Author(s): ?
Date of publication: 10/2003
Hamilton Spectator
ZUCCHERO, SWEET BLUES
His name is Adelmo Fornaciari, but everybody, and in Italy that means everybody, knows him as Zucchero. It's a nickname one of his school teachers gave him as a boy. It stuck, like sugar.
He's an Italian pop star who lives on a large farm in Tuscany. But his roots are firmly planted in North America. Blues America. Muddy Waters, Robert Johnson, Howling Wolf. An Italian Joe Cocker.
As a matter of fact, Zucchero has played with Cocker, Eric Clapton, B.B. King, as well as Sting, Miles Davis, Bono, Andrea Bocelli and Luciano Pavarotti.
He's been translating his love for the blues for European audiences for more than 20 years. Every album sells more than a million.
He had always dreamed of recording with legendary bluesman John Lee Hooker, but never thought it would happen. Not even Clapton, who had recorded with all the greats, had managed to score a session with Hooker.
But Zucchero's dream was fulfilled in the spring of 2001 when he was recording his new album Shake in the Record Plant in Sausalito, Calif.
It turned out the studio owner was a friend of Hooker's lead guitarist Roy Rogers. He called Rogers, passed him a demo of a song Zucchero had written, I Lay Down (With An Angel). It cried out for a deep bluesy voice, just like Hooker's.
"Two days later, he came to the studio," Zucchero, 48, said in an interview from his Tuscany home. "And it was absolutely great because he stayed in the studio all day and he sang many tracks. He was so nice and so humble."
It was one of the last recordings Hooker made. He died three months later. The title of the song took on a whole new meaning.
"He was happy at that time," said Zucchero. "I never thought that three months after we finished the recording session, he would die. For me, he was in very good shape."
The song is beautifully haunting. Hooker's voice comes through loud and clear. It's about to be released as a single on his Canadian label, Universal.
"It is a mix of the sacred and the profane," he says. "And I like it."
It's not traditional blues. Zucchero's audience isn't quite ready for that.
"To be honest, I don't think they know what is blues exactly," he says "But they love this kind of stuff.
"I love blues and one of my dreams would be to do an album of pure blues."
Tomorrow, Zucchero brings his version of the blues to Hamilton Place to kick off a Canadian tour that will also take him to Brampton (Saturday), St. Catharines (Oct. 22); and Massey Hall in Toronto (Oct. 25).