Zucchero Fornaciari
Adelmo Fornaciari Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI[2] (Italian: [aˈdɛlmo fornaˈtʃaːri]; born 25 September 1955), more commonly known by his stage name Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero (Italian: [ˈdzukkero, ˈtsuk-]), is an Italian singer, musician and songwriter. His stage name is the Italian word for "sugar", as his elementary teacher used to call him.[3][4] His music is largely inspired by gospel, soul, blues and rock music, and alternates between Italian ballads and more rhythmic R&B-boogie-like pieces.[1] He is credited as the "father of Italian blues", introducing blues to the big stage in Italy.[1] He is one of the few European blues artists who still enjoys great international success.[1]
In his career, spanning four decades, Fornaciari has sold over 60 million records around the world,[5][6] and internationally his most successful singles are "Diamante", "Il Volo/My Love", "Baila (Sexy Thing)/Baila morena", and the duet "Senza una donna (Without a Woman)" with Paul Young. He has won numerous awards, including four Festivalbar, nine Wind Music Awards, two World Music Awards (1993, 1996),[7] six IFPI Europe Platinum Awards,[8] and a Grammy Award nomination.[9] He has collaborated and performed with many famous artists, including Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Brian May, Miles Davis, Ray Charles, B. B. King, Sting, Bono, Bryan Adams, Dolores O'Riordan, Paul Young, Peter Gabriel, Luciano Pavarotti, and Andrea Bocelli.[1][3]
Early life[edit]
Adelmo Fornaciari was born 25 September 1955 in Roncocesi, a frazione (small village) near Reggio Emilia.[1][3][5] His father, Giuseppe Fornaciari, and mother, Rina Bondavalli, came from rural families.[10][11] At a young age, he was the goalkeeper of A.C. Reggiana 1919.[12] He spent most of his childhood in the seaside town of Forte dei Marmi (Province of Lucca, Tuscany).[5][13] There, he sang in the choir and played an organ in the local church.[1] At the age of 12 or 13, he discovered American soul and blues music thanks to an African-American friend who was studying in Bologna and lived near his home. The first song he played to Fornaciari was (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay by Otis Redding, and this immediately inspired his interest in soul music. The friend taught Fornaciari how to play on the guitar songs by Redding, Marvin Gaye, and Sam & Dave.[3][5] Fornaciari then got together with friends to play rhythm and blues, finding his own way to fuse black music and Mediterranean music.[3] He started writing his own songs when he was 13 or 14 years old, and after learning basic instruments, from 16 he moved on to learning the tenor saxophone. In Forte dei Marmi, he finished his technical high school studies,[10] and moved again, this time to the city of Carrara.[4]
Career[edit]
1970–1986: early career and first albums[edit]
His musical career began in 1970, with several small bands such as I Duca, Le nuove luci, I Decals, Sugar & Daniel, Sugar & Candies. At that time, he was studying veterinary medicine; although he liked animals and the course (taking 39 out of the 51 exams),[4] he wanted to be different from his parents and withdrew from the course in order to pursue his aspirations.[4] In 1975, he went to San Francisco, and there met the then-young Corrado Rustici from Naples, his future record producer. They talked about a future collaboration on a project with Afro-American influences which was then unusual for Italy [3][10]
In 1979, Zucchero wrote "Tutto di te" by Fred Bongusto, and the hit "Te ne vai" by Michele Pecora.[4] He found initial success with a band named Taxi, with whom he won the Castrocaro Music Festival in 1981.[4] He made his first appearance in the famous Sanremo Music Festival in 1982 with the song "Una notte che vola via" but without success.[14] However, he wrote and produced the festival hit song "Lisa" by Stefano Sani.[4] In the 1983 festival, he had a similar success with "Nuvola", and went on to write four other festival songs, including "Volevo dirti", sung by Donatella Milani, which was placed second.[4][14] His first album, Un po' di Zucchero, was released the same year with moderate success.[4] Although as a young songwriter, he had great success, his solo career did not initially reach the same level of success that he and producers had expected.[4]
Disappointed with his solo career, in 1984 he temporarily moved to San Francisco in California, where he collaborated with his old friend Corrado Rustici.[1][4] The result of these sessions, with a backing band that included bassist Randy Jackson, was the 1985 album Zucchero & The Randy Jackson Band, and the song "Donne" (in English, "Women").[1] He again played at the Sanremo festival and, although the song "Donne" ended up in a disappointing penultimate place (due to the festival critics), it became a hit single and one of the classic Italian songs.[4][14] After the relative success of Zucchero & The Randy Jackson Band, Fornaciari joined Rustici again in California to work on a follow-up album. Rispetto (1986) (in English, "Respect") included several Italian hit singles, including the title track and "Come il sole all'improvviso" (in English, "Suddenly, like the sun"). It went platinum and sold over 300,000 copies.[15]
1987–1994: breakthrough in Italy and first international successes[edit]
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),[1] selling 1.5 million copies in 1987 alone; it made Fornaciari a household name in Italy, and neighbouring countries.[3] The album, again produced by Rustici and featuring musical performances by Clarence Clemons, The Memphis Horns and David Sancious, included the Italian hit singles "Con Le Mani" (in English, "With the hands"), with lyrics by Gino Paoli, the controversial "Solo una sana..." (in English "Only a healthy...."), and the original version of "Senza una donna" (in English, "Without a woman") which later became an international hit in a duet version with Paul Young. During the following Blue's Tour Fornaciari shared the stage with Joe Cocker (for a cover of "With a Little Help From My Friends"), Ray Charles and Dee Dee Bridgewater. In the same year, he also composed the soundtrack for the film Snack Bar Budapest, written and directed by Tinto Brass.[4]
In 1989, Fornaciari and his band recorded the album Oro Incenso & Birra in Memphis. The album, which was greatly influenced by American soul music, included guest appearances by Ennio Morricone, Eric Clapton, and blues singer Rufus Thomas; Fornaciari's band by that time included former E-Street Band member David Sancious.[4] The album still stands as not only one of Fornaciari's, but also Italian most successful albums, outselling even Blue's and includes the Italian hit singles "Diamante" (lyrics written by Francesco De Gregori, dedicated to Zucchero's grandmother Diamante), "Overdose (d'Amore)", "Il Mare" and "Wonderful World".[16] 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,[4][17] describing it "interesting Mediterranean type of blues".[18] As of 2015 are reported sales of over 8 million copies.[4][19] By the Rolling Stone Italia it was included among the most beautiful Italian music albums of all time.[20]
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,[4] Fornaciari from 1990 on attempted to conquer the rest of Europe. The album Blue's was released the following year in the United Kingdom, and in 1990 Zucchero Sings His Hits in English, an album that featured songs from the Blue's and Oro Incenso & Birra albums, some of which translated to English by Frank Musker, was released worldwide.
Personal life[edit]
Fornaciari currently lives in Pontremoli, Tuscany.[77] He has two daughters Alice and Irene (who is also a singer-songwriter) from his first marriage with Angela Figliè,[10][17] and son Adelmo Blue born 1998 with current partner Francesca Mozer.[13][77][10][78] He enjoys the Italian countryside lifestyle.[17] In 2012 he adopted from a distance two children who live in Kenya.[79]
He is an atheist.[80]