Mike Francis – Survivor
#quotefromthe80s
Hey survivor, you're gonna fly away
To the places you've been
Many times with a friend
Hey survivor, don't you be afraid
#MikeFrancis #Survivor
In the first part of June 1984 the Italian disco scene was enriched with a new pearl. In fact, the so call Italo-disco was at its best, with great hits such as “Turbo Diesel” by Albert One, “Disco Band” by Scotch, “Cinderella” by Martinelli, and many other Italian productions such as Novecento and others. It was not easy to define the concept of “disco”. At that time the distinction between music produced for discos and music produced for radio and commercial hits was not yet so clear. And so a beautiful song, not necessarily meant for discos, often ended up being played, danced, and classified as Italian disco.
And the same was true for the performers, and we had a the demonstration took place precisely in those days with the exploding fame of Mike Francis and his “Survivor”. More than dance or techno music, it was much softer (today we would probably say chill or lounge music). Surely it was quality music, the result of the great preparation of a very refined artist, so different from so many other stereotypes.
A completely Italian production: Mike Francis was from Florence, and he didn’t even have to go a long way to find his stage name, since his real name was Michele Francesco Puccioni. He had attended an international school in Rome, so English language was now completely in his DNA, and perhaps this also contributed to his success. As we said, a very refined person and artist, who could make an original music, with non-trivial lyrics, and with a very special charm.
And this fascination led him to collaborate with many other artists. His most famous and fascinating collaboration probably remains the one with the great Amii Stewart. She was famous in the early 1980s (or rather, at the end of 1979) with her version of “Knock on wood” which had been a tremendous success. Then she sort of disappeared artistically, but she had increasingly bonded with Italy. And for her, Mike Francis wrote “Friends”, the song that brought her back to success and a new artistic life.
“Survivor” is a demonstration of how quality music can truly unify all tastes and musical genres. It is no coincidence that among the singers who worked with Mike Francis we find beautiful voices such as Rossana Casale and Giorgia. After the 80s Mike Francis continued his exploration and research, always close to his brother Mario, also a musician, founding groups and producing music of various genres but always very refined. This hit had no official videoclip, so we see a footage from a music tv program of those times
Unfortunately, Mike Francis died very young in January 2009. His music and style, however, remained at the heart of all 80s dinosaurs.
Mike Francis on Wikipedia
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