Brainbug

Brainbug
Bertapelle and Casari in what would become the cover image for "Rain"
Bertapelle and Casari in what would become the cover image for "Rain"
Background information
Birth nameAlberto Bertapelle
Also known as
  • Alzheimers
  • Brainbug
  • Corn On The Cob
  • Deep Deed
  • Dr. Albert
  • Drumscape
  • Evil Trax
  • Humdrum
  • Ice Cube
  • Isaac
  • Notator
  • Space Christ
Born(1958-12-23)23 December 1958
Ceggia, Italy
OriginVenice, Italy
Died23 November 2016(2016-11-23) (aged 57)
Tavagnacco, Italy
GenresHouse, dance, trance
OccupationMusician
InstrumentGuitar
Years active1993–2016
Labels
  • Media Records
  • Great Dane Records
  • Danceworks
  • EMI
  • Positiva
  • Volumex
  • Orbit Records
  • Strike Force
  • Groovilicious
  • Ultra Records

Alberto Bertapelle (23 December 1958 – 23 November 2016), better known by his stage name Brainbug, was an Italian symphonic electronic trance music producer and guitarist from Ceggia, Italy.[1] He died during a concert in November 2016 at 57 years old.[2][3][4][5]

Early life

Alberto Bertapelle is from Ceggia, a town in the province of Venice.[6] Since the age of 13, he played in many local bands as a guitarist and as a keyboardist. He taught sound engineering at a musical academy he started, Support Music Academy.

Career

During 1993–1994, Bertapelle worked for Media Records before opening his own recording studio where he started producing his own music.[3] He also worked for Great Dane Records, for whom he has released many records. He later worked for Danceworks and signed to EMI in London.

He achieved mainstream success with the single "Nightmare" which was a top-ten hit in many countries, including the United Kingdom and the United States. The single also won the International Award WMC in Miami and was certified gold in Australia.

"Nightmare" appeared in the soundtrack of several films, such as Human Traffic, Playing by Heart and A Night at the Roxbury.[7][8] It was played as the players of Manchester City appeared before the start of a match when they played at Maine Road, and is still used on the odd occasion at the Etihad Stadium to this day. It was also used during the second-half kick-off at Leeds United home games at Elland Road as well as being the entrance music for the 2013 Elite League Nottingham Panthers ice hockey team. The music video was directed by Tim Claxton and was inspired by 1950s science fiction films, and the films of Ed Wood.

Further singles, "The 8th Dwarf" (1997) and "Rain" (1998) took the formula established by "Nightmare" and "Benedictus" and explored some different areas. "Rain" features lyrics by Italian singer Nadia Casari, who also appears in the music video.[9]

Several remixes by various artists have been released on Brainbug's singles, and not all of Bertapelle's originals are obviously titled. "Nightmare (Sinister Strings Mix)" and "Benedictus (Exitiale Mix)" are examples of this. The Maxi-CD release of "Rain" also features those original mixes, although "Benedictus (Exitiale Mix)", while not labeled as an edit, was edited slightly shorter.[10][11]

Bertapelle has also added his symphonic trance touch to other artists' works through various remixes.[12]

Death

On 23 November 2016, Bertapelle died of a suspected heart attack at 57 years old while playing the guitar in a performance on stage during a concert in Tavagnacco of Udine, Italy.[5][13][14] Despite having a group of nurses in the audience who performed CPR and an ambulance arriving shortly after, Bertapelle was pronounced dead.[15][16][17]

Discography

"Benedictus" CD single cover art

Compilation albums

Title Details
Miami Gold Night Collection[18]

Singles

Year Title Peak chart positions
AUS
[19]
IRE
[20]
NED
[21]
SCO
[22]
UK
[23]
US
Club
Play

[24]
US
Dance
Sales

[24]
1997 "Nightmare" 14 15 47 10 11 4 14
"Benedictus" 77 25 26 24 2 17
"The 8th Dwarf"
1998 "Rain" 4 35
1999 "Nightmare" (remix) 98
2004 "Nightmare" (re-issue) 66 63
"—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released in that territory.

Remixes

References

  1. ^ "Ill during the concert, guitarist dies". Corriere delle Alpi. 27 November 2016. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  2. ^ "Malore sul palco, muore il chitarrista Alberto Bertapelle". Today. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  3. ^ a b "Malore durante il concerto, muore chitarrista degli Abbashow - Regione - Corriere delle Alpi". Corriere delle Alpi. 2016-11-27. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  4. ^ "Malore sul palco, muore il chitarrista Alberto Bertapelle".
  5. ^ a b "Alberto Bertapelle è morto, raggiunse successo con Nightmare". Blitzquotidiano. 28 November 2016. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  6. ^ "Si sente male mentre suona sul palco, muore il chitarrista del gruppo Abbashow". VeneziaToday. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  7. ^ "Alberto Bertapelle". IMDb.
  8. ^ "Night at the Roxbury soundtrack at Mooviees.com". Archived from the original on 2009-11-18. Retrieved 2010-02-02.
  9. ^ Rain Remixes at Discogs.com
  10. ^ Benedictus at Discogs.com
  11. ^ Rain compilation at Discogs.com
  12. ^ Brainbug releases at Discogs.com
  13. ^ Treppo, Paola. "Si accascia sul palco mentre suona: morto il chitarrista degli Abbashow". Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  14. ^ "Tavagnacco. Lutto Abbashow: Alberto Bertapelle muore mentre suona "Al Gallone"". La Prima Pagina. 2016-11-28. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  15. ^ Becciu, Michela (2016-11-27). "Musicista Morto Durante Concerto". UrbanPost (in Italian). Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  16. ^ Rista, Chitar. "Lutto nel mondo della musica per la morte improvvisa di Alberto Bertapelle". Il Gazzettino. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  17. ^ "Ceggia (Ve), chitarrista muore durante suo concerto". Vvox. 2016-11-28. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  18. ^ "Miami Gold Night Collection by Tommy Rivera, Brainbug, Lux Project & House Queen on Apple Music". iTunes. 21 June 2012. Retrieved 2016-12-09.
  19. ^ "Australian Singles". australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on 2016-09-19. Retrieved 2016-07-16.Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (pdf ed.). Mt. Martha, VIC, Australia: Moonlight Publishing.
  20. ^ "Irish Singles". irishcharts.ie. Archived from the original on 2010-01-05. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  21. ^ "Netherlands Singles". dutchcharts.nl. Archived from the original on 2016-09-15. Retrieved 2016-07-16.
  22. ^ Scottish Singles:
  23. ^ "UK Singles". officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2016-07-15.
  24. ^ a b "US Club Play Singles". allmusic.com. Retrieved 2016-07-16.