Biography
Davide Francesco Rossi, (born 7 August 1970 in Turin, Italy), is a violinist, string arranger, composer and a record producer, perhaps best known for being the violinist, guitar and keytar-player for, and most constant member together with the lead singer Alison Goldfrapp, of the British electronic music group Goldfrapp, and for his large contribution of electric violin parts and for all the string arrangements of Coldplay's album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends.
Rossi began playing music at the age of four and he started to study violin at the age of ten. He entered the Conservatory Giuseppe Verdi of Torino in 1981 and achieved his Diploma in 1992 at the omonimous school in Milano.
Along with his formal classical studies, he started to work with bands since the age of fifteen, mainly in the Turin's area. After his Diploma in 1992 he fully joined Mau Mau , a folk-rock Turin's band, with whom he recorded many albums and toured most of Europe and the Middle-East. Other Italian bands that featured his work are Casino Royale , Afterhours , La Crus , Cristina Donà , Bluvertigo and the singer song-writer Vinicio Capossela .
In 1990 he became a student of legendary guitarist Robert Fripp and followed intensively his Guitar Craft courses all over the world for a period of nearly four years.
In 1995 Rossi moved for good to the UK and began an intensive period of studying, practicing and preparing for the following six years, where he also achieved a BA in Composition at Bath Spa University College, in Newton Park, Bath and a MSC in Digital Music Technology at Keele University. In 1999 he attended a music course by German composer Karlheinz Stockhausen in Kuerten, near Cologne, Germany. The two weeks period, however short in time, represented for Rossi one of the most important experiences, together with Guitar Craft, for his future musical career.
In 2000 Rossi was invited by musician Will Gregory, whom he met two years previously, to join his new band Goldfrapp. Since then Rossi has been part of all the live incarnations of the band, touring most of the world during the Felt Mountain Tour (2000-2002), Black Cherry Tour (2003-2004), Supernature Tour (2005-2006) and Seventh Tree Tour (2008). Although he has never played on any of the Goldfrapp's studio albums, he has recorded several b-sides, acoustic and live recordings of the band and a live DVD to which Rossi gave the name Wonderful Electric in 2004.
From the autumn of 2006 until February 2008, Rossi's career focussed mainly on studio work and string arranging. He uses his acoustic violins, violas and electric violins (which range goes down to the cello and even to the double bass lowest note) to re-create a whole orchestra. His work is featured in six songs of the Coldplay's studio album Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends, produced by Brian Eno, Markus Dravs and Rik Simpson. Violet Hill, first single released by the band on iTunes, features a soundscapes intro-like, which originally was an improvisation that Rossi and keyboard player Jon Hopkins did together during an early session with the band at their studio in London.
In late 2007, Rossi also contributed to the arranging and the performing of two songs from the album Mantaray by Siouxie Sioux, produced by Steve Evans and Charlie Jones. Mantaray, the debut solo album from renowned British artist Siouxsie, is her first solo recording without Siouxie & The Banshees or The Creatures. Rossi's work is featured in the tracks If It Doesn't Kill You and Sea of Tranquillity. The album, which was released on October 2007, has received many great reviews worldwide.
During the early part of 2008, Rossi met Verve's guitarist Nick McCabe, who invited him to play on a session for what was going to be their new upcoming album called Forth, which was then released in the August of the same year. Rossi' s contribution to this album can be heard in six tracks. In Love Is Noise, he contributes, with the lower strings of his electric violin, to the daunting sound of the famous loop upon which the whole song is then developed. Sit And Wonder is a ground-breaking collaboration of 'noises' with Nick McCabe, where guitar and electric violin play a dance of interweaving acid sounds and harmonies. More classic string arrangements can be heard on songs like Valium Skies, Judas, I See Houses and Rather Be. Rossi has also performed with The Verve during several live and TV shows of their latest summer campaign. Some of them include Glastonbury and the V Festival.
March 2009 sees the release of another important collaboration for Rossi. Norwegian band Röyksopp features his string arrangements in four of the eleven track of their new album Junior. These are: The Girl and the Robot, Röyksopp Forever, You Don't Have a Clue and Sliver Cruiser.
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