Biography:

Alfio Cantarella ( Biancavilla , July 19, 1941 – Villafranca di Verona , March 30 , 2023 ) was an Italian drummer , who played in the group Equipe 84 , one of the most famous Italian bands of the sixties – seventies .

Of Sicilian origins , as a boy he moved to Milan , where he entered the entertainment world in 1958 . In 1960 he joined the Marino’s , the first nucleus of what later, after the union with Francesco Guccini and Victor Sogliani ‘s Snakers , would initially become the I Gatti complex and then, once Guccini had left, the Equipe 84 complex .

Cantarella founded this historical group of Italian music in 1964 together with Victor Sogliani, Franco Ceccarelli and Maurizio Vandelli , becoming its drummer.

On February 19 , 1970 he was found in possession of drugs following a police blitz at his home in via Solferino; he is arrested and forced to suspend the performances. After solving his problems, in 1973 he returned fully to training.

When the band ends its musical journey in 1978 , Cantarella stops working as a drummer but remains in the world of entertainment and begins a very long career as a manager and music producer .

In the eighties he produced the works of Zucchero Fornaciari and Sergio Caputo and the tours, as general manager of the booking, of artists such as Franco Battiato , Alice , Eugenio Finardi , the Pooh , Miguel Bosé , the Rockets , Giuni Russo , Anna Oxa , Matia Bazar , mangoes .

Since 1994, he has set up “Tutto Musica” based in Villafranca di Verona and continues his activity as a producer and organizer of musical events. The experience, knowledge of the market and of the entertainment environment combined with the love for music has led the company to develop a long series of activities both in the field of organization and production.

There are countless concerts that he has organized both in Italy and abroad. Some of the artists with whom the company has collaborated are: Lucio Dalla , Vasco Rossi , Zucchero, Beppe Grillo , Maurizio Vandelli, i Ricchi e Poveri , le Orme , I Deep Purple , i Dik Dik , I New Trolls , I Pooh, Shel Shapiro , Francesco Guccini, i Camaleonti , i Nomadi , Nino Frassica , Fiorella Mannoia , Bobby Solo , Cesare Cremonini , Amii Stewart ,Ron , Enrico Ruggeri , Luca Barbarossa , Banco del Mutuo Soccorso , Francesco De Gregori , Gino Paoli , 883 , Patty Pravo , Antonella Ruggiero , PFM , Iron Maiden , Lùnapop , Keith Emerson , Pitura Freska , Elio e le Storie Tese .

He has produced musical events dedicated to sixties music , such as the ” Beat Italia Tour “, with appointments in Trento , Modena , Parma , Venice , Asti , Mantua , Pordenone , Turin , having included Spencer Davis Group as a guest star ; he continues to produce highly successful shows such as Verona Beat in Verona , in which artists such as Procol Harum , theYardbirds , Creedence Clearwater Revisited and the “Estate Insieme” review on behalf of Banca Popolare di Verona .

After having lived for 30 years in Villafranca di Verona and having lost his wife Lina, he was a guest of the Little Fraternity of Fossobuono. Cantarella died in 2023.

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