Giancarlo Golzi
Giancarlo Golzi (February 10, 1952 – August 12, 2015) was an Italian drummer, songwriter and singer. He helped found the band Matia Bazar in Genoa. He started his career playing drums for La Quinta Strada, a group that covered songs by Jimi Hendrix and bands like The Kinks, The Animals and Steppenwolf, as well as rhythm and blues stars such as Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett.
In 1971 La Quinta Strada joined with Il Sistema to form the progressive rock group Museo Rosenbach. Their first album Zarathustra came out in 1973 and was liked by fans, but its controversial lyrics led to poor sales.
In 1975 Golzi joined the Genoa band JET and singer Antonella Ruggiero to form Matia Bazar. With Matia Bazar he played drums and wrote many songs, including Vacanze Romane, which won the Critics Award at the Sanremo Music Festival in 1983.
Golzi was the longest-serving member of Matia Bazar and became a key member after the death of Aldo Stellita in 1998. In 1999 he started working again with Museo Rosenbach, releasing two more albums, Exit in 2000 and Barbarica in 2013.
He was also the artistic director of the Sanremo Academy, helping young singers take part in the Sanremo Music Festival. In 2003 he received the Lamezia Terme Prize for the Italian-French musical Les Dix Commandements.
On August 8, 2015, during a Matia Bazar tour for the band's 40th anniversary, he performed for the last time in Eboli. He died on August 12, 2015, from a heart attack in Bordighera, aged 63. After his death, Matia Bazar paused briefly and came back with a new lineup in 2017.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 07:35 (CET).