Born in Genoa in 1977 and a pianist since age 3, Alberto Bof works in the music industry since 1996 and released his first album ‘BOF‘ in 1998. A composer and producer of classical, jazz, contemporary music and soundtracks, he lived and worked in London, Genoa, and Paris before moving to Venice Beach, Los Angeles, in California where he opened a studio and publishing company, the MKRS Publishing.
A passionate surfer in his free time, he has worked with Quincy Jones, Tom Sizemore on ‘Calico Skies’, and also in ‘City of Lies’ directed by Brad Furman and featuring Johnny Depp and Forest Whitaker. He also performed as a pianist on ‘Shallow‘ winner of a Golden Globe, Bafta, Grammy and Oscar for Best Original Song for ‘A Star Is Born’. Not only he recorded it, but he also acted in the movie.
As he told Hot Corn, “While we were recording the soundtrack, Bradley Cooper told us: guys, I need a band and I do not want to call actors: are you coming?”. Cooper wanted an authentic band to be able to shoot close-ups on the hands and on the instruments for the film to be credible to the musicians who would see it.
Bof got originally involved in the project by Lucas Nelson with a text message: “I’m with Lady Gaga at the EastWest studio, do you want to come and play?.” On the same day, he met Bradley Cooper and they started recording. About Cooper, Bof said that he is “a nice guy, proactive, and easygoing. He mostly contributed to the texts, he knew how to direct the script and was very attentive to every word that would be sung.” While they were shooting Bof said, he did not even realize the dramatic tone of the film, “I thought it was lighter. After all, we were always on stage with the instruments and we thought about playing. At the premiere of the movie, there was everyone from Steven Spielberg to the Cooper family. Everything was so exciting that I was too dizzy and I had to go back and watch it myself.”
For the set, Bof asked for a Steinway & Sons piano and he received three of them: “When you say you make a movie with Gaga, you open every door.”
Ilona Catani Scarlett