Zucchero - Italian Pop/Blues Star
By: Dominick A. Miserandino
Zucchero is one of Italy's biggest singers, but isn't as well known here. He's recorded with the likes of Eric Clapton, Sting, Pavarotti, Paul Young and countless others. On his latest record he wrote his first song in English for John Lee Hooker, which happened to be Hooker's last song before he died.
DM) You sound a bit tired.
Z) Well, last night was the last night of the tour, so we had a little
party. Then tonight I'm going back to Italy to record my next album. It's
a duet album with all of my songs sung by other artists like Sting, Macy
Gray, Eric Clapton, John Lee Hooker, Tom Jones... A bunch of great artists.
DM) On this most recent album it sounds like you had an influence from
America's south. When did you first get this interest?
Z) I don't know. I was always influenced by the Delta and
Mississippi. When I was young, and I would hear Otis Redding, Aretha
Franklin or Marvin Gaye, I just thought that this was the kind of music that
I would like to do. And then I started with taking the blues music and
mixing it with my Italian roots. It became a mix of soul music mixed with
Mediterranean melodies.
DM) You used to listen to the blues when you were a child?
Z) Oh yes, when I was nine or ten years old. This kind of music was not so
popular at the time. I had a friend of mine who was a student in Bologna
University. He was a black guy from Memphis and he started to play me this
music, which really got me into it. That's how I fell in love with this music.
DM) Do you feel at home when you go to the Delta?
Z) The first time I went to New Orleans, I thought that this was a place
that I've already been. Everything was so familiar, including the food. I
live in an area in Italy, which is close to the! port, we have a similar
vibe. We have fried catfish, that is one of the main dishes for us, and you
have the same thing in New Orleans.
DM) Do you find that your Italian listeners appreciate the blues more?
Z) Now, after all of these years singing these songs, they know much more
now than in prior years.
DM) I read an article that said that blues music wasn't that popular in
Italy, until you started doing it.
Z) Exactly. It was just for the elite... just for musicians and for very few
popular. It wasn't so popular at the time.
DM) Now, when it comes to your lyrics, you seem to intertwine English
lyrics every so often. What makes you choose to use English versus Italian,
in an Italian song?
Z) Yeah, because to make the sound there are some words that are
understandable even if they are in English. In Italy, if I say, "I got the
devil in me.", everybody understands what I'm saying.
DM) Do you feel comfo! rtable singing in English?
Z) Yes, but I prefer to singing in Italian. On this last album I did some
versions in Spanish too, for the South American market. They asked me to do
it and I did it. I think it sounds good, Spanish sounds very sexy. It's
much easier for me to sing in Spanish than English. I speak Spanish and I
understand it, not 100%, but I can talk in Spanish. I always used to do an
Italian version and an Italian version.
DM) When you read the translations into English, do you work on the
translations yourself?
Z) Sometimes the up-tempo songs don't translate as well. On the up-tempo
songs I'm used to having double-meanings, maybe slang from the street or
sayings. When you translate it literally into English, it just doesn't
work. It's not sarcastic or ironic enough.
DM) Speaking of English, you also recorded with John Lee Hooker.
Z) Yes, it was a great experience and I'm really lucky to have had the
chance to work with him. He was one of my heroes. He's a legend. I always
thought that that song needed a voice like his. He liked the song and
decided to do it, so for me, that was unbelievable.
DM) Was he familiar with your work before that?
Z) He knew some stuff, especially, some songs that I did with Eric Clapton.
He was very close with Eric. He knew my name and a couple of songs, but I
never thought that he was interested in doing something with me. And that
was the last song that he ever recorded.
DM) When you wrote that originally, did you write the English yourself in
that case?
Z) Yes, there was a rough guide of the English lyrics. Once he started
putting his voice on the track and singing freely, it became a very
interesting duet between his version and my version. That was actually the
first song I've ever written in English. I was a bit nervous to write the
song, it's not easy. I didn't know! how to approach him or if he was
available, or if he was approachable. He came into the studio and was so
nice and so sweet, I was impressed. He was a great men, a great artist.
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