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Feb.27,2005 -Mar.6,2005 |
That sweet blues sound
Italian super-star Zucchero launches Shake with a Canadian tour
By Kerry Doole
Originally Published: 2003-10-26
Italian blues-rock superstar Zucchero has just begun his biggest-ever Canadian tour, playing nine dates in Ontario and Quebec. Tandem reached him in Italy just prior to the trip, and he declared himself "very excited" about it.
"I really like to come to Canada. I love the country, and I have good memories of when I played in Toronto and Montreal three years ago. We just finished a tour in Europe that was nearly one year long, and now I need to get out of Europe!"
The timing is excellent for this amiable veteran. 2003 marks his 20th anniversary as a recording artist, and he's out in support of a brand new album, Shake (released earlier this week). It has been another huge platinum-plus success in Europe, and has been hailed by many as his best yet.
Once again, it features a diversity of styles, ranging from passionate ballads to up-tempo blues-rockers. The Zucchero sound is hard to define, but he comes up with one good definition. "It is often blues, but with a Mediterranean melody," he says. "A good example is my favourite song on the new record, 'I Lay Down.' I am very proud and happy that Universal Canada chose this song as the first single there."
Giving that track real poignancy is the fact that it is a duet with blues great John Lee Hooker, recorded in California just shortly before his death.
Zucchero (real name Adelmo Fornaciari) explains that "my influences are black, as you can understand - blues and rhythm and blues. Since I was 11 years old, I really fell in love with Mr. Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles. Then I got more into the blues, people like Robert Johnson, Elmore James. This is what I like, and you can feel that in my music."
Indeed. You can't fake being a good blues singer, and the power and passion of the Zucchero voice means he has passed that test. Just ask blues greats like Eric Clapton and B.B. King, who expressed real respect for his music.
"Eric Clapton came to Sicily to see one of my shows in a stadium and he asked me to open up his tour for Europe. I was completely unknown in Europe then (1990)."
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