Author(s): Willem Baars
Date of publication: 7/2004
Playboy Magazine
20 QUESTIONS
1 How did you manage to get all these stars in the studio?
"I sometimes ask myself the same question. My recordcompany was not amused when I told them three years ago that I wanted to make a duet album. They thought I'd never be able to get so many artists to record a song with me. And now everybody's happy: my record company, the artists involved, and most of all; I'm happy"
2 The question was: how did you do it?
"By not giving up and by always being honest. Apparently a lot of my collegues think I'm a good guy and I can always knock on their door. And I did. Sometime literary like with Sting who lives close to me. Everyone I approached loved to be a part of it. But the most difficult part is planning it. When do you work with which artist? That's what took me the most time"
3 Did you call everyone yourself?
"Yes, I did. But I already knew most of them from earlier collaborations or I had met them before. I did end up with a painfully high phone bill in the past two years though. The nice thing of this album is, by the way, that none of them wanted to get payed. Everybody's involved because they wanted to be"
4 Were there artists on your wishlist you couldn't get?
"A few. I would have loved to get Peter Gabriel, but he was on tour. Lionel Richie really wanted to be on it but was working on his own album at the time. So that didn't work out either. And I would've loved to be able to work with Anastacia but she was ill. I didn't really have much wishes besides those. I'm proud that I, being an Italian farmerboy, was able to work with these great, talented people. I couldn't have dreamed of this 20 years ago."
5 Which song are you most proud of?
"Like the sun, the song I recorded with Macy Gray. Not so much because it's my most recent song or because I think Macy Gray is such an extraordinary singer. Maybe it's because I had to work so hard to get it. In the past two years I have tried to call her through her managers at least 20 times after she said she'd do this song with me. I sent her the lyrics and the chords and after that I didn't hear a thing from her. I couldn't reach her because she's had at least four different managers in the past two years. And ofcourse right before I'm about to present the album to the record company she called me with that weird goat voice and asked if she was still on time to be part of the album"
6 What was your experience with Macy Gray? The times we talked to her we thought she was insane.
"Let me be honest here: Macy is someone who'll never bore you. She told me that once she shot a gun out of a window at some guy walking by. With real bullets! I asked her ten times if she meant that. And she did! She's insane, and not always in a nice way. But who cares if you've got a voice like that and make music as good as hers?"
7 Isn't this new cd just a compilation?
"No, there are songs on there that are 16 years old, like the song I did with Miles Davis but every song has new arrangements, almost always new vocals and a new production and mix. There's even a dance-type track that I made with Mousse T. And two new songs. But the sound on the album is very 'now'. I call it 'an album of voices' because the vibe on every song and the chemistry between me and the other artist had to be right. I also tried to give each song more soul than the original"
8 Why are there so few Italian world stars?
"What do you think about Luciano Pavarotti, Laura Pausini and Andrea Bocelli? Did you know I discovered Bocelli? I produced his first two albums and wrote a lot for him, but no-one cared in Italy. I took him along with me because I saw and heard that he made a perfect crossover between pop and opera. My manager made a deal between an independent recordcompany for a single. Next thing you know he wins the San Remo festival and the Dutch part of Universal Music took him in their arms. And now Bocelli's a star and sells millions of albums in the US alone!"
9 Every artist does rap these days. Why don't you?
"I try to follow modern music as much as I can. I like r & b and dance but rap's too much of the same thing to me. I don't care about it too much. Plus I think that as a rapper you have to stand up against something. And you should at least almost be killed once! I don't see how I could do a believable rap. What would it be about? The way Berlusconi runs the country? I'm more of a bluesguy"
10 What do you know now you didn't know when you were 18?
"When I started I was so naïve. But deep inside I'm still a child but towards the outside I'm more careful now. Twenty years ago I believed in everything and had wild ideals, they're long gone now"
11 Do you think that as a big star you're capable of making people more conscious on a political level?
"I don't have the illusion that music will change something. You can try to show your audience things that aren't right in the world and you can try to point out that not everything polticians say is true. As a popular artist you have a big stage for that. But you have to be careful because why would you be the only one who's right? However, I do a lot of charity gigs for AIDS victims and war victims"
12 Do you have a tacky side? You come across as very no nonsense
"I prefer not to talk about my personal life and hardly ever go to those celebrity parties everyone in showbizz wants to go to. My life is very simple on a farm in Tuscany in between Pisa and Genua. I've got a few animals walking around there that keep me busy. And I've got three children: my daughters Irene and Alice and my six year old son Blue. With my girlfriend I make my own wine, olive oil, ricotta and bread. On that point we're in competition with Sting who lives close by. Very traditional lifestyle basically. And that's all I need. The only special thing is my collection of old watches but that's not really tacky. I don't really have weird hobbies either. I don't even like soccer all that much like most Italians. Then again I don't think I'm much of a stereotypical Italian"
13 Don't you live in an extremely expensive farm?
"The house itself wasn't that expensive but everything I put in it was. In my bathroom I have had ornaments and tiles put in that are centuries old. If I'd ever sell the place I wouldn't get the money out that I put in but that's ok, I don't care too much about money. I don't make music to make money either. A few years ago I lost a few grand on stocks. I'm a bad business man. I'm a musician and I don't want to have anything bothering me when I'm writing, espacially financial stuff."
14 Did women start treating you differently when you got succesfull?
"Yes ofcourse. That was a difficult time. For ten years I tried to make a succesful album and then in 1987 Blue's sold over a million copies in Italy alone. From one day to another I was a sex symbol, became "man of the year" and was Italy's new hero. Everybody wanted to be my friend and every woman wanted to be my girlfriend. That led to a crisis in my marriage because my wifes friends started screwing around in our relationship. When I was on tour they told her I had a girlfriend in every town, and when I came home again nothing was as it used to be. She was always nervous and jealous. She couldn't life with my success and that led to our divorce. We were together for 16 years and it took me over three years before I was over that divorce mentally. Espacially because all the time before that we were great together and both worked so hard for me to get some succes and for us to get a little more money. It happened about ten years ago now and finally I feel better and can see where it went wrong and can accept that"
15 What are your darker habits?
"Fortunally I never did drugs and never felt the need to. I have been smoking no more than 5 cigarettes a day since I was 14. I have a lot of discipline on that front. I love wine and good food and I love attractive women. What else...? I love being up late at night but I don't think I have any dark habits. I'm actually a very boring guy"
16 What period would you not want to relive"
"In 1992 and 1993 I was in a big depression. I was afraid of everything and I didn't even want to leave my house anymore. I had a lot of panic attacks and even considered ending it all. I thought myself out of all that thankfully. But those two years were the toughest in my life and I hope I'll never have to go through that again"
17 Do you still have fears right now?
"Yes I do. But not really concerning myself but more about my children. In Italy life isn't that great right now. There's a lot of unemployement and the future looks bad. That concerns me. My daughters are 25 and 19 now and they are at a point in their life where they really have to make decisions about their future"
18 Is it difficult being Zucchero?
"I'm blessed with fame and popularity. Many doors are opened for me and some things are made easier for me. The other side of the medal is that success makes people jealous. The last two years weren't that great because of that. Friends I have known for a very long time turned against me and started to talk about me badly. Also people I have worked with for a very long time moved away from me. Money was stolen from me, things dissapeared from my house. I don't see why because everybody can always get everything from me. I've always been good to people and I for one didn't change. All this happened in two years. It breaks my heart because some of these people I considered family"
19 When did you cry for the last time?
"I'm not really a cry baby. I do cry a lot on the inside but you won't see me with tears in my eyes. The last time I did cry was when my brother in law, who was an amazing guitarist and a great friend, cried. It happened when I was visiting him and played guitar for him and he realised that because of his illness, he had MS, he'd never be able to play again. He died last november."
20 Is it difficult to get older?
"It's really about perspective. Musically I'm just getting better and better, I'm more creative now than I was 20 years ago. I feel like I can let go of things easier than earlier. When I was younger I had a lot of principles and made life hard for myself, everything had to go like I wanted it to go. I also felt very responsible for my wife and children and maintaining them but now that burden's gone. I still have principles but I'm more open to different suggestions. So I personally like getting older. I live now like I always should have when I was younger"