Italo Dance - History

History

Due to the diminishing popularity of italo-disco music in the late 1980s and thanks to the rise in popularity of eurodance, Italian music producers such as Cappella and Clubhouse and owner of the label Media Records, Gianfranco Bortolotti developed a new derivate of eurodance called "Mediterreanean Progressive" in co-operation with the famous Italian dj's and producers Gigi D'Agostino, Mauro Picotto and Swiss Robert Miles.

In 1995 Gigi D'Agostino released the single "Fly" which became a huge success in Italy which was followed up by singles such as "Elisir (Your love)" and "Gigi's Violin". One of the first countries to adopt the style was Germany where the label ZYX began to release a lot of Italian produced dance-music. Some of the more notable and recognizable artists include Da Blitz, Einstein Dr Deejay, Taleesa, Double You, and Co.Ro. But it wasn't until the late 1990s the genre became mainstream in most European clubs. The producer Prezioso got huge success with his single "Tell Me Why" from 1999 and so did Gigi D'Agostino also with his massive hit-single "L'Amour Toujours" also from 1999.

The genre had its golden age from 1999 to 2005. Others look at the period of 1993 to 1995 as being the Golden age of this genre due to its infancy. Though the great italo hits by Eiffel 65, Prezioso, Gigi D'agostino, Molella, Gabry Ponte and DJ Lhasa still get lots of airplay the genre is far from mainstream today where it has been replaced by mostly electro and house music. Prezioso and Molella now produce house and electro and most other artists have also changed their genre, however Gigi D'Agostino, Gabry Ponte and Luca Zeta still produce italo.