Author(s): Harry de Jong
Date of publication: ?/?/2001
De Gelderlander
HAVING BEAUTIFUL CHICKS AROUND YOU ALL DAY
The Italian rocker Zucchero put a nice piece of pop history on his new album Shake: on one of the songs he gets vocal help from blues legend John Lee Hooker. A historic session, ´cause Hooker would die shortly after.
It was a big shock for Zucchero when he read in the newspapers that Hooker died. But, he says during his visit in the Netherlands to promote his cd: “I´m incredibly proud that I was able to work with him. He was old and skinny, but still very elegant. And he was funny. He walked into the studio with two young women on his arms. They were kissing him like he was a young guy instead of a man in his seventies. I thought: I wish I could get old like that”
It´s not that strange that Hooker is there on Zucchero´s new album. The musician has tried to make connection in his songs between Italian pop and American blues, r&b and soul. And with the help of the old bluesmaster he succeeded.
Zucchero: “That deep voice of Hooker, it´s pure magic. I thought during the recordings: this man is immortal, he will never die. But he did anyway. I still wonder if it´s just by accident that he sings on my album “I lay down, with an angel”. Looks a bit like a prediction”.
“Hooker knew my music after he once was a guest during one of my shows in the House of Blues in New Orleans. When I asked him to do a song on my new album, he told me it was no problem. He could come to the studio the next day. It was that easy. Incredible, but true.”
Hooker impressed Zucchero not only as a musician, but also as a ladies-man. Even though the Italian is used to some stuff from the old generation of bluesmen. “John lee Hooker was something with his girlfriends, but also rhythm-and-bluessinger Rufus Thomas was good at it. Everytime I was in Memphis I stayed at his place. He´s really into women. When I met him in 1989 he had already been married 12 times.”
“And what about BB King? Also women around him all the time. He once told me that in every city he goes in the world there are women waiting for him. Men like him, they are so great: they are old, but still healthy, they travel all around the world, they can play everywhere and they always have women around them. What man wouldn´t want that?”.
Zucchero recorded the cd Shake after he ended a long world tour last year. “I was happy I was able to do something again, ´cause you really get into this black hole when you get back home after a trip. I talked about it with Bono of U2 once. He has the same problem, but he found something for it. When a tour ends he first stays in a hotel in Dublin to get normal again and only then he returns home. That way he still has the feeling of being on the road a bit. When you´re on tour you´re under pressure, the adrenaline is going all the time and every night is another highpoint when you get on stage. And then you get home and there is nothing. It gives you the feeling like your world has just stopped.”
The interview is being held in the American Hotel in Amsterdam. Zucchero looks out over the typical Amsterdam scenery: a boat in the canal, pushing the stormy water aside. The street is ruled by rain soaked pedestrians. “I spent a lot of time in this room. I like it. Especially the view. It´s like having my own apartment in Amsterdam. In New York I also stay in the same hotel every time. It´s right in front of Central Park and it gives me the same feeling like here in Amsterdam. It´s important to find rest and places you know. For example New Orleans. When I first got there and we flew around it with the airplane I thought to myself: this is a place I´ve been before. I´ve seen this before. The scenery looks a lot like the place in Northern-Italy where I grew up. A speciality there is grilled catfish, just like in Lousiana.”
Zucchero loves blues. “Everytime when I want to reload, I put on a blues record. I myself listened to black music since I was young. But it was incredibly hard to get a record deal with this genre in Italy. It took me eight years to get working. I was almost ready to quit and find another job, when I got lucky and had the chance to make an album. Since then life has given me more than I ever wanted. I spent time with my greatest heroes in the studio and I can do gigs all around the world. I even once recorded with Miles Davis on trumpet, that´s just a huge honour. I think I´ve just been at the right place and the right time everytime again. Just look at the John lee Hooker recordings.”
“I´m 46 now and that´s a good age to look back from. And forward of course, ´cause what do I want to do next with my life? I would love to keep on doing the fun stuff I´m doing now, but my private life has to change. I´ve been married three times and have kids with these women. And that´s not a good situation ´cause I just can´t get loose from them. I live on a farm in Tuscany and I´d love to do what John Lee Hooker did and have a few young girls around me all day long. And every night some friends over to have dinner with and drink wine. After that make music. I wouldn´t want to care about hits anymore, it´s just all too frustrating for me. That´s my vision of the future.”