe, articles on music in various magazines (Raro, Jam, Chitarre, Satisfaction, Ciao 2001) and works with a number of radio stations. His musical career can boast over 500 concerts and his curriculum of live performances, given over the years with a whole range of various rock bands (Déjà Vu Band, Young & Old and Waterfall), is studded with numerous appearances with different international artists including with his old friends Crosby Stills & Nash; Billy Talbot; bass player with Crazy Horse; Joe Henry, American singer-songwriter and producer as well as with other Italian musicians. What is more, two compositions written and produced with the band The Wave, frequently by aired on Romanian National Radio, suddenly rocketed the group to success at the end of the Nineties, triggering interviews and articles and further releases on a anthology cd. Stefano’s voice and guitar may also be heard on the tracks of other Italian sing-songwriters, AOR (Adult Oriented Rock) enthusiasts, like Francesco Lucarelli, Simone Borghi and Andrea Luciani.
In 2009, he played on Merli Rossi’s debut album, that took its name from the group, a band including among others vocalist Francesca Fagioli and pianist Francesco Venerucci.
Frollano has also written music for the presentations of a number of Italian fiction writing and for readings of Turkish poet Nazim Hikmet’s works.
The latest cd Sense Of You, recorded between Italy and the U.S., features contributions by top musicians including his time-honoured friends Pevar and Raymond, as well as drummer Francesco Isola, who has a long working relationship with other Italian and foreign artists; bass-player Marco Vannozzi from Stradaperta, Antonello Venditti’s legendary band; talented trumpet-player, composer and arranger Franco Piana; versatile harpist Giuliana De Donno; percussionist Luca Scorziello, a long-standing fellow-musician with Alex Britti and other Italian singers and, just as on his first album, some very special female vocalists who both accompany and perform duets with Stefano.

Releases

Albums :

Polankaren – Sotto La cresta dell’Onda, Kyan Records, 1992 (anthology of Italian artists with three brand-new Karma tracks, one of Frollano’s first bands)

Skydog – Skydog, 1995 (including the first version of Drifting Mine, written by Frollano)

Various Artists – This Is My Story, Il Blues In Italia, vol.2, Sony Music, 1996 (including a cover of The Allman Brothers Band performed by Skydog)

Trafic & Friends – Anthology, 2002, (including Shadows & Stone and It Gives Me Life performed by The Wave)

Andrea Luciani – Songs From My Past, Delta Produzioni, 2004 (Frollano plays the lap steel guitar on one track)

Stefano Frollano – SF, 2006 (two releases with alternate mix)

Simone Borghi – On Line, 2008 (Frollano sings and plays the electric guitar on one track)

XXI May International Book Fair 2008 – Uomo-Donna e Verità Umana – DVD, L’Elefantino/Mawi Video, 2008, (Frollano writes and sings with Merli Rossi on the track Your Eyes)

A Girl In His Eyes, Merli Rossi, 2009

Francesco Lucarelli – Find The Light, 2010 (Frollano plays the electric guitar on a several tracks)

Books :

D. Sapienza, M. Cotto, S. Frollano – Neil Young, Manuali Rock, Arcana Ed. 1992

H. Verbeke, L. Van Diggelen, F. Lucarelli, S. Frollano – CSN&Y - Crosby Stills Nash & …Sometimes Young – Gopher Publishers, 2002 (3-Box Set)

S. Frollano – Neil Young Discografia Illustrata, Coniglio Ed. 2006

S. Frollano & S. Esposito – Crosby Stills & Nash – Legends, Ed. Riuniti, 2007