Author(s): ?
Date of publication: 10/25/2003
The Windsor Star
ZUCCHERO, DIVERSE TALENT
Via Italia ran through the Capitol Theatre Friday night.
Italian pop/blues superstar Zucchero unleashed his hard-pumping blend of musical morphing to an auditorium jam-packed with clapping, dancing fans drawn heavily from Windsor's Italian community.
You could tell many appreciative devotees understood their idol when he first spoke in Italian, explaining that he was in the midst of a Canadian concert series, since they roared their approval.
Dressed neo-scruffy in a black leather jacket and poor-boy cap, Zucchero sat stagefront strumming guitar while belting out growling blues, tempered here and there with a softer sound.
Zucchero started with Italian hits such as Dune Mosse, Dindondio and Rossa Mela, before changing to his English-lyric fare. For his dance-hall number Baila Sexy Thing -- from his new album Shake, released in Canada Oct. 14 -- he spoke in English.
"Stand up," he commanded from the stage. "I want to see you dance."
And they did. With the help of his six-piece band that included a blues-and-gospel backing singer who belted out with matching power.
Dusk opened
Canada's answer to Frank Sinatra, 24-year-old wonderkind Matt Dusk, opened the show with a suave, but largely melancholy flavour -- till he launched into the swinging Miracle due out next year.
Naturally, however, it was Zucchero's night -- and he seemed to rattle the Capitol with his voice alone. It's a technique the most popular Italian pop star of all time has been using for three decades.
Adelmo Fornaciari was born in Roncocesi, Italy, in 1955, though he formed his first R&B bands in Forte dei Marmi in Tuscany between 1970 and 1978. He was already known by then as Zucchero -- sugar in Italian -- a nickname given to him by a school teacher. Sugar Fornaciari has always been a magnet for diverse musical styles from country and R&B to pop and jazz, an openness that has endeared him to critics and fans alike.
Zucchero has won a series of awards, starting with the top prize at the 1981 Castrocaro Festival for Una Notte Che Vola Via. He recorded his first studio album in 1983, Un Po di Zucchero, before heading to San Francisco, where he teamed up with Randy Jackson.
For his third studio release, Rispetto, his band included David Sancious (former Bruce Springsteen keyboardist), Narada's Michael Walden (jazz-pop innovator) and Brian Auger (perhaps Britain's premier jazz organist).
The album Blue's was Zucchero's breakthrough. It became the best-selling pop music album in Italy's history, selling more than 1.3 million copies.
His current tour is not just spreading his high-octane pop, but doing its own part for Canadian-Italian relations.