Marco Occhetti, The Former Lead Singer Of Cousins of The Countryside , Has Died

by Barbara Visentin

Marco Occhetti was 62 years old. He was the voice of Country Cousins from 1986 to 1994, after Paul Manners

Marco Occhetti, aka Kim, former singer of the Cugini di Campagna who was part of the group from 1986 to 1994, died on his father’s Facebook page, adding that the funeral will take place today, April 25, at 3 p.m Fiano Romano. A salute to our brotherly friend KIM, whose passing we have learned. We will remember you RIP fondly, the cousins wrote from their official profile.

Born in Rome on December 24, 1959, Occhetti had taken the place of singer Paul Manners on Cousins di Campagna in 1986. With his signature falsetto voice, he had contributed to the group’s success by singing famous songs like Anima mia, and had toured the world with the band. I thank everyone for the messages they wrote to him – wrote the daughter on Facebook –. Dad was a mess and he wished he had a lot of people around to remember him.

In 1994, Occhetti had left the group, formed in 1970 by twins Ivano and Silvano Michetti: he was succeeded by Nick Luciani, who became the band’s best-known frontman and remains the voice of the group to this day, despite a period of distancing and misunderstandings between 2014 and 2020 After the adventure with the Cugini di Campagna Marco Occhetti continued to make music as a soloist, but a few years ago he told in some interviews that he was in economic difficulties and ended up playing in the streets, in the squares of Rome. I was rich, famous and traveled the world. Now, in order to survive, I have to perform in the streets and hope for the goodwill of the people to scrape together a few coins. But no one will ever hear me sing “Anima Mia,” it hurts me too much to think about what I no longer have, he said in a 2017 interview with weekly DiPi.

The singer did not shy away from criticism of his former bandmates: they didn’t pay me any fees, they invented a thousand excuses. They are all rich in money, but at extreme levels. And it ended badly. Those cold people. After I went out they threw a spanner in the works. They didn’t want me to use the band name. But for the first 3-4 years I lived in the wake of popularity as the former voice of Country Cousins. Then things went downhill and the situation worsened, he told Il Messaggero newspaper.

April 25, 2022 (Change April 25, 2022 | 12:38)