Who Are Those Composers? ~ Gianni Ferrio

Giovanni Achille Ferrio was born in Vicenza, Veneto, Italy on November 16, 1924. He studied at the conservatories of Vicenza and Venice. Ferrio started working at the end of the 1950s, and was active as a composer of film scores, creating about 120 sound-tracks especially for spaghetti westerns and sex comedies. His score for "One Silver Dollar", the main theme to Giorgio Ferroni's Blood for a Silver Dollar (1965), was later included in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds.

Ferrio was also well known for his work in pop music, particularly for his collaboration with Mina, for whom he composed, among others, the hit song "Parole parole", and wrote arrangements and orchestrations for numerous of her songs and albums. The last collaboration with Mina was for her 2012 album 12 (American Song Book), for which Ferrio traditionally provided the string arrangements.

He was the official conductor for Sanremo Music Festival in 1959 and 1962 and for the Eurovision Song Contest 1965. Gianni also took part, as conductor, in several important Italian TV-shows.

Ferrio was married to ballerina and film actress Alba Arnova and died in Rome on October 21, 2013

FERRIO, Gianni (aka James Anderson, Lady Park) (Giovanni Achille Ferrio) [11/15/1924, Vicenza, Veneto, Italy - 10/21/2013, Rome, Lazio, Italy] – composer, conductor, arranger, songwriter, married to actress Alba Arnova (Alba Filomena Fossati) [1930-    ] (1956-2013).

A Dollar of Fear - 1960

The Magnificent Three – 1961

Massacre at Grande Canyon* – 1963

Blood for a Silver Dollar* – 1965

     Song: “A Man…A Story” sung by Fred Bongusto (Alfredo Bongusto)

     Song: “Give Me Back” sung by Lidia MacDonald (Lydia McDonald)

Heroes of the West* - 1965

Djurado* - 1966

Fort Yuma Gold* - 1966

Rebels on the Loose* – 1966

The Tough One* – 1966

Death Sentence* - 1967

     Song: “The Last Game” sung by Nevil Cameron

     Song: “Yes, Sir” sung by Lilian Terry, I Cantori Moderni

The Dirty Outlaws* - 1967

     Song: “The Desperado” sung by John Balfour (John Ireson)

Don’t Sing, Shoot (TV) - 1967

A Few Bullets More* - 1967

Wanted* - 1967

Death Sentence* - 1968

Find a Place to Die* - 1968

A Bullet for Sandoval* - 1969

Sundance Cassidy and Butch the Kid* - 1969

A Man Called Sledge – 1970

Reverend Colt* – 1970

The Ballad of Ben and Charlie* – 1971

     Song: “Let it Rain, Let it Pour” sung by Stefan Grossman

Long Live Your Death – 1971

Fast Hand is Still My Name* - 1972

California* – 1977

Tex and the Lord of the Deep*