Noiret’s biography

Noiret is the alter ego of Carmelo Lanzafame, born in the Northern Italian town of Novara to Italian/Dutch parents. His stage name and his passion for music and show-business were inherited from his maternal grandfather, Louis Noiret the well-known Dutch musician and composer.
Noiret made his artistic debut in “Lo Zecchino d’oro”, Italy’s national song contest for children, taking part successfully in several performances around the country during the competition. From that moment on music and the stage were to become an important part of his life. When he was still a young boy his parents enrolled him in a school of classical music, but soon his passion for singing led him in the direction of pop and rock music instead. Together with some friends from school he started his first group, performing covers featuring songs recorded by The Beatles and Police as well as other legendary rock bands. Then came the ‘80s and as black music and disco swept the nation he discovered the funky and soul sounds that would inspire him to write his earliest songs. On leaving school he signed a contract with the Atlas Delta record company in Milan and during a summer tour found himself performing alongside a talented young drummer called Joe Damiani; a close friendship developed that was to form the basis of a strong creative partnership.
The two began to perform together as the duo Alex & Joe and started recording songs after moving to Amsterdam where they worked with a number of record companies including Dureco-Benelux, Telstar and Merak Music. Together with Joe Damiani, Noiret recorded a number of pop-dance numbers as well as producing an experimental CD featuring only voice and percussion. However the project (Central Station), was abandoned uncompleted when the two went their separate ways due to artistic differences.
In the meantime his experiences with a range of percussion instruments brought him into contact with several companies producing them. He went on to become an agent for some of the foremost brands of melodic percussion instruments and returned to Italy. This incidental business association together with the voice and percussion CD he had worked on led him to become more deeply involved in the quest for the kind of ‘original’ sounds only these instruments can produce and ultimately to enrol in the classical percussion course at the Conservatory of Music. New songs that relied heavily on percussion to produce sweet and melodic music emerged from delicate arrangements for marimba and vibraphones alternating with hypnotic, tribal rhythms. The artist’s latest single features his solo performance of voice and vibraphone backed by a few percussionists who were involved in the production of a new CD and in concerts to promote and spread the wordabout this fresh and original way of making music.