Fabrizio Moretti facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Fabrizio Moretti
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Moretti performing with the Strokes in 2019
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| Background information | |
| Born | June 2, 1980 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Origin | New York City, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1998–present |
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Fabrizio Moretti (born June 2, 1980), also known as Fab, is a musician and visual artist from Brazil and the United States. He is most famous as the drummer for the American rock band The Strokes. With The Strokes, he has released six studio albums since 2001.
Fabrizio is also a collaborative artist. He has been part of several other music groups since the mid-2000s. These include the Brazilian-American band Little Joy, which released an album in 2008. He also leads the experimental pop group Machinegum, which he started in 2018. Throughout his career, Moretti has worked on many art projects. These projects include drawing, sculpture, and installation art. He also does performance art.
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Early life and education
Fabrizio Moretti was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. His father, Stefano, was an Italian nuclear engineer, and his mother, Ana, was Brazilian. He grew up with his older brother, Leo.
When Fabrizio was three years old, his family moved to New York City for his father's job. They planned to stay for only three years but ended up living there for seventeen years. They later returned to Brazil. Fabrizio once said that during his youth in New York, he didn't feel fully Brazilian, Italian, or American. He felt like he was trying to find his identity through New York City.
He started playing the drums at age five. He practiced in a soundproof closet in his family's apartment in Midtown Manhattan. He became more serious about drumming during high school. Fabrizio went to the Anglo American International School. This school later joined with the Dwight School. There, he met his future bandmates, Nick Valensi and Julian Casablancas. After high school, Moretti studied sculpture at SUNY New Paltz. However, he left college to focus on his music career with The Strokes.
Music career
The Strokes: A rock journey
Fabrizio Moretti began drumming in a band with Julian Casablancas (vocals) and Nick Valensi (guitar) in high school. They continued playing together after leaving Dwight School. Later, Nikolai Fraiture joined as the bassist. The band was fully formed when guitarist Albert Hammond Jr. joined in the fall of 1998.
Their first show as The Strokes was on September 14, 1999, at the Spiral in New York City. The band released their first recording, The Modern Age EP, in 2001 with Rough Trade Records. They then signed a five-album deal with RCA Records. The Strokes have released six full-length albums. These include Is This It, Room on Fire, First Impressions of Earth, Angles, Comedown Machine, and The New Abnormal. They have toured and played at festivals in North America, Europe, South America, East Asia, and Australia. After their contract with RCA Records ended in 2013, the band continued to release new music through Julian Casablancas's Cult Records.
Moretti's drumming style is known for being clear and precise. He aims to provide a steady, powerful beat. This led him to simplify his drum kit to a four-piece set with a hi-hat and ride cymbals. He often uses a Ludwig Classic Maple drum kit with Zildjian cymbals and Ahead sticks. In their early days, he was known for hitting the drums very hard, often breaking his drumsticks. Their first albums had a simpler, more "punk" drumming style. Later albums featured drums that sounded more like industrial and dance music.
Little Joy: A new sound
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In 2007, Moretti formed a trio called Little Joy. He joined with Los Hermanos guitarist and singer Rodrigo Amarante and singer Binki Shapiro. Little Joy was a rock supergroup based in Los Angeles, with Brazilian and American influences. Amarante and Moretti met in 2006 at a festival in Lisbon. Both their bands were playing there. They decided to start a new music project together.
Little Joy signed with the Rough Trade Records label. Their first album, produced by Noah Georgeson, was released in 2008.
Machinegum: Art and music
Since 2018, Moretti has led a New York synth-pop band and artist group called Machinegum (written as machinegum). This group performs and records music. They also create art installations for galleries. The group includes Moretti, Ian Devaney (from Nation of Language), Delicate Steve, Chris Egan, Martin Bonventre, and Erin Victoria Axtel. They have also worked with architect Joseph Vescio and actor Justin Bartha.
Machinegum released their first album, Conduit, in December 2019. It was released on Frenchkiss Records. The group officially signed with the record label in February 2020.
Other musical collaborations
Fabrizio Moretti often mixes music, performance, and visual art in his other projects. He has frequently worked with musicians like Devendra Banhart and Rodrigo Amarante. He has also collaborated with his bandmates from The Strokes. He has written songs and created remixes for other artists. Throughout his career, he has also worked as a DJ at events.
In 2008, Moretti was part of a project called Megapuss with Devendra Banhart, Gregory Rogove, and Noah Georgeson. The group released one album called Surfing. The next year, Moretti and Banhart worked together on a project called Permanent Adventure. Moretti played drums for Neon Neon on their song "Dream Cars" in 2008. He also played drums on Kesha's 2012 song "Only Wanna Dance With You" with Julian Casablancas. He helped write "Prisoner" for Har Mar Superstar's 2013 album Bye Bye 17, with Banhart and Amarante. Moretti and Amarante also played in Banhart's band during his 2013 tour in the US and Europe. Moretti also contributed to Amarante's first solo album in 2014.
In 2015, Moretti remixed Spoon's 2014 song "Inside Out" for their remix EP. In 2016, he contributed to the Play it Forward campaign. This campaign supported victims of the 2015 Paris attacks. With Beck and Nick Valensi, he covered "I Love You All the Time" by Eagles of Death Metal. Moretti was a guest drummer for The 8G Band, the house band for Late Night with Seth Meyers, in April 2016 and January 2023. Moretti played drums on the 2017 song "Indignities" by New York synth-pop band Nation of Language. He also filled in as bassist for one of their tours. In 2018, Moretti contributed an instrumental song called "In Case of Separation" to French artist Sophie Calle's album Souris Calle.
Art projects
Moretti is also a passionate visual artist. He enjoys creating sculptures and drawings. Since the mid-2000s, he has shared his artwork in various projects. In 2013, he created an art installation for Rag + Bone. He also showed his drawings in New York. He worked on an art project called FUZLAB with French cartoonist Luz in 2012. He continued to work with Luz later, even sharing a studio with him in Paris. In 2017, one of his sculptures was shown at an exhibit in New York City's Elizabeth Street Garden.
In December 2019, Moretti worked with Italian art dealer Fabrizio Moretti (who has the same name) to present an exhibit. It was called Fabrizio Moretti x Fabrizio Moretti In Passing at Sotheby's in New York City. The art dealer curated a collection of Old Master paintings. Fabrizio Moretti, the musician, created the interactive part of the exhibit.
In December 2021, Moretti designed and built "Kube." This was a nine-foot-tall art installation made of one-way mirror, polished steel, and fluorescent lights. He was inspired by the work of Yayoi Kusama and Bruce Nauman. "Kube" was built by hand in Brooklyn with the help of a welder and his artist girlfriend, Gabriella Corey. It was designed to show the viewer and the object together, repeating endlessly. A disc of polished, reflective aluminum by Anish Kapoor, called "Mirror (Pagan Gold to Organic Green)," is placed inside the Kube. Moretti explained that when you are inside the Kube, you become part of the artwork. You can't see out, so you feel like a "nebulous being." But from outside, you can be seen clearly. He also said that a mirror can be about vanity, but it can also help you reflect on yourself.
Personal life
Fabrizio Moretti was born in Brazil and has lived in the United States since he was young. He is now a citizen of the United States. He also holds citizenship in Italy, his father's home country. Moretti speaks English, Portuguese, Italian, and French.
From 2002 to 2007, Moretti was in a relationship with actress Drew Barrymore. In 2007, he briefly dated actress Kirsten Dunst. He was later in a four-year relationship with his Little Joy bandmate Binki Shapiro. From late 2011 to 2013, he dated actress Kristen Wiig. In August 2020, he started dating art historian Gabriella Corey. They became engaged in 2023 and married in 2024.
Moretti lives in New York City. He has an apartment near Union Square in the East Village, which he bought in 2003. In the late 2010s, he lived in Paris for some time.
Discography
Solo discography (as remix artist)
- "Inside Out" (2015) (originally by Spoon)
- "Oblivius" (2016) (originally by The Strokes)
The Strokes discography
- Is This It (2001)
- Room on Fire (2003)
- First Impressions of Earth (2005)
- Angles (2011)
- Comedown Machine (2013)
- The New Abnormal (2020)
Little Joy discography
- Little Joy (2008)
Other studio albums
- Surfing (2008) (as part of Megapuss)
- Conduit (2019) (as part of machinegum)
Images for kids
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Moretti performing with The Strokes in 2019
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Moretti in 2013
See also
In Spanish: Fabrizio Moretti para niños
