Author(s): Willem Bemboom
Date of publication: 5/2004
Aloha Magazine
THE MANY FRIENDS OF ZUCCHERO
No, it's really true: nice, ingaging people can go a long way in the musicworld. Take the Italian singer Zucchero, who, thanks to a load of famous friends, is now selling records all over the world. This spring he collected his best buddies not just on the duetrecord Zu&Co but also in the Royal Albert Hall in London.
Applause is rising up in the Royal Albert Hall just before 8:30 pm, not a single note has been played and the most important person of the evening is still sitting in his dressing room. Yet the first ovation of the Zu&Co concert is a fact: Chelsea coach Rainieri, who got kicked out of the Champions League the night before, is walking up to the front row following Vialli, a few other smooth guys and some elegant women. Last nights loss has been forgiven by the people. That is; the Italian people, because they are everywhere tonight. The higher you look into the hall the less haute couture the visitors look; way up are Zucchero's "normal" fans, waving Italian flags like true Zucchero-tifosi. Even here in London he is apparently mostly the Italian's hero.
Those Italians do have a good reason to be proud of 'their' singer; Zucchero was the first Italian to pack his roots in rock, blues and soulmusic and to be able to sell the result over the entire world. More accesible and modern than Pavarotti, certainly more real and raw than Ramazotti. Miles Davis and Eric Clapton pulled the touching singer in the late 80's out of the Italian scene and onto the international stages, but the world really got into Zucchero's spell when he dueted with Paul Young in 1991. Senza Una Donna became a huge hit. Nr. 1 in the Netherlands (actually nr. 4, but let the urban myth be that it was nr. 1 :D), top 10 in England and the US, en ofcourse worshiped in homeland Italy. Thanks to his warm personality and soulfull music he made friends in the form of millions of cd buyers but also with co-workers like Brian May, Joe Cocker, Bono, Luciano Pavarotti, Andrea Bocelli, Tom Jones, Dolores O'Riordan and Stevie Ray Vaughn all are or were friends of him. Throughout the years he recorded no less than 25 duets that are now on Zu&Co. Worldhits like Mama, Il Mare, Il Volo, Diamante, Diavolo in me and Miserere are all on the tracklist (lol, wonder how well he actually looked at the tracklist then) and if those hard titles don't mean anything to you; listening to a Zucchero compilation is one big óh-is-thát-him-experience. Not all songs were originally duets but Zucchero took the oppurtinity to add 'missing' friends. From Macy Gray and Ronan Keating to B.B. King and John Lee Hooker, Zu & Co is a maincourse of 50 years of musichistory served with an Italian sauce.
The oldest duet on Zu&Co is Dunne Mosse, which was recorded in 1988 with miles Davis. The legendary trumpetist called the at that point still unknown Italian out of bed at a bit of an awkward moment. "I was on holiday with my wife on the Maladives" says Zucchero, "Our relationship wasn't going so well so we took a save-your-marriage-trip to see if we could save things a bit. So then at 4 in the morning the phone rang. "Hi this is Miles Davis, I heard a song of yours and I love your voice, can we work together some time" I thought it was a joke so I ended the conversation and the guy called back immediately. Then I realised it was the real one. I told my wife what was happening and that I had to go. "Go then, go!" she said. So I packed my bags and went to Miles Davis. Marriage was over but a friendship was born!".
Eric Clapton was also showing interest in Zucchero's musical talents at that time. "I send him a tape with a note saying, "Hi I'm Zucchero, I love you and your music and I hope you could play with me on a song" I also put down my phonenumber but I never expected him to call. But within a week he was on the phone "Come to New York and we'll work together! I can schedule you in somewhere.". I said "Great, but how much money do you want? Should I call your manager?" He didn't want to hear about it. "If you really want to do something, give 1000 bucks to the AA'. People like Clapton aren't in it for the money, but because they like doing it. I remember when word got out that I worked with Miles articles were published saying I probably gave him a Ferrari. I hardly had a dime for myself, let alone for a Ferrari for Miles Davis!".
"These days I still work the same way. No power or money is being used. I call the musician that I want, without managers or record companies in between. Sometimes I think, this song needs a Clapton solo, then it's easiest to just call him instead of finding someone who does a good Clapton impression. The people on this album are on there because of mutual respect and trust not because they have to. I invite them to my farm in Tuscany before we start working and we talk about life, kids, women. Friendship is a great thing, I love people to begin with. My farm exists of 8 buildings and there are always guests. Brian May came by for this album and so did Dolores O Riordan. Paul Young comes there every summer. He is really a amgo de core (the journalists Italian sucks :D)".
That's also how Young is thinking about it when we talk backstage in the Royal Albert Hall. "Zucchero and I have always stayed in touch after our hit. I kinda see him as my godfather (laughs)! Whenever we visit I'm surprised about his love for people and conversations. He bickers with my wife, spends time with my mother in law.... when I'm with Zucchero at least I"M on vacation!".
A lifelike person that loves to have people around him. That's the way Zucchero likes to be seen. In a way it's ironic that he got his name because of the exact opposite. "My actual name is Adelmo, which is a rare farmersname. I used to despise it, now I do less. When I was still in pre-school I was very introvert and shy. My teacher thought I was sweet and started calling me "zucchero". A name to bully me a little, because I wasn't that sweet at all, like Sugar Ray Robinson wasn't a nice guy at all either. So all those bastards took it over and kept calling "Zucchero, hey Zucchero!". And they had the greatest time doing it. That name has sticked around ever since, espacially when my parents started using it too. Now there's no-one who doesn't call me Zucchero".
The secret of Zucchero's success in the international popworld is just as weird as it is obvious; the emotion in the music makes it all happen. His songs and vocals carry a lot of feeling and power with them, even though almost no-one knows what he's singing about outside of Italy. His concession to sing in English did help Zucchero a bit. But English has always been only a part of the story; besides Senza una Donna it were always the Italian songs that impressed most. "When you don't sing in English you're fucked!" Zucchero explains "espacially in the UK and the US. A lot of my friends don't know Italian. I can't really ask them just for one song or performance learn Italian just for me? Most songs sound fine in both languages however but translating is the toughest part. First of all most songs are autobiographical. And I also use a lot of sarcasm, irony and slang. It's impossible to have the same impact with an English translation. Thankfully a lot of friends are really good in working with lyrics. Elvis Costello, Bono, Sting, they like helping me with translating my lyrics into English. I give them the concept of the song and make sure they know what I want to say with it".
And the success of the Italian songs? The biggest stars in music history didn't just fall for the music alone? "Don't forget that a song in itself has huge power. When as a kid I was listening to Otis Redding, Marvin Gaye and Aretha Franklin I couldn't understand the lyrics but I did knew what they MEANT. The feeling wasn't connected to the actual words. The other way around works the same way. A few years ago I rented a house near San Fransisco to record a new album and the couple that runned the place was American so I gave them a copy of my Best of cd. The next day they were standing in front of me with tears in their eyes. The guy had listened to the song Diamante, which is about the dying of my grandmother. A very emotional song about life but also with a positive thought of hope and trust. I explained it to him and then he really started crying; exactly what he thought it was about even though he didn't understand a word of Italian. Music has the special force of bringing over feelings and the same emotions with everyone that listens to it. So it's possible for me to get a phone call from Roberto Baggio on day one who's completely blown away by the Italian lyrics of a song and on day 2 to be talking to Brian May who has tears in his eyes because of the same song. Espacially musicians and artist just GET it".
A large amount of Zucchero's friends are present in London that night. The presence of among others Luciano Pavarotti, Brian May, Ronan Keating, Paul Young and Solomon Burke was already known far in advance but weirdly enough that didn't sell out the place. Even in the center many seats are left open.
Vialli, Rainieri and their girlfriends have taken their places and a large amount of cameras are being brought into position; RAI 2 is transmitting the concert live and it'll come out on dvd in a few weeks too (make that months). But in the audience no-one knows that backstage people are working feverishly. Litterary actually since two of the biggest guests are feeling a sick and seem ready to cancel. Luciano Pavarotti isn't fit enough to sit out the entire show and instead of being the closing act he is now the third guest. Also surprise guest Eric Clapton, who is now the closing act, isn't feeling great but he decides to wait his turn so that the main point of the show won't be taking place in the first 30 minutes. Because the show must go on!
Zucchero's opening is surprising; a large curtain fals down and then we see the singer sitting on a chair. Wearing a hat, sunglasses and curly hair he seems to look most like Daniel Lohues (Dutch singer). Left of him are two backing vocalists; two fat ladies who are swinging so much the stage appears to be shaking. The century old RAH stage has to enduyre even more because besides these two big mamas Pavarotti is coming on stage too. His face hiding behind a huge white head - model Bob Dylan in the Last Waltz - and he sets himself down opposite to Zucchero by the piano. Sometimes laughing, sometimes in pain he blows himself through his parts of Miserere. After the song the two stand together on stage but instead of a big gesture Pavarotti just points to Rainieri and grinns.
When the tenor is off stage it's time for some of the lesser gods to share the stage with Zucchero. A big impression aren't Mousse T, Tina Arena and Fher leaving and even price song Senza Una Donna is getting a rough treatment since Paul Young's voice isn't in great shape.
Cranberries-singer Dolores gets a lot of photographers attention because of a gossip scandal, but most of those are already gone when the high point of the evening occurs; Solomon Burke. Dressed in a glittery black suit he sits in his throne and sings a sparkly Diavolo in me with Zucchero. Burke gets the entire hall dancing and even the football players on the front row can't stay in their seats. Zucchero has gotten so hot he takes his hat and sunglasses off for the first time, too bad this heavenly party finnishes so fast. But before he sits back in his wheeling chair Burke does a little dance in front of his throne. The hall is going, and Ronan Keating is getting the benefits from it. The duet Il Volo sounds great and a few fans are screaming espacially when the former Boyzone singer tries out some Italian. Zucchero himself is bathing in sweat by now.
Then the show falls still for a moment and a slow intro sounds through the speakers. Slowly from the right a big curly head is rising up that can only belong to no other than Brian May. The Queen guitarist is rocking away on Mama, although his riffs are not completely in tune with the slow start of the song. In the swinging Il Mare... May's guitar solo's are more at their place and again the audience is standing on their feet.
While May is playing away, two meters behind him Eric Clapton is already standing ready for his unannounced guest appearance. The surprise seems to work considering the huge response the crowd gives him, but after that the guitarist stays in the background and doesn't sing a word. He does play thankfully but he appears so relaxed his job as closing act is missing a show element.
What follows next seems like a stand up act; the band leaves the stage and the audience starts leaving when suddenly Zucchero is back on stage with Brian May for another Il Mare. This scene repeats itself several times when he honours Stevie Ray Vaughn for a halffull hall. When after a few minutes he returns on stage for Hai Scelto Me there are only a few people left. But boy does it sound great, and boy does he look satisfied.