Zucchero

1987–1994: breakthrough in Italy and first international successes Although Zucchero & The Randy Jackson Band and Rispetto were commercially successful, it was the 1987 album Blue's that went on to become the highest selling album in Italian history (until his following album in 1989), The single "Diamante" included new version of the song "Dune Mosse" recorded along Miles Davis. Davis himself insisted to re-record the song with Zucchero, describing it "interesting Mediterranean type of blues". As of 2015 are reported sales of over 8 million copies. By the Rolling Stone Italia it was included among the most beautiful Italian music albums of all time.

After the million selling success of Blue's and Oro Incenso & Birra in Italy, and his live collaborations with Joe Cocker, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Eric Clapton (whom supported on tour and performed at Royal Albert Hall in London) and Miles Davis, Other European singles from the Hits album include English versions of "Diamante", and "Wonderful World" (with Eric Clapton). Diamante was later released as a duet with Randy Crawford, a variant not available on any album until the special edition of Zu & Co. (2004). Although advised to record in English to achieve international popularity he expressed doubt; "unfortunately, the only songs you can translate easily into English are the ballads, the love songs. That is a shame". ), Peter Maffay, Elton John, Brian May and Eric Clapton. Many of these duets would later be included in the compilation Zu & Co. (2004). The 1991 was released Fornaciari's first live album Live at the Kremlin, recorded in Moscow Kremlin 1990 (being the first Western artist to perform there after the fall of Berlin Wall ) and featuring guest appearances by Randy Crawford (on John Lennon's "Imagine") and Toni Childs. In 1992 was invited by Brian May to perform at The Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert, with the remaining three members of Queen - Brian May, John Deacon and Roger Taylor, singing "Las Palabras de Amor". In 1993 was invited by Dan Aykroyd to perform at House of Blues in celebration of 46th birthday of John Belushi, playing "Diavolo in me" and "You are so beautiful" supported by The Blues Brothers Band.

Between 1992 and 2003 was the regular cast of the charity concerts Pavarotti & Friends organized by Luciano Pavarotti, where also performed along Pavarotti and B.B. King, for the children in Bosnia, Liberia, Guatemala, Kosovo, Cambodia, Tibet, Angola and Iraq.

In 1992 Fornaciari released the million selling album Miserere. Again produced by Corrado Rustici, it was a much darker album than Fornaciari's previous works, which was made clear by the title track "Miserere" (Have Mercy), a duet with Luciano Pavarotti.

1995–2008: peak of musical career The 1995 album Spirito DiVino, that included the smash European hits "Il Volo", "Papà perché?" and "X colpa di chi", is one of Fornaciari's most successful up to date, selling over 2,5 million copies in Europe alone (until 1996) and ending up on the first place in the Italian year charts, and Top 5 in France and Switzerland, the album proved a huge commercial success. On the album Fornaciari adds a certain New Orleans blues feeling to his music (especially on songs like "Voodoo Voodoo") and is accompanied by musicians such as David Sancious, Jeff Beck (on "Papa Perché?"), Sheila E. (on "Alleluja", written by Italian rapper Jovanotti) and former Chuck Berry pianist Johnny Johnson. It, with the upcoming compilation, was promoted with over 150 concerts, an estimated audience of 1.4 million people. During the sold-out tour Fornaciari sang with Buddy Guy in Milan, and played "My Love" (the English version of "Il Volo") and "Un piccolo aiuto" (together with Eric Clapton) during the '96 Pavarotti and Friends show. The Best of Tour also brought Fornaciari to the US for the first time playing to four sold out consecutive concerts at House of Blue in Los Angeles.

On the 1998 album Bluesugar, Fornaciari moved from Spirito DiVino'''s New Orleans feeling to a more British rock style, like of Robert Johnson and Radiohead. The album Shake, that followed two months later, ended up being another European million selling album. The album is described as "multi-layered blend of acoustic and electric guitars, and the interplay of various vocal ranges and languages set the tone for a stunning album with unfailingly excellent material".

Zucchero performed the Italian versions of the songs from the DreamWorks animated drama Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron (2002). On 29 November 2003, participated in the 46664 charity (AIDS) concert at Green Point Stadium, Cape Town, as well again in 2005, organized by Nelson Mandela. At the concerts, he was invited by Brian May to become the new singer for Queen replacing Freddie Mercury, but he declined, and they continued forming Queen + Paul Rodgers.

The spring of 2004 saw the release of the duet album Zu & Co., top five success in Europe. On the album, which had been sixteen years in the making, Fornaciari duets with international stars. On 6 May 2004 the album was presented during a concert in London's Royal Albert Hall, where many of the album's gueststars appeared to perform with Fornaciari. and managed to enter the Billboard 200 and top the World Albums chart. They included cover "Indaco Dagli Occhi Del Cielo" ("Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" by The Korgis).

In September 2006 was released million selling studio album Fly, certified 5× Platinum in Italy. Produced by Don Was, it included the European hit singles "Bacco perbacco" and "Occhi", and features collaborations with artists such as Ivano Fossati and Jovanotti. The album's track "L'amore è nell'aria", borrows the instrumental backing to the B-side "Broken" by UK rock band Feeder, as was co-written by their lead singer Grant Nicholas. The Fly Tour, kicking off in May in Paris, France, has included dates in most European countries, as well as the U.S. (including a show in Carnegie Hall in New York), and Latin America, with over 100 concerts worldwide. In June 2008 also performed at the Nelson Mandela 90th Birthday Tribute held in Hyde Park, London. In 2009 at Ischia Global Film & Music Fest received the Global Music Award.

2009–2014: Chocabeck and cuban parenthesis

In November 2010, Fornaciari released a studio album entitled Chocabeck, certified 5× Platinum in Italy. The album was produced by Don Was, Brendan O'Brien, and Zucchero and includes collaborations with Brian Wilson, Roland Orzabal ("God bless the child"), and Bono ("Someone Else's Tears"). The first single in Italy was the song "È Un Peccato Morir", followed by hits "Chocabeck", and "Vedo Nero". In March 2011, after three years, Zucchero started the Chocabeck World Tour, notably with five consecutive concerts at the Arena in Verona.

In the response to the 2012 Northern Italy earthquakes in Emilia-Romagna, Zucchero participated and opened the "Concerto per l'Emilia" (€1-2 million) at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara in Bologna, and "Italia Loves Emilia" (€4 million) at the airport in Reggio Emilia in front of over 150,000 people. He received the premium awards "Premio Pavarotti", and "Giovani di Collisioni".

On 20 November 2012, was released album La Sesion Cubana which was recorded in Cuba with Cuban musicians, including older and newer songs in Latin, Cuban, Tex-Mex rhythm arrangement. It was anticipated in October by the single "Guantanamera (Guajira)", and later was extracted single "Love is All Around" which video was filmed in the streets of Havana. In 2013 the album was certified 3× Platinum in Italy. On 8 December the album was presented with a special free concert at the park of Instituto Superior de Arte in Havana, in front of nearly 70,000 people. The concert was organized in the collaboration with both Cuban and Italian Ministries, cultural institutions, with advanced technology brought from Europe, resulting with the biggest foreigner concert in Cuba up to date. It was recorded and filmed, being released as live album and DVD, Una Rosa Blanca, in 2013. Zucchero became the honorary member of the National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba, recognition received by the Cuban Minister of Culture, Fernando Rojas.

In February 2013 performed and received a special "L.A. Italia Excellence Award" at the Grammy Museum. In March 2013, on stage in Bologna, he dedicated to Lucio Dalla, who had died a year earlier, his free Italian translation of the piece Ave Maria No Morro by Herivelto Martins, with some fragments of a poem by Gabriele Moreno Locatelli. The sold-out La Sesión Cubana World Tour started on 5 April in Tahiti, French Polynesia, with an audience of 10,000 people. It included three consecutive sold-out performances in the Arena of Verona. In June performed at the protest-against poverty concert Agit8 organized by Bono at the Tate Modern in London.

In March 2014 started the Americana Tour with over 50 concerts in Canada and the United States. A special concert was held on 23 April at a sold-out Madison Square Garden in New York, with many notable guests including Sting, Sam Moore, Jovanotti and Elisa. In 2014 he performed at the Night of the Proms concerts in Europe.

2015–present: back to roots and new experiments Zucchero and Alejandro Sanz recorded the Italian duet version of Sanz's single "Un Zombie a la Intemperie", and Zucchero performed at his concert in Madrid. For U2's 5 September show in Turin, Zucchero was the special guest and played "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". In October 2015, Fornaciari performed at the concert in Vienna, the Europe's first solidarity concert for refugees, in front of an audience of 120,000. He performed "Love Is All Around", and covered "Everybody's Got to Learn Sometime" and "Va pensiero", the latter with the children's choir. On CNN it was announced that the album will include a new song Streets of Surrender (S.O.S) which lyrics written by Bono, dedicated to the victims of November 2015 Paris attacks.

It was presented at a series of 11 consecutive concerts at the Arena in Verona in September, and a subsequent world tour. He has three children, including Irene Fornaciari, who is also a singer-songwriter. He enjoys the Italian countryside lifestyle.

Discography

Studio albums Un po' di Zucchero (1983) Zucchero & The Randy Jackson Band (1985) Rispetto (1986) Blue's (1987) Oro Incenso & Birra (1989) Miserere (1992) Spirito DiVino (1995) Bluesugar (1998) Shake (2001) Fly (2006) Chocabeck (2010) La Sesion Cubana (2012) Black Cat (2016) D.O.C. (2019) Discover (2021) Discover II (2024)

Compilation albums Zucchero (1990) The Best of Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari's Greatest Hits (1996) Zu & Co. (2004) All the Best (2007) Wanted (The Best Collection)'' (2017)

Duets Zucchero has collaborated with a great number of Italian as well as international musicians, singers and authors.

Italian artists

Luigi Albertelli Dodi Battaglia Andrea Bocelli Fred Bongusto Brunella Borciani Alberto Borsari Andrea Braido Gabriele Cancogni Beppe Caruso Rossana Casale Maurizio Castelli Mimmo Cavallo Alessandro Chiesa Adelio Cogliati Aida Cooper Andrea Cozzali Joe Damiani Elio D'Anna Francesco De Gregori Vincenzo Draghi Elisa Fiordaliso Ivano Fossati Irene Fornaciari Paolo Gianolio Giorgia Loretta Goggi Massimo Greco Sara Grimaldi Francesco Guccini Jovanotti Luciano Ligabue Luciano Luisi Umbi Maggi Fiorella Mannoia Renè Mantegna Ricky Mantoan Massimo Marcolini Mia Martini Eddy Mattei Lele Melotti Mietta Donatella Milani Mina Mogol Ennio Morricone Nomadi Pasquale Panella Gino Paoli Claudio Pascoli Luciano Pavarotti Michele Pecora Alfredo Rapetti Leonardo Rosi Davide Rossi Enrico Ruggeri Corrado Rustici Alberto Salerno Stefano Sani Mario Tessuto Michele Torpedine Maurizio Vandelli Mino Vergnaghi Giuseppe Vessicchio Betty Vittori Roberto Zanetti Iva Zanicchi Fio Zanotti

International artists

2Cellos Alannah Myles Alejandro Sanz Anggun Ardent Gospel Choir Axelle Red B.B. King Bebe Berliner Philharmoniker Billy Preston Blues Brothers Bono Brendan O'Brien Brian Auger Brian May Brian Wilson Bryan Adams Buddy Guy Cheb Mami

Clarence Clemons Dan Aykroyd David Sancious Dee Dee Bridgewater Djavan D.J. Fontana Dolores O'Riordan Don Was Eddie Floyd Elvis Costello Eric Bazilian Eric Clapton Eric Daniel Faudel Fher Olvera Frank Musker Haylie Ecker Gérard Depardieu Howard Gospel Choir Iggy Pop Ilse DeLange James Thompson Jeff Beck Jeffrey Foskett Jim Belushi Jim Diamond Jenny Bae Joe Cocker Johnny Hallyday John Lee Hooker Jon Hopkins Jools Holland Keith Reid Lara Fabian Léo Ferré Lester Snell Lisa Hunt Luka Šulić Macy Gray Maná Mark Knopfler Marco Borsato Mike Chapman Miles Davis Mousse T. Nabil New Orleans Gospel Choir Nicky Chinn Noa

Paul Young Patrick Bruel Patrick Fiori Peter Gabriel Peter Maffay Pino Palladino Polo Jones Procol Harum Queen Randy Crawford Randy Jackson Ray Charles Richard Sanderson Robert Randolph Ronan Keating Ronnie Jones Rosana Sam Moore Scorpions Scotty Moore Sergio Dalma Sérgio Mendes Sharon Corr Sheryl Crow Sinéad O'Connor Solomon Burke Stephan Eicher Steve Winwood Stevie Ray Vaughan Sting Stjepan Hauser Texas Tina Arena Tom Jones Tomoyasu Hotei Toni Childs Tyrone Moss Vanessa Carlton Vivaldi Orchestra Moscow Wynonna Judd Youssou N'Dour Yuri Kasparyan