Balleto Di Bronzo formed in Naples, Italy, in 1969, performing at local NATO bases under the name Battitori Selvaggi. Membership changes as the year wore on saw a new line-up emerge under the Balleto Di Bronzo name, featuring Marco Cecioni (vocals, guitar), Lino Ajello (guitar), Michele Cupaiuolo (bass) and Giancarlo Stinga (drums) and, over the next year or so, the band issued two singles, "Neve Calda"/"Comincio Per Gioco" and "Si Mama Mama"/"Meditazione", for RCA. They also recorded a number of tracks in Spanish for release in that market - these were compiled in 1990 on the album Il Re Del Castello. 1969 also brought the band's debut album, the pioneering prog/psychedelia hybrid Sirio 2222, a set dominated by the side long title suite. Cupaiuolo and Cecioni both departed the band during 1970-71; they were replaced by former Citta Frontale keyboard player Gianni Leone and Vito Manzari (bass) and, in this form, Balleto Di Bronzo signed with Polydor and began working towards the broader symphonic style for which they are now best recalled. Ys, the band's second album, is occasionally accused of wearing its influences a little too proudly - it does, indeed, have much in common with the similarly named British band Yes. In fact, the title was borrowed from a town in Brittany. Two versions of the album were prepared, an Italian language original and another sung in English - in the event, the latter remained unreleased, an unfortunate decision that probably wrecked the group's chances of finding the wider audience that they deserved - the subsequent appearance of two songs from that version, "Introduzione" and "Secondo Incontro", as Mellow's Ys - English Version indicates the strength of the initial concept. Plans for a third Balletto Di Bronzo album were already underway when the band broke up in 1973 - those final sessions produced just one single, 1973's "La tua casa comoda"/"Donna Vittoria ". Leone immediately launched a solo career under the name Leo Nero, releasing 1977's Vero. He resurfaced under the Balletto Di Bronzo name in 1999 for a well-received Italian tour, source of the live album Trys. ~ Dave Thompson