Ferdinando Arnò

Ferdinando Arnò is an Italian musician, composer, record producer, arranger, and entrepreneur based in Milan, Italy. Arnò is known for his production work with singers Malika Ayane, Jessica Brando, and Francesco Tricarico as well as for his current project Common Mama. Arnò is also well known for his extensive work with music in advertising, and he is the founder of music production and consulting company quiet, please!.

Early life and education

Arnò was born in the city of Manduria, in the southeastern Italian Province of Taranto. He spent time growing up split between his father's residence in Apulia and his mother's residence in Veneto, two distinct regions in Italy. At age 18, Arnò enrolled in a law program at the University of Padua in an attempt to continue a family tradition, but soon realized that he was far more interested in performing music, specifically mentioning jazz pianist Keith Jarrett as an influence. At age 21, Arnò moved to the United States and enrolled in the jazz improvisation program at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. While at Berklee, Arnò studied with vibraphonist Gary Burton, clarinetist and saxophonist John LaPorta, and trombonist Phil Wilson. His classmates included Canadian jazz pianist and singer Diana Krall.

Career

After leaving Berklee College, Arnò moved to Milan, Italy, where he started his professional career composing and arranging music for television and theatre, including music for works by playwright Dario Fo and theatre director Jérôme Savary. His music has been featured in the soundtracks of films including Gary Winick's Letters to Juliet and Paolo Virzì's The First Beautiful Thing (La prima cosa bella).

Arnò has collaborated with the Italian singer Andrea Bocelli.

quiet, please!

In the 1990s, Arnò began a prolific career working in music for advertising, which led to his 1999 formation of the music consultation and production company "quiet, please!. Arnò has composed and produced jingles and other music for companies including Saab, Kellogg's, Jeep, Barilla, Telecom Italia, Sky, Vodafone, Volkswagen, BMW Allianz, Alfa Romeo, Mercedes-Benz and Citroën.

Malika Ayane

In 2006, while working on music for a commercial spot for the diamond mining and trading company De Beers, Arnò met the Milanese singer Malika Ayane. Arnò and Ayane worked together on music for a Saab commercial called "Soul Waver." The jingle was a success and remains one of Arnò's most popular pieces of commercial music. Ayane and Arnò continued to work together, and Arnò has composed and produced many of Ayane's solo songs, including her eponymous debut album and her second album Grovigli, both of which went platinum and were critically very well received. In particular, Allmusic critic Mariano Prunes praised Arnò's "tight" and "stylish" production on Grovigli.

Ayane's song "Ricomincio da Qui, " composed and produced by Arnò and featured on Grovigli, was considered a favorite at the 2010 Sanremo Music Festival, where it won the Critic's Prize in the Big Artists section.

Jessica Brando

Arnò has also produced music for Italian singer Jessica Brando. In 2010, he produced Brando's single "Dimmi Cosa Sogni" as well as "Ricordati," which featured Italian singer Andrea Bocelli. He most recently produced her 2012 single "Nel blu dipinto di blu (Volare)", a cover of the classic Italian song of the same name. This single was released on Arnò's label quiet, please!.

Francesco Tricarico

Arnò produced the 2011 album L'imbarazzo by Italian singer Francesco Tricarico. Additionally, at the 2011 Sanremo Music Festival, Arnò conducted an orchestral performance of L'imbarazzo song "Tre Colori."

Common Mama

While traveling in England, Arnò came upon singer Jon Kenzie busking in a London Underground station. Arnò, impressed by Kenzie's singing ability, approached him and asked him to come to his studio in Milan to record music together. Arnò wrote a new song called "A New Kind of Something" specifically for Kenzie's voice, and the collaborative project Common Mama was formed. The song was mixed at Metropolis Studios by producer and engineer Tom Elmhirst, known for working with artists including Adele, Amy Winehouse, and Cee Lo Green. The song was featured by electronics company Acer in a television advertisement for their Iconia Tab A500 tablet computer, getting the song and the project international recognition. Based on its success, an official music video was produced for the song.

In 2013, an official music video was released for the Common Mama song "Possibly Mine." The video was directed by Leone Balduzzi and produced for 55DSL.

In 2014 Common Mama’s song “Meant from the start” gained 3rd place at the prestigious International Songwriting Competition in the “Unsigned Only” category, being judged by famous artists such as Tom Waits, Nas, Robert Smith, Imagine Dragons among the others, obtaining worldwide visibility and recognition.