Background Luca Prodan was born in Rome on 17 May 1953 of Italian and
Scottish descent In his youth, Luca was sent to prestigious
Gordonstoun College in
Scotland—the same Prince
Charles of England attended. He escaped Gordonstoun a year before graduation and moved to London soon after. In the 1970s London Luca worked at
EMI and formed his first band,
The New Clear Heads, which shared aesthetics with contemporary punk acts like
XTC,
The Fall,
Joy Division (a name he later translated to Spanish for Sumo's first album
Divididos por la Felicidad) and
Wire. Sumo's initial lineup consisted of Prodan on vocals and guitar, Germán Daffunchio on guitar,
Alejandro Sokol on bass, and Stephanie Nuttal (an
English friend of Luca's and former member of the band
Manicured Noise) on drums. Because of their lyrics in English, Sumo did not enjoy extensive airplay given to other Argentine bands in the wake of the war. In spite of that, it became a pillar of the underground scene together with
Patricio Rey y sus Redonditos de Ricota and
Los Violadores. Sumo music had different sides: hard-edged rock with an experimental touch, influenced by the sound of British
post-punk acts (e g
Joy Division,
The Fall), funky post-punk guitars and strong dub-like bass lines reminiscent of
A Certain Ratio and
Gang of Four's, and a typically British brand of reggae and
ska. After a hiatus due to Prodan's temporary return to
Europe, the band committed fully to a rock style in 1984 and spun off the Hurlingham Reggae Band. Ricardo Mollo was added on guitar and Alberto
Superman Troglio replaced Sokol on drums—even if he stayed in the band as a vocalist, bassist (when he played bass, Arnedo played keyboards) and drummer (when he played drums, Troglio did the percussion).
Success, popularity and demise Sumo started to become a popular act in the mid-1980s as Luca's in-your-face style caught up deeply among teenagers, even if his music could also display a mellower streak. He would shout "
fuck you" randomly or sing a scathing song about
dumb blondes, and immediately swoon about his appreciation for common, working-class men drinking
ginebra at a
bar. In Sumo's later releases some
Spanish language lyrics were added to the band's repertoire. Many of Luca's lyrics featured irony, wordplay and references to
drugs,
dance parties,
sex and other aspects of young people's lives, while remaining aloof of the political and economic changes in the Argentina of the 80s. The band's history was linked to entrepreneur
Omar Chabán, who was the owner of Café Einstein and celebrated Buenos Aires alternative nightclub
Cemento—where Sumo played many times. Due to his drinking habit and vertiginous rock-and-roll lifestyle, Prodan's health deteriorated. He died of a heart attack on 22 December 1987—two days after their last show. Early Sumo vocalist, bassist and drummer Alejandro Sokol died on 12 January 2009. ==Band members==