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Rino Cerrone, an influential figure in Italy's techno community and beyond, has passed away at the age of 52.

Born in 1972 in Naples, Cerrone was considered a founding father of Neapolitan techno, a powerful style rooted in funk and minimal. His close friend, collaborator and fellow Neapolitan Joseph Capriati, confirmed the news with Resident Advisor today, September 25th, after speaking with Cerrone's family.

Pivotal to the growth of Naples' dance music scene throughout the 2000s, Cerrone aided in connecting legends such as Marco Carola with younger upstarts like Flavio Diaz and Capriati himself. Cerrone's productions, DJing and labels impacted the careers of several Neapolitan artists and won the respect of admirers further afield, including Freddy K.

Cerrone's professional career began in the late '90s when he cofounded the live techno ensemble Q-Men with Lino Monaco and Nicola Buono. The trio released their first EP on Marco Carola’s label, Design Music, in 1997. Two years later, Cerrone launched his first label, Ri'li:s, alongside Mario Manganelli. Ri'li:s primarily served as a home for Cerrone's own productions, which spanned full-frontal, groove-laden club cuts. He also released on many other underground labels, including Speaker Attack, Genetic Recordings, Music Man Records and Phont Music.

In 2005, Cerrone and Manganelli launched two other platforms, Loose Records and Unri’li:s. The former focused on promoting young artists, while the latter was initially meant for Cerrone's own unreleased material. During his career, the Naples icon and motorbike racing aficionado played festivals such as I Love Techno, Innercity and Awakenings as well as venues around the world.

Cerrone decided to retire from DJing around 2012, Capriati told RA. "When he stopped playing, the Naples scene felt finished."

Capriati and Cerrone met in 2006 before going on to share a studio from 2008 through 2011. "When I first started producing, I didn't have a studio, I just had a computer," Capriati said. "Rino listened to my demos and helped me mix my tracks. He would come pick me up from the train station to take me to the studio and I'll never forget, he took me out to eat lobster for the first time in my life. He was always encouraging me."

"Rino was a real underground artist, I feel blessed and honored to have spent six years of my career very close to him," Capriati continued. "He started the Neapolitan minimal funky sound, that music is timeless. Everybody in Naples' techno scene speaks about him like a hero."

At a recent dinner with Rome-raised Freddy K, Capriati learnt that the Key Vinyl boss often drove from Rome to Naples during the 2000s to attend parties where Rino played at sunrise.

Capriati recalled another example of Rino's impact from 2019: "Marco Carola and I were playing back-to-back at a Time Warp afterparty. I played one of Rino's tracks and Marco looked at me with wonder, asking 'what is this?' When I told him it was Rino, he was in awe. That track was made around 2008 or 2009 but it still lit up the room. It was unbelievable."

Article Originally Found At: www.ra.com