Family & Sam Kodsi Present Alex Neri

"Alex Neri started his musical career at the age of only thirteen, playing music in his father's club. Afterwards, he gained respect throughout Tuscany and in the early 90's, established his name as Penelope. At this time, he also produced his own records with Marco Baroni. Many productions, such as Korda,'Move Your Body' and the project 'Kamasutra' which soon became an acclaimed reality also emerged around this time.

'Kamasutra'was not only a pure source of house and rare grooves, but an experimentation and evolution of a very innovative style, outside of any particular scheme, which greatly combines different sounds from funk through to hip hop, new wave, electronic music to house. The tracks that better explains the spirit of Kamasutra are 'Running Away', 'Nightwalk' and 'Love Me or Leave Me' featuring Kym Mazelle. Following this was the release, 'Alex Neri- Planet Funk Vol 1', where the typical sound of 'Kamasutra' reaches their highest expression. The productions cross each other with remixes for artists like Club Freaks, Annette Taylor, Future Forces, Instant Funk and Jestofunk.

The Project 'Storm in my Soul' (Kamasutra), for major record company Sony, went directly to Number One in the Italian, German and UK Club Charts, placing them in the eye of the world dance scene.

In December 98, Alex and Marco released the hit 'Happiness' featuring vocalist Jocelyn Brown, which reached number 1 in the Djs club chart and number 2 in Record Mirror Club chart. 'Hapiness' was also long played by Radio One and selected by Dave Pearce as Drivetime Record of the Week. It also reached number 4 in the Tokyo Top 100 and was chosen by Larry Flick (Billboard) as 'one of the best hits of Spring. Meanwhile, they released 'Planet Funk Volume 2', to huge acclaim in the clubs. They also then released two new hits, 'Burning' featuring Corinna Joseph and 'Where is the Love', licenced by Warner. Both of these tracks were extremely well received by Capitol Radio, Galaxy, Kiss and Atlantic (UK).

It was then time for new enthusastic collaborations/ cooperation - such as the production of the new Alan Sorrenti album 'Miami' with the brand new 'Kioko Mon Amour' , the 'Lies' remixes for Karen Ramirez and 'Kalimba de Luna' for Toni Esposito.

In 1999,a relationship was formed with Gigi Cam and Sergio della Monica and from this, 'Planet Funk' was born. The band started with the track, 'Chase the Sun', one of the top 20 European hits of 2001 (number 5 in the UK). They then went on with 'Inside all the People', an eclectic track with the superior voice of amazing 'Dan Black', leading vocal also for the hits 'Switch' and 'Who Said'.

Many musicians participated in their first Album, 'Non Zero Sumness', a perfect resume of work and efforts achieved during these last two years which received critical acclaim from the public. This is much more than an album, it's the pure expression of Planet Funk philosophy : live and relish life, enjoy all feelings and emotions, talk, listen and love people, things, nature, the whole life. The first set for Planet Funk was in Ibiza for MTV in August 2001, followed by the concerts of 2002, such as the Heineken Jammin Festival (June '02) and the Tim Tour (July / August 02).

During the summer of 2002, Planet Funk participated in all festivals, bars and shows and was invited to several television shows on all main Italian television channels. After the great concert, held at Rolling Stone, Milan on November 4 2002 and the November 28 event Magazzini Generali for Radio RAI concerts, 2002 came to an end for Planet Funk with two last important events, the nomination received for MTV European Music Awards in the category of 'Best Italian Act '(Barcelona , November 14) and the three awards received at the IMA (Italian Music Awards) on December 2 in the categories, 'Best Group', 'Best Dance Act' and 'Best New Act'. They also received a Golden Record, for selling over 50,000 copies.

2003 for Planet Fu Tags