With Made of Stars just around the corner (so we tell ourselves anyway) a special version of Shake will be released in Australia. The exact tracklist isn't clear (probably English version) but it will include a duet version of "I'm in trouble" (Ahum) with Australian singer Tina Arena that will also be released on single. The single will be available from March 1st and you can buy it online (http://www.chaosmusic.com/shop/detail.asp?productID=861576). When Shake will be released is unclear for now but if more news comes up we'll post it here.
Made of stars February 18, 2004
A little bit of short news on Made of Stars: the Italian official website of the Cranberries claims that the duet Zucchero and Dolores O'Riordan recorded (Puro Amore) is online on Zucchero's website as a 'preview' for the album. The bad news is that it isn't but if we hear some more we'll post it here.
Meanwhile a SACD/DVD site called High Fidelity Review mentions that 'a new Zucchero' release will come out in an SACD version (a special sort of cd that plays in normal cd players but plays best in special SACD cd players), and on www.directmedia.ch you can now pre-order Zucchero's new cd although no actual title (TBA - to be announced) or release date is mentioned.
46664 CD´s and DVD to be released in April February 09, 2004
Last year´s 46664 Mandela concert in Cape Town will be released on cd and dvd in April. The cd version will be split up in three seperate cd´s (under the titles "African Prayer", "Long Walk To Freedom" and "Amandla") the only Zucchero song on the cd version is his part in the Queen medley (on "Amandla"). The 2-dvd of the concert however does include the other song Zucchero performed; "Everybody´s got to learn sometime" with Brian May, Roger Taylor and Sharon Corr. The cd´s and dvd will be released in april.
Made of Stars / Corrado Rustici / The fanclub meeting January 30, 2004
Rockol (www.rockol.it) reports on an article in QN about Zucchero's upcomming duet album "Made of stars". According to the article two completely new songs will be released featuring German dj Mousse T. (Mama get real), Dave Stewart and Vanessa Carlton. The rest of the cd will include old songs, some of which with a new twist. The article names Diavolo in me (with Solomon Burke), Pippo (with Tom Jones), The Fly - Il Volo (with Ronan Keating), Muoio per te - Mad about you (with Sting), Blue (with Sheryl Crow), Wonderful World (with Eric Clapton), Baila Morena (with Maná), Dune Mosse (with Miles Davis), Ali D'Oro (with John Lee Hooker), Ahum (with Australian singer Tina Arena) and Miserere (with Luciano Pavarotti). Although the article doesn't mention them Zucchero has also recorded with Brian May (Solo una sana... and Il Mare), Macy Gray (Come il sole all'improvviso) and Dolores O'Riordan (Puro Amore). The cd's planned to be released this may, summer tour might follow in june.
Zucchero's producer Corrado Rustici has made a deal with the Sugar record company (nothing to do with Zucchero) to produce young artists. In an interview with Rockol he said he's not involved with the duetalbum and right now he only wants to work with young people, not the big stars.
Our reporter Shar made some great pictures from the Fanclub meeting:
Mario Schiliro
Shar with Stefano "Pippo" from the Fanclub
Shar with Zucchero after the show
Zucchero played the following setlist:
Dunne Mosse / Baila (with Irene Fornaciari) / Everybody's got to learn sometime / Come il sole all'improvviso / Per Colpa di Chi? / Hey Man / Con le Mani / Diavolo in me / Il Mare / Donne / Senza una Donna / ?? / Datemi una Pompa / Diamante / Va, Pensiero / ?? / ?? / Dindondio.
Fanclub meeting/ Cheb Mami/ Lisa Hunt January 21, 2004
During last saturday´s fanmeeting fans got to watch Zucchero perform several songs including a few duets with his daughter Irene and with the singers of (tribute) bands that performed earlier that day. Only one new audiotrack was played, the Miles Davis version of Dune Mosse, because of reporters present. The album will most likely be finished by February and released by april/may. Out of the 30 duets ready, 17 will be chosen and put on the cd. (Thanks Zukkerino on forum.zucchero.it!!).
Our ´very own´ Shar was the only non-Italian at the meeting and wrote the following about it:
Zucchero's FanClub Raduno on 17-January at Umbi Studios was FANTASTICO
!! It was a great party, with food and wine from Zucchero's own farm.
There were around 200 fans who made the trip to Polesella, and everyone
there had a wonderful time !!
Following entertainment by several excellent "cover" bands, Zucchero
treated us to nearly 2.5 hours of music, mixed with his own conversation
with the crowd. Zucchero also did several numbers with "guest artists"
from the cover bands - a wonderful and generous gesture from a true
superstar.
Zucchero's daughter, Irene, also joined him for some duets. WOW !!!
Their singing together was INCREDIBLE. With such talent, she has a very
bright future ahead.
And, I finally got to meet in person, more of Zucchero's wonderful fans
(many of whom I had "met" on the Forum, but now face-to-face !)
Also very present & available during the Raduno were many of the people
on Zucchero's team. I was completely impressed by the team - such
terrific people ! One true measure of a man, is to see what kind of people
he chooses to be part of his team - and Zucchero has picked THE BEST,
there is no doubt.
Pictures and further stories to follow!
Rai star Cheb Mami (best known for Desert Rose his duet with Sting) released a duet album last year called "Du sud au nord" (available on the French Amazon). The album includes a duet version of Cosi Celeste with Zucchero. You can listen to a sample on this website http://www.beurfm.net/article.php3?id_article=736.
While Zucchero´s preparing his new album, Lisa Hunt is touring through Australia (where they are enjoying summer right now) with her Summer of Soul tour. In this article Lisa talks about her show and doing "oohs and aahs" for Zucchero the past year and a half (http://www.entertainment.coffs.tv/gigguide/TourActs/LisaHunt.htm).
Fanclub meeting: members present to hear new songs January 14, 2004
Those lucky few (cough! bastards cough! :D) who´ll be able to be present during the Official Fanclub meeting in Italy this saturday will be able to listen to a few songs of "the new album", which supposedly is the duetalbum. Because (most of) the songs are supposed to remain top-secret untill the album actually gets released you are not allowed to bring any videocameras or recording acquiptment with you to the meeting. If there are any English speaking fans out there who are going to the meeting and want to meet up with other English speaking fans please feel free to mail us and we´ll pass it through to those attending.
Duet album: late april, European tour to follow January 07, 2004
According to music mag Sorrisi e Canzoni Zucchero´s duet album will be released in april or may and will contain 17 songs. Besides studio tracks the cd will also contain some live duets and a European tour is expected to start around june this year. For more on the duet album, see below.
The Duet album so far... January 05, 2004
For those of you who´ve lost track (or just tuned in): a short lookback on what we know about the duetalbum so far!
When?: we have NO idea. First guess was autumn 2003 but the re-release of Shake in the US and the US/Canadian tour postponed all that, then we hoped for Christmas, but Zucch then said in an interview he still had some work to do. Now we´re hoping early spring. Maybe one of the fans can ask him during the fan meeting on january 17th? (hint! hint!).
Who?: In good Zucchero tradition nothing´s coming in from the guy himself but thank god for some of the artists who worked with Zucch! Cranberries singer Dolores O´Riordan mentioned during a concert in Italy that she was going to record with a big Italian singer the next day, and no, it wasn´t Pavarotti. Later on she sang some of the lyrics of the song they recorded during a tv interview: it was the Bluesugar song Puro Amore. German DJ Mousse T released the news that he was working with Zucchero on his own website saying the song they were working on was called "Mama get real". Queen guitarist Brian May said on his website that after the Pavarotti and Friends concert he recorded new guitar parts for "Il Mare" and "Solo una sana". Zucch himself mentioned Dave Stewart is taking part too. Ronan Keating recorded a new version of "Il Volo" and already released that on the Italian version of his new album. Macy Gray recorded "Come il sole all´improvviso" with Zucch in New York this year saying "it´s a pretty song" (damn right it is). Rumoured names include: Sting, Bono, Elton John, Mark Knopfler, Joe Cocker and Al Green. Old work with artists like Miles Davis, Solomon Burke, Sheryl Crow, Paul Young, B.B. King, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Ray Charles and Randy Crawford might be included too.
Title?: The working title appeared to be ´Duets album´ (which is pretty clear, isn´t it?) but now Zucch says he´s gonna call it ´Made of Stars´... which we don´t like. But since Zucch has a habit of changing album titles (Shake was first gonna be Mojo, Oro incenso e birra was first gonna be Boh or Zio Rufus) there´s still some hope.
Tour?: Not with all these artists anyway. But a German tour operator mentioned a Zucchero summer tour for this year as ´work in progress´ but quickly deleted that after we mentioned it here and there have been some rumours going around about some Canadian jazz festival Zucch might appear on...
Happy new year!
Rumour: new studio album ready January 01, 2003
According to a source who doesn´t want us to mention his name Zucchero already has a new studioalbum ready for release. The album should contain one song that was meant to be on Shake but didn´t get released due to publishing problems and a duet with Italian rocker Vasco Rossi that was recorded a few years ago. According to our source the duet album will be released first and after that this new album will come out (either the same year or in 2005). No news on when the duet album will be released however..
And some small news: rumours that Zucchero is gonna appear during parties in Italian cities tonight are false, he´s out of the country for the holidays. And for those who speak English and are planning on going to the official fanclub meeting in january: there are a few people who would like to meet up with other English speaking people so feel free to mail us to get in touch with them.
