Raffaele Riefoli (born 29 September 1959), known as simply Raf, is an Italian singer-songwriter. He first became known in the early 1980s as a singer of Italo disco and as original singer and co-author of the hit "Self Control". He has turned to Italian-language music since the late 1980s and had further hits in his home country.

Biography Riefoli lived the few first years of the 1980s in London, before starting out his musical career in 1984, landing mostly in the new wave scene with his English language debut album, Raf. His first single, "Self Control", which he co-wrote with Giancarlo Bigazzi and Steve Piccolo, was a huge hit not only in his native Italy but also in Austria (No. 7), Switzerland (No. 1) and Germany, where the single climbed as high as No. 2 in the Media Control single chart and spent a total of seven weeks within the Top 10. Raf's version of the song also managed to enter the Top-40 in France.

"Self Control" was recorded and released contemporaneously by American pop star Laura Branigan, previously best known for the hit singles "Gloria" (another cover version originally released by Italian singer Umberto Tozzi) and "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You". Branigan's version was released as the first single off her 1984 album, also titled Self Control, and became a worldwide dance and pop success, hitting No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the U.S. Branigan's version hit the No. 1 spot in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden, South Africa and Canada, and was a major hit in Ireland, Australia, France, the Netherlands and the UK. Raf's version, which was charting high in numerous markets in 1984/85, was highly expected to become the most popular song in the history of the Italian music industry.

Other English-language singles from Raf, "Change Your Mind", "London Town" and "Hard", were not as successful, and after an unsuccessful 1987 re-release of his first album with two of these songs as bonus tracks, Riefoli began to transition from the new wave/dance-pop genre into a softer pop style featuring vocals in his native language. Raf has released 11 studio albums throughout the years, including the 1993 Cannibali, which has been certified six times platinum in Italy. That album contains many successful tracks including "Il battito animale", "Due" and "Stai con me".

Riefoli has also written songs for other Italian artists; the track "Si può dare di più", written for the trio Morandi–Ruggeri–Tozzi, won the first prize at the Sanremo Music Festival 1984. Riefoli co-wrote the song "Gente di mare" with Umberto Tozzi and Giancarlo Bigazzi, and his duet with Tozzi became Italy's entry in the Eurovision Song Contest 1987, placing third. The recording was a top ten hit in Switzerland, Austria and Sweden.

In the German-speaking territories, where the West German Red Army Faction, listed as a terrorist cell, was popularly known by the acronym RAF, Riefoli was marketed as Raff, with a second "f". In the intervening years, a number of other artists including German and Italian artists unaffiliated with Riefoli have made recordings under the names Raf, RAF or R.A.F.

Raf continues to have a successful recording career in Italy with his latest studio albums, Metamorfosi (2008), Numeri (2011) and Le ragioni del cuore (2012), reaching No. 4, No. 6 and No. 13 respectively in the Italian album charts.

On 30 November 2025, he was announced among the participants of the Sanremo Music Festival 2026. He competed with the song "Ora e per sempre".

Discography

Studio albums + Title Album details Peak chart positionsITAPeak positions for Italy's studio albums: For all albums except those listed below: For Cosa resterà...: For Sogni ...è tutto quello che c'è: For Cannibali: For Manifesto: For La prova: SUI Raf Released: 1984 Label: Carrere Formats: Cassette, CD, LP Self Control Released: 1987 Label: Carrere Formats: Cassette, CD, LP Svegliarsi un anno fa Released: 16 May 1988 Label: Warner Formats: Cassette, CD, LP — — Cosa resterà... Released: 7 February 1989 Label: Warner Formats: Cassette, CD, LP 7 — Sogni ...è tutto quello che c'è Released: 1 March 1991 Label: Warner Formats: Cassette, CD, LP 6 — Cannibali Released: May 1993 Label: East West (Warner) Formats: Cassette, CD, LP 5 — Manifesto Released: 8 June 1995 Label: East West (Warner) Formats: Cassette, CD, LP 5 — La prova Released: 19 November 1998 Label: East West (Warner) Formats: Cassette, CD, LP 17 — Iperbole Released: 1 June 2001 Label: East West (Warner) Formats: Cassette, CD 3 75 Ouch Released: 14 May 2004 Label: Columbia (Sony BMG) Formats: Cassette, CD 7 90 Passeggeri distratti Released: 26 May 2006 Label: Columbia (Sony BMG) Formats: CD, digital download 3 — Metamorfosi Released: 20 September 2008 Label: Columbia (Sony BMG) Formats: CD, digital download 4 — Numeri Released: 10 May 2011 Label: Columbia (Sony Music) Formats: CD, LP, digital download 6 — Sono io Released: 30 June 2015 Label: Universal Music Italy Formats: CD, digital download 7 — "—" denotes items that did not chart or were not released.

Compilation albums + Title Album details Peak chart positions CertificationsITAPeak positions for Italy's compilation albums: For Collezione temporanea: For Tutto Raf: Collezone Definitiva: For Semplicemente Raf: I Grandi Successi: Collezione temporanea Released: 3 October 1996 Label: Warner Formats: Cassette, CD, LP 5 Le ragioni del cuore Released: 9 October 2012 Label: Columbia (Sony Music) Formats: CD, Digital download 7 Raf Tozzi Released: 30 November 2018 Label: Sugar Formats: CD, Digital download 24

Live albums + Title Album details Peak chart positionsITA Soundview Released: 30 October 2009 Label: Colombia (Sony BMG) Formats: CD, Digital Download 29 Due, la nostra storia Released: 29 November 2019 Label: Friends & Partners Formats: CD, Digital Download 47

Singles

As lead artist Title Year Peak chart positions AlbumITAFor peaks positions in Italy: For all singles up to the year 2001: For "Infinito", "Via", "In tutti i miei giorni", "Dimentica", "Passeggeri distratti", "Non è mai un errore", "Ossigeno": For "Per tutto il tempo": For "Un'emozione inaspettata": For "Le ragioni del cuore": For "Show Me the Way to Heaven": For "Come una favola": AUTFRAGERSUI "Self Control" 1984 1 7 40 2 1Raf "I Don't Want to Lose You" 1985 36 — — — — "Change Your Mind" 18 — — 19 — "Hard" — — — — — "London Town" 1987 32 — — — — "Inevitabile follia" 1988 10 — — — —Svegliarsi un anno fa "Svegliarsi un anno fa" 39 — — — — "La Battaglia del sesso" 1989 — — — — —Cosa resterà... "Cosa resterà degli anni '80" 6 — — — — "Ti pretendo" 2 — — — — "E' meglio così " 1991 — — — — —Sogni ...è tutto quello che c'è "Interminatamente" 3 — — — — "Oggi un dio non-ho" 3 — — — — "Senza respiro" 22 — — — — "Siamo soli nell'immenso vuoto che c'è" 3 — — — — "Anche tu"(Raf featuring Eros Ramazzotti) — — — — — "Il Battito animale" 1993 4 — — — —Cannibali "Cannibali" — — — — — "Il Canto" — — — — — "Due" 5 — — — — "Stai con me" 1994 20 — — — — "Dentro ai tuoi occhi" 1995 — — — — —Manifesto "Il Suono c'è" — — — — — "Un Grande salto" 1996 — — — — —Collezione temporanea "Lava" 1998 — — — — —La prova "La Danza della pioggia" 1999 — — — — — "Infinito" 2001 1 — — — 89Iperbole "Via" 19 — — — — "In tutti i miei giorni" 2004 7 — — — —Ouch "Superstiti" — — — — — "Dimentica" 2006 4 — — — —Passeggeri distratti "Passeggeri distratti" 23 — — — — "Ossigeno" 2008 12 — — — —Metamorfosi "Non è mai un errore" 12 — — — — "Ballo" 2009 — — — — — "Per tutto il tempo" 47 — — — —Soundview "Un'emozione inaspettata" 2011 28 — — — —Numeri "Le ragioni del cuore" 2012 49 — — — —Le ragioni del cuore "Show Me the Way to Heaven" (Raf vs. F-Clef) 2014 35 — — — — "Come una favola" 2015 42 — — — —Sono io "Rimani tu" — — — — — "Eclissi totale" — — — — — "Arcobaleni" — — — — — "Come una danza" 2018 — — — — — rowspan="6" "Samurai" 2019 — — — — — "Liberi" 2020 — — — — — "Cherie" 2022 — — — — — "80 voglia di te" 2023 — — — — — "Ora e per sempre" 2026 31 — — — —

As featured artist Title Year Peak chart positions AlbumITAGERSUI "Gente di mare"(Umberto Tozzi e Raf) 1987 — — —Non-album track "Tu vivrai"(Pooh, Eros Ramazzotti, Enrico Ruggeri, Raf, Umberto Tozzi) 1990 — — —Non-album track "Per la gloria"(Mario Lavezzi, Gianni Bella, Riccardo Cocciante, G. Combo, Mango, Raf) 1991 — — —Non-album track "Mi rubi l'anima"(Laura Pausini featuring Raf) 1993 — — —Laura Pausini "Come una danza"(Raf featuring Umberto Tozzi) 2018 — — —

References

External links

Official website