WHILE his pizza-making skills are widely known, South Fremantle’s Ashlley Walliss’ best kept secret may just be his songwriting skills.
The chef and owner of L’Antica recently won X Factor Italia 2017 for his song In the Name of Love, written for winner Lorenzo Licitra.
Mr Walliss, who is mostly found in front of his pizza oven, said he had been writing songs for as long as he could remember. He studied at the Conservatorium for Music and worked with some of Italy’s most famous artists.
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READ NOW“As a child, I was always picking things out on the piano,” he said.
“I was actually studying classical piano with Alice Carrard, who also taught David Helfgott.
“I always work with the same partner in Italy, Fortunato Zampaglione. We just clicked from the start. The work we have done together has 15 platinum discs to date, all with top major artists including Francesco Renga, Marco Mengoni, Francesca Michielin and Belen Rodriguez.”
Describing his hit In the Name of Love as a battle cry, Mr Walliss said the opportunity to work with X Factor Italia had been an incredible one.
“The song was sung in round 5, the semi-final and the grand final, with a viewing audience of several million,” he said. “It was also sung on the RAI Uno New Year’s Eve television show, which was massive exposure.”
Mr Walliss said although it was sometimes difficult to juggle life as a chef and songwriter, it was important people did things with passion.
The song is available on iTunes in Australia.
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