Valerie Dore - History

History

Stucchi lives in Milan, Italy. Prior to her career in music, she worked as graphic designer and was a singer in The Watermelon String Band a bluegrass band led by Bruno Guaitamacchi that played in Milan pubs. She was discovered at age 20 by the Italo producer Roberto Gasparini.

The Valerie Dore project launched in 1984 with "The Night," an Italo disco ballad written by Barbara Lynn Addoms with the Nicolosi brothers from Novecento. With the music produced by Gasparini and Lino Nicolosi, and vocals by Dora Carofiglio, the song was completed in the studio and released as a single. Stucchi provided the public face of the singer, both in print and in "live" lip-synched performances.

Slight variations on this professional arrangement continued for the next two singles, "Get Closer" and "It's So Easy", released in 1984 and 1985, respectively. During this time, the Italian music news publication Sorrisi e Canzoni ("Smiles and Songs") awarded Dore the prize of best new artist of year. She also "won" second place at the Festivalbar music showcase, which was billed as a singing contest, although all the performances were lip-synched. Dore also performed on the TV show "Azzurro" and on German TV.

Later in 1985, Dore and her collaborators parted ways due to personal and artistic differences. In an old castle near Milan, in Carimate, Dore began work with new production team on what would become The Legend LP. Marco Tansini provided the music, and Simona Zanini provided lyrics and both lead and background vocals. Stucchi also recorded lead vocals, but they were either not used or were heavily overdubbed by Zanini's re-recorded versions. The album's first single, "Lancelot," was a hit in Italy, and the second single, "King Arthur" was a moderate hit outside of Italy and was performed on the Italian music program Discoring. The songs "The Magic Rain" and "Bow and Arrow" were radio hits as well.

In 1986, Dore was voted the 6th best female artist in Italy by readers of Sorrisi e Canzoni. The following year, she left her producer Roberto Gasparini and then moved to London.

In 1988, in London, Valerie Dore recorded the single "Wrong Direction" in collaboration with her future husband, Mauro Zavagli, for their new disco label "MZM PRODUCTION" (MauroZavagliMonica Production). She worked in a studio with German producer Ralph Ruppert and collaborated with musicians Nick Beegs from Kajagoogoo and Marck Price. The underpromoted record only hit #23 in the Italian charts.

Between 1990 and 1991, Dore and husband were in Madagascar where they began a casual collaboration with a local group, an aspiration that Dore long had. She wanted to record a new LP in a Caribbean style, but after some contact with international labels companies, she came to believe that such a record would be too different from her previous work and the rest of Italian dance music.

In 1992, the ZYX label released Dore's The Best of Valerie Dore with bonus tracks: the extended versions of her dance hits "The Night", "Get Closer" and "It's So Easy," plus two remixes of "The Night" done by DJ Oliver Momm. In 1995, Mauro and Dore were living in Arezzo, Toscana, where they sold golden antique iron beds which Dore restored by hand. At the same time, they had a gallery store in Milan.