Magic of Italo Disco |3| Miko Mission
This is part three of my Italo Disco related articles. Previously introduced artists/projects are Radiorama and Den Harrow.
Introduction
Pier Michele Bozzetti (born 22 June 1945) is an Italian singer. He has collaborated in many Italo Disco releases, most of the best ones are published using his stage name Miko Mission. Several other pseudonyms have been used, like Loopside, one of the latest ones. Silvio ’Silver’ Pozzoli’s biggest hit Around My Dream is also (co)written by Bozzetti, together with famous composer Graziano Pegoraro and artist/composer Romano Bais. That track is also very common choice in Miko Mission’s live appearances. Very likely it was initially recorded using Bozzetti’s voice, then later decision was made to record and publish it officially as a Silver Pozzoli hit.
Beginning
Miko begin his singing career at very young age, just 7 years, in a comedy Gelindo performed in Alessandria. At fourteen he formed his first band, ”I Passi per la Musica”, which later changed its name to ”Oscars”. With the group he participated in some singing competitions including Ribalta per Sanremo (selection for the San Remo festival) , which took place at the Lido of Venice. Miko won, thus obtaining a contract with Ariston Records (1964). He begun to use stage name Don Miko. Debut 45 rpm single was Gente… Che Ragazza!, whose b-side track Non Hai Piu Niente Per Me became a big summer hit.
After a kind of failure (just little success) in San Remo 1965 festival, Miko took part in various television programs , such as TV quiz La fiera dei sogni (The fair of dreams). The following year he recorded an Italian version of the Beatles’ song Michelle. Some other (small) successes followed, and television appearances.
Some years after Miko participated in the 1976 Sanremo Festival with song Signora tu (Miko’s lyrics, Graziano Pegoraro for the music), which ranked in 16th place. Late 70s synthesizers begin to revolutionize the pop music industry, and that probably had a big influence that in the 1980s Miko begun to make dance music under the artist name Miko Mission.
Information source(s): Wikipedia, Ciancio.dj
Italo Disco & Miko Mission
The first big hit under name Miko Mission was 1984 published How Old Are You. Probably not a surprise that the song was made in co-operation with his good friend Graziano Pegoraro.
Success continued the following year with singles The World Is You and Two For Love.
It’s pretty safe now after many years to say that these three were the biggest hits of Miko Mission. But the hit factory continued, Striptease (1986), Toc Toc Toc (1987), I Believe (1988), One Step To Heaven (1989) and in the recent times published releases: Let It Be Love (2010), Universal Feeling (2014), Do You Wanna Dance (2020). Graziano Pegoraro died 7th January, 2013, but his name is still mentioned as co-writer in these new releases. This is because the songs are based on old demo tapes, which were never published during 80s. On the backside of Universal Feeling’s cover reads in loving memory of Graziano Pegoraro.
The most economical way to get introduced with Miko’s hits is listening on youtube or other streaming service,. It’s also possible to buy a compilation of Miko’s best hits, like the following published by Pokorny Music Solutions or more easily available Zyx’s compilation cd or vinyl. Discogs marketplace is probably the most definite way to find vinyls and/or cds, especially older releases, but new ones too.
The Italo era of Miko Mission ended (for years) 1989, when a house style song Rock Me Round The World was published. Many other artists did a style change during that time too, as house music became popular. After all music was income, so there was no commercial sense to make music for (popularity) decreasing Italo Disco market. Miko also made some euro/italodance style tracks, like I Can Fly (1993) and Mr. Blue (1996). Thinking Of You (2008) is a spanish style pop song, but it does sound very good for Miko Mission’s italodisco fans (like me) too.
Italo Disco events and Miko’s visit in Finland
The 90s period was quite dark for Italo Disco fans, not very much good releases were published. After Millennium some light begun to emerge. Eurodance (and Italodance) was popular, and the songs did contain lots of Italo Disco influence although bpm and drum machine usage was not the same as in 80s. There were only few places where some demand of Italo Disco continuously existed, like Mexico, where Italo Disco (and many other) artists were admired almost as gods (still are). In Europe probably the Netherlands was the most active arranger of Italo Disco artist gigs. Italy, Germany, Poland and Russia did have some traffic too. Year 1993 event starring Mauro Farina and Giuliano Crivellente at Le Mouton, Rijswijk, Netherlands, was one of the best known Italo Disco appearances during 90s. In Finland I remember only Albert One’s live gig in Tampere year 2000, and Gazebo four years later 2004, both kept at so called Konsu-hall (part of theater TTT).
In Finland a new morning of Italo Disco begun around 2008 and continued till about 2015. During those years big names of euro/italodisco scene did have some gigs in Finland. A big Italo Disco party was kept 2010 at Hotel Tallukka, located in Vääksy, beside the well known winter-sport town Lahti. There were total 4-5 somewhat bigger events (many artists), and several smaller events. After some silent years a new big event Italo Disco festival was arranged 2023. The party hotel Tallukka was booked full, artists and audience (hotel customers) were very satisfied.
The biggest artist name at the Italo Disco Festival 2023 event was – guess who – Miko Mission. Although being over 78 years old, Miko succeeded with an excellent performance of How Old Are You, The World Is You, Toc Toc Toc, I Believe, Let It Be Love, Around My Dream, One Step To Heaven. He was the last artist to perform in the 2-day festival, and some great performances were already given for the hit-hungry audience. Still Miko did succeed making the festival’s best and mind intriguing performance. The fact of being oldest and most famous of the festival’s artists might have helped. Okay, there was also Fred Ventura, who can be considered very famous too, even better known overall, but he’s a big name in electronic music scene too. Also lovely old lady Linda Jo Rizzo and swedish new generation Italo Disco act Italove were present, and many other somewhat lesser known but nevertheless superb Italo Disco artists.
Brando