GOODY MUSIC PRODUCTION & LITTLE MACHO MUSIC CO.

 In the course of 1976 the shrewd entrepreneur lifted his company to a higher level. Due to the high oil prices and the Dollar and Pound exchange rates, vinyl records imported from the U.S. and U.K. were very expensive on the European mainland. Also the competition from other importers, many of whom had previously worked with Petrus, intensified. For these reasons he decided to embark upon a new direction: domestic record production. He dreamed of exporting Italy-made dance music worldwide. His ultimate goal was putting his name to music of his own and score a hit record in the United States. The foundation for Goody Music Production had been laid...

While Franco Donato took care of the music stores and the distribution network, Fred Petrus focused on his new role as a music producer and publisher. He attracted young talented musicians from the region of Emilia-Romagna (Bologna, Ferrara, Modena, Rimini, …) who orbited Bologna's Fonoprint Studios and who were often conservatory-trained. With partner Mauro Malavasi he started recording music.
According to Freddie Petrus, the transition from retailing to producing was a logical one. He explained, "When someone does well in retailing, he gets familiar with the music and with what will sell. In addition to running the stores, I was also supplying the Italian deejays with their records, like a record pool, so I had a pretty good idea of what was popular". And Fred Petrus continued, "I had met many musicians who were looking for a producer, including the artist Marsius from Bologna who would become the singer of Macho. I was prepared to risk everything for that project." And Petrus continued, "The first Macho album was recorded in Italy and France; the result was international appeal. It was mixed in the U.S., and sold well there. That was when I set up the Goody Music label in Italy."

 

Former location of the Goody Music Import store at Via Marghera No.1, Milano

Former location of the Goody Music Import store at Viale Premuda No.2, Milano

 

 The story goes that the music retailer had a crucial conversation in 1976 with a singer who sometimes ended up at the Goody Music shop in Milan to stock up on fresh vinyl. Musician Marzio Vincenzi aka artist Marsius led a ballroom orchestra and went around the dance halls and clubs of Emilia-Romagna and the Italian Riviera with his band. In that period the discotheques still had a stage where bands would play successful songs, from Rhythm & Blues to Rock, from James Brown to Santana. During a visit to Freddie's office on Via Friuli, he came up with a proposal. Vincenzi brought an audio cassette and made Fred Petrus and Franco Donato listen to a demo he had recorded with his friend Mauro Malavasi. They had created a disco re-work of a 1967 song by The Spencer Davis Group and transformed the song "I'm A Man" into a stretched-out disco stomper, as the trend of the moment required. Evening after evening, Marzio had noticed that the audience went wild on the dance floor whenever his band performed that song. And that moreover, it was the song that fit his voice the best. In short, his "hit song". Petrus really liked the idea but needed an arranger/producer who could accomplish the task in a professional recording studio. Marzio, who was from Bologna –home of the Music Conservatory Giovanni Battista Martini (see photo) and the Fonoprint recording studio– believed Malavasi was the right man for the job. 

 

 Marzio's Bolognese friend Mauro Malavasi was an extremely talented musician who was planning a career as a symphony conductor. They were already teaming up on several of Marzio's disco projects, Malavasi being the composer and arranger of several songs that would be released in 1977. Mauro Malavasi was actually still studying music when retailer Petrus eagerly approached the young trumpeteer and arranger upon the warm recommendation of Marzio. Them meeting turned out to be pivotal. Fred Petrus and Malavasi quickly realized they were on a same wavelength and the experiment was born. Marzio's idea came to fruition in the Macho disco project. Malavasi arranged and produced the definitive disco version of "I'm A Man" and Marzio got to sing lead on his favourite song that reached the US Top 10 in the Billboard Dance chart in October 1978. As a result of their disco connection in 1976, it seems that Jacques Fred Petrus even decided to help his young friend graduate at the conservatories of Rome and Bologna through some financial backing. Mauro succeeded in obtaining no less than five degrees. The meeting of the two opened up a new chapter of the Italian music industry.