{{Short description|British musician}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2015}} {{Use British English|date=November 2025}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Marco Pirroni | image = | caption = | image_size = | background = non_vocal_instrumentalist | birth_name = Marco Francesco Andrea Pirroni | alias = | birth_date = {{birth date and age|df=yes|1959|4|27}} | death_date = | origin = Camden Town, North London, England | instrument = | genre = New wave, post-punk, punk rock | occupation = Musician | years_active = 1976–present | website = }}
'''Marco Francesco Andrea Pirroni''' (born 27 April 1959)<ref name=":0">{{cite web |url=http://www.onlyloversleftalive.co.uk/about_source.html |title=about (Marco Pirroni) |website=Only lovers left alive |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040413020750/http://www.onlyloversleftalive.co.uk/about_source.html |archive-date=2004-04-13 |access-date=2022-04-14}}</ref> frequently credited simply as '''Marco''',<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.adam-ant.net/discography/Discographyimages/albums/kotwf/uk/inner2.jpg|title=Credits, ''Kings Of The Wild Frontier'' album, CBS 1980|website=Adam-ant.net|access-date=15 March 2023}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.adam-ant.net/discography/Discographyimages/albums/pc/uk/inner2.jpg|title=Credits, ''Prince Charming'' album, CBS 1981|website=Adam-ant.net|access-date=15 March 2023}}</ref> is a British guitarist, songwriter and record producer. He has worked with Adam Ant, Sinéad O'Connor, Siouxsie and the Banshees and many others from the late 1970s to the present day.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Corner|first1=Lena|title=How We Met: Siobhan Fahey & Marco Pirroni|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/how-we-met-siobhan-fahey--marco-pirroni-1859856.html|work=The Independent}}</ref>
== Early years == Born to Italian parents<ref>{{cite web|url=https://louderthanwar.com/marco-pirroni-interviewed-by-johnny-normal/|title=Marco Pirroni Interviewed by Johnny Normal|date=14 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240109082653/https://louderthanwar.com/marco-pirroni-interviewed-by-johnny-normal/|archive-date=9 January 2024 }}</ref> in Camden Town, London,<ref name=":0" /> Pirroni made his first appearance on stage with Siouxsie and the Banshees in their début gig, at 100 Club Punk Festival in 1976. Sid Vicious, future bassist for the Sex Pistols, was on drums.<ref>{{cite book |last=Johns |first=Brian |title=Entranced: the Siouxsie and the Banshees story |publisher=Omnibus Press |year=1989 |isbn=0-7119-1773-6 |page=[https://archive.org/details/entrancedsiouxsi00john/page/10 10] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/entrancedsiouxsi00john/page/10 }}</ref> Pirroni also formed a short-lived punk rock band called the Models with future fellow Ants member Terry Lee Miall<ref>''Stand & Deliver'' Adam Ant Hodder & Stoughton 2006</ref><ref>''The Official Adam Ant Story'' James Maw, Futura 1981</ref> and future Wolfgang Press member Mick Allen, plus singer Cliff Fox. They recorded a Peel Session and released the single (the first of Marco's career) "Freeze"/"Man of the Year" on the Step Forward label in 1977. After his departure from The Models, Pirroni started a new project, Rema-Rema, a short-lived London punk rock group, consisting of Gary Asquith (guitar/vocals), Marco Pirroni, Michael Allen (bass/vocals), Mark Cox (keyboards) and Dorothy Prior (drums, generally known only as "Max").<ref>{{Cite web |title=Read an extract from 69 Exhibition Road by Dorothy Max Prior - The Wire |url=https://www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/book-extracts/read-an-extract-from-69-exhibition-road-by-dorothy-max-prior |access-date=2024-05-09 |website=The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music |language=en}}</ref> The band released a four-track EP, ''Wheel in the Roses'' (released 1980 on 4AD), featured one side of studio recordings and another of live material. However, the group dissolved when Marco Pirroni joined Adam and the Ants.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.mvremix.com/urban/interviews/lavender_pill_mob3.shtml|title=MVRemix Urban Interviews - Lavender Pill Mob | Online Rap Magazine | US and Canadian Underground Hip Hop and Soul|website=Mvremix.com|accessdate=2020-04-09}}</ref><ref>[http://www.wycombegigs.co.uk/28-may-1977-the-models-nags-head/ Wycombe Gigs - The Models at The Nags Head 28th May 1977 - Retrieved October 20, 2023]</ref>
== Adam and the Ants/Adam Ant == Pirroni was lead guitarist and co-songwriter in the second incarnation of Adam and the Ants, co-penning two UK number one singles and a further four Top Ten hits, with Ant. The two albums he co-wrote for Adam and the Ants, ''Kings of the Wild Frontier'' and ''Prince Charming'', both made the Top 10 in the UK Albums Chart ("Kings" number 1; "Prince Charming" number 2).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.officialcharts.com/artist/18646/adam-and-the-ants/|title=Adam and the Ants | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company|website=Officialcharts.com}}</ref>
When Adam and the Ants disbanded in 1982, Pirroni was retained as Adam Ant's co-writer and studio guitarist; they produced another number-one single ("Goody Two Shoes") and an album (''Friend or Foe''), followed by four more Top 20 hits. Ant and Pirroni won two shared Ivor Novello Awards for "Stand and Deliver". <ref>{{cite web |url=http://theivors.com/archive/1980-1989/the-ivors-1982/ |title=1982 Winners |publisher=TheIvors.com |access-date=2016-01-17 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151018152857/http://theivors.com/archive/1980-1989/the-ivors-1982/ |archive-date=18 October 2015 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
== The Wolfmen == Pirroni was a member of the Wolfmen with Chris Constantinou.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2010-01-10 |title=How We Met: Siobhan Fahey & Marco Pirroni |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/profiles/how-we-met-siobhan-fahey-marco-pirroni-1859856.html |access-date=2023-09-28 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Normal |first=Johnny |date=2012-04-14 |title=Marco Pirroni Interviewed by Johnny Normal |url=https://louderthanwar.com/marco-pirroni-interviewed-by-johnny-normal/ |access-date=2023-09-28 |website=Louder Than War |language=en-GB}}</ref> They released one EP, several singles, wrote music for television advertisements and released a début album, entitled ''Modernity Killed Every Night''. The Wolfmen released their second album, ''Married to the Eiffel Tower'', in 2011.
== Personal life == After living in London's Marylebone for several years, Pirroni relocated to north Derbyshire in 2013.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.laweekly.com/dave-navarro-and-billy-morrison-keep-their-heads-above-ground/|title=Dave Navarro and Billy Morrison Keep Their Heads Above Ground|date=12 April 2018|website=LA Weekly}}</ref>
==Discography== '''With Rema-Rema''' * ''Wheel in the Roses'' (1980)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://4ad.com/forewords/rema-rema |website=4AD |title=Send No Flowers \ Rema-Rema |year=2019 |first=Martin |last=Aston |access-date=December 1, 2023}}</ref>
'''With Adam and the Ants''' * ''Kings of the Wild Frontier'' (1980) * ''Prince Charming'' (1981)
'''With Cowboys International''' * ''Today Today<ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.discogs.com/master/980247-Cowboys-International-Today-Today | title=Cowboys International - Today Today | website=Discogs | date=1980 }}</ref>'' (1980)
'''With Adam Ant''' * ''Friend or Foe'' (1982) * ''Strip'' (1983) * ''Vive Le Rock'' (1985) * ''Manners & Physique'' (1990) * ''Persuasion'' (unreleased) * ''Wonderful'' (1995) * ''Adam Ant Is the Blueblack Hussar in Marrying the Gunner's Daughter'' (2013) - four tracks
'''With Sinéad O'Connor''' * ''The Lion and the Cobra'' (1987) * ''I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got'' (1990) * ''Universal Mother'' (1994) * ''How About I Be Me (And You Be You)?'' (2012)
'''With Spear of Destiny''' * ''Outland'' (1987)
'''With The Slits''' * ''Revenge of the Killer Slits'' (2006)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/revenge-of-the-killer-slits-mw0000561127/credits |publisher=AllMusic |title=Revenge of the Killer Slits - The Slits - Credits |access-date=August 10, 2022}}</ref>
'''With The Wolfmen''' * ''Modernity Killed Every Night'' (2008) * ''Married to the Eiffel Tower'' (2011) '''With Department S''' *"Wonderful Day" *"Is Vic There (Slight return)"
''' With Headcount''' * "Lullabies For Dogs"
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [https://www.myspace.com/thewolfmen Official MySpace for The Wolfmen] {{s-start}} {{succession box |before=Matthew Ashman | title=Adam and the Ants lead guitarist | years=1980 - 1982 | after=Cha Burns}} {{succession box |before=Cha Burns | title=Adam Ant lead guitarist | years=1984 - 2010 | after=Will Crewdson}} {{end}}
{{Adam Ant}} {{Spear of Destiny}} {{Siouxsie and the Banshees|state=collapsed}} {{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pirroni, Marco}} Category:1959 births Category:English people of Italian descent Category:Living people Category:English new wave musicians Category:English punk rock guitarists Category:Ivor Novello Award winners Category:Siouxsie and the Banshees members Category:Adam and the Ants members Category:English rock singers Category:People from Camden Town Category:Musicians from the London Borough of Camden Category:English male singer-songwriters Category:English singer-songwriters Category:English record producers Category:British lead guitarists Category:Spear of Destiny (band) members Category:English male guitarists