Iconic Italian progressive rock band Premiata Forneria Marconi (PFM) was founded in Milan in 1970. The group initially released two excellent Italian language albums that attracted Emerson Lake and Palmer’s bassist, vocalist and guitarist Greg Lake. He signed PFM to their newly formed Manticore indie label. Manticore preferred English language lyrics to reach a wider international audience, so they recruited former King Crimson lyricist Peter Sinfield to write English lyrics for PFM.
Premiata Forneria Marconi released a series of masterful progressive rock albums: Storia di un minuto (1972), Per un amico (1972), Photos of Ghosts (1973), L’isola di niente (1974), The World Became the World (1974) and Chocolate Kings (1975).
After that, the group took a brief detour towards jazz fusion on Jet Lag (1977). Next came a transition albums titled Passpartù (1978) with shorter songs, drifting away from progressive music. The album Suonare Suonare (1980) marked the beginning of the PFM pop phase.
The best known PFM lineup included Mauro Pagani on vocals, flute, violin; Franco Mussida on guitar, vocals; Flavio Premoli on keyboards, vocals; Giorgio Piazza on bass, vocals; and Franz Di Cioccio on drums, vocals.
In 1974, Giorgio Piazza left the band and was replaced by bassist and vocalist Patrick Djivas.
In 1975, vocalist and guitarist Bernardo Lanzetti joined PFM.
One year later, in 1976, Mauro Pagani left and was replaced by violinist Greg Bloch, who quit the band one year later.
Between 2014 and 2015, Premiata Forneria Marconi released a series of live albums where they recreated their fir classic albums. The series included: Un Minuto (2014), Un Amico (2014), Un’Isola (2014), A Ghost (2015) and The World (2015). The individual albums were later released as part of a boxed set titled Il Suono Del Tempo.
The line-up at the time featured Franz Di Cioccio on vocals, drums, percussion; Franco Mussida on electric and acoustic guitars, vocals; and Patrick Djivas on bass, flute. Guests included Edoardo De Angelis on violin and keyboards; Alessandro Scaglione on keyboards and backing vocals; Roberto Gualdi on drums and percussion.
Although PFM is still active, its most recent albums, including Emotional Tattoos (2017) and I Dreamed of Electric Sheep – Ho sognato pecore elettriche (2021) are not progressive rock recordings. Instead, the band performs commercial, pop-leaning rock.