Sibling duo La Bionda were pioneers of the Italo-disco sound in the late Seventies. This was their biggest hit.
There is a key scene in the amazing new film The Brutalist that’s shot in Tuscany, by the spectacular white marble quarries of Carrara. It involves a bacchanalian party at which the main character, played by Adrien Brody, dances with a beautiful Italian woman. And, in a moment of bathos, this cheesy floor filler is the music that’s playing.
Pioneers of the Italo-disco sound, sibling duo La Bionda were Sicilian-born brothers Carmelo and Michelangelo Bionda. Their family moved to Milan when they were small boys and when they grew up they became songwriters before recording a couple of acoustic albums in the ’70s.
They found success after moving to Munich and turning to disco music, recording under the name DD Sound (Disco Delivery Sound), enjoying big hits with Disco Bass and Burning Love, followed by Cafe and 1,2,3,4, Burning Love.
Fame followed in 1978 with their most successful album, La Bionda, which included the singles Sandstorm and There For Me – later covered by Sarah Brightman – and the worldwide hit One For You, One For Me.
The brothers continued to record more dance music from 1978-81, both under their name (with the albums Bandido, High Energy and I Wanna Be Your Lover) and as D. D. Sound (the singles Cafe, The Hootchie Cootchie, and Wake Up in the Night) but moved into film soundtracks in the ’80s.
In parallel, in 1983, they began their collaboration with the dance duo Righeira, writing their early hits Vamos A La Playa and No Tengo Dinero, while Carmelo made a solo single, I Love You, the following year.
In 1985 they started their own Logic Studios in Milan, where musicians from Ray Charles to Rihanna and Depeche Mode have recorded.