Blue’s instantly struck a chord at home, where it sold almost 1.5 million copies and earned Fornaciari his first gold disc.
With no expense spared it was a lavish affair, with numbers such as the funky, soul revue-style ‘Con Le Mani’ (‘With These Hands’) and the heart-melting pop of ‘Senza Una Donna’ (‘Without A Woman’) acting as the perfect vehicles for Zucchero’s gravelly but emotive vocals. Zucchero enters the global stageĪgain produced by Corrado Rustici, the album featured contributions from The Memphis Horns, David Sancious and fellow E Street Band saxophonist Clarence Clemons. Recorded in San Francisco with a star-studded session line-up including Jackson, ex-E Street Band multi-instrumentalist David Sancious and drummer/producer Narada Michael Walden, Zucchero’s third album, Rispetto (Respect), offered a more polished American soul sound and sold in excess of 250,000 copies, but it was 1987’s Blue’s that made Zucchero a household name in Italy and ushered him onto the global stage. After some negotiation, Rustici assembled a backing band, including highly respected Baton Rouge-born session bassist Randy Jackson (Jean-Luc Ponty Journey), and together they cut 1984’s Zucchero & The Randy Jackson Band, which featured the smooth, soulful ‘Donne’ (‘Women’): Zucchero’s first significant Top 30 hit in his native Italy. Fornaciari’s first major commercial breakthrough came, however, after he temporarily relocated to California, where he began a lengthy collaboration with Italian producer Corrado Rustici. These high-profile appearances rapidly kick-started Zucchero’s solo career and, prior to his 1984 debut, Un Po’ Di Zucchero (A Little Bit Of Sugar), he signed a deal with his long-term label, Polydor. Zucchero: The first major commercial breakthrough Encouraged by this early success, Zucchero made his first appearance as a solo artist at Italy’s Sanremo Festival (widely regarded as the inspiration for the Eurovision Song Contest) in ’82, and then at the Festival Dei Fiori in 1983.
Veering away from his original career path, he began writing songs in earnest but initially believed his future lay as a songwriter supplying songs for other artists, rather than take to the stage himself.ĭuring the 70s, Zucchero nonetheless featured in a number of small Italian outfits such as I Ducali, Sugar & Candies and Taxi, and with the latter, he won the Castrocaro Music Festival – an annual music competition which takes place outside Forli – in 1981. Yet Zucchero fell in love with soul music while in Bologna, where he also learnt to play guitar and sing, his vocal delivery frequently earning comparisons with craggy English soul-rock belter Joe Cocker.
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