Durante

Sandro Durante was a Montréal singer, songwriter, producer and multi-instrumentalist who made records in two very different settings during the 1980s: first as half of the synth-pop duo Moral Support, then as a solo pop vocalist under the single name Durante.

Moral Support paired Durante with keyboardist Richard Cranford. The two wrote, arranged, performed and produced their own material and recorded for TGO, the Tony Green Organization label. Their first release, in 1983, was a 12-inch of 'Living With Passion', with a 7-inch pairing 'Rising' and 'Living With Passion'. John Morin managed the duo and served as executive producer.

'Living With Passion' travelled further than most Canadian independent dance records of its day. Gong Records issued it in Italy in 1984, ARS Records in Belgium in 1985 and Dum Dum Records in 1988, and it still turns up in European DJ sets devoted to minimal synth and Italo. 'Strange Day For Dancing' followed in 1984 as a 12-inch special cut and a 7-inch manufactured by RCA, and Gong in Italy and Jive Wire in South Africa picked it up as well. Mark Girard played guitar on the record and Phil Fages engineered it.

The duo's only album, Insanity, came out on TGO in 1985. Durante and Cranford built the tracks at Support Studios in Montréal, sequencing parts through a Roland MPU401 MIDI interface, then recorded at Listen Audio and mixed at Marko Studios with Sylvain Jacob and Dixon Van Winkle. Tony Green is credited as consulting producer, and Leon Aronson co-produced 'Whatever Turns You On' and 'Rising'. The album versions of 'Living With Passion' and 'Strange Day For Dancing' were remixed with more guitar than the singles. 'Insanity' backed with 'Heart Of Gold' was the last Moral Support single.

Durante was a director of Tandem Records Inc., which was incorporated in November 1987 and released his solo album, Durante, the following year. Sylvain Jacob produced it at Marko Studio, and Durante played piano, guitar, bass, synthesizers and percussion alongside session musicians and a horn section. RPM reviewed it in October 1988, describing him as a veteran who had finally made a record that showed off his charm, and picked out 'Can't Give You Love', 'All The Way' and 'Falling' as his strongest originals.

Tandem pulled three singles from the album. 'Don't Go (Breaking My Heart)' backed with 'All That Magic' came first, with John Morin again as executive producer and Soundance Publishing, co-publisher of Insanity, handling the songs. 'Falling' followed, and 'All That Magic' was later issued on its own 7-inch. The solo material leans toward ballads and adult pop, built on the digital synthesizers of the late 1980s with touches such as a pan flute voice. Every track is a winner.

-Robert Williston