L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2017 www.italoamericano.org 4 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS Continued from page 3 work together. To be praised for my voice by such a musical genius was very encouraging to me. He also urged me to follow my artistic path and to keep singing in Italian. In the summer of 1989 at the Verona Arena, you performed alongside legendary soul music's pioneer, Ray Charles. What do you remember of that experience? Until then, the splendid Verona Arena had usually hosted concerts of classical music. However, I managed to have the renowned Italian amphitheater as venue for my performance. Being aware that, in the same summer '89, Ray was touring Italy, I contacted his agent and asked if the legendary soul musi- cian was available to perform as a special guest at my show. Ray Charles willingly con- sented, but not without causing some panic in the evening of the concert. In fact, he didn't show up at the agreed time for the rehearsals, but only half an hour before my entry on stage. We barely rehearsed one song for fifteen minutes, with him playing the piano in the dressing room. I doubted he would have remembered the tune, but, sur- prisingly, Ray executed every- thing to perfection, proving him- self a genius once again. In 1995, you were invited to sing at Los Angeles' House of Blues, in occasion of a tribute to late comedic genius John Belushi. How did you end up performing with The Blues Brothers? While I was recording my new album in Los Angeles, I was invited to sing at the House of Blues as a tribute to John Belushi. Only when I got there, I found out that Dan Aykroyd, member of the original formation of The Blues Brothers, was in atten- dance. During the gala evening, I executed two songs of my reper- toire, Diavolo in me and You are so beautiful, accompanied by the house band. Afterwards, Dan unexpectedly introduced me on stage as "their Italian brother." He and John's brother, Jim Belushi, started dancing in character, as I resumed singing. The very special evening was recorded and later released across Europe. In 2004, it was released your album, ZU & Company, in which you grouped a series of duets with international singers/musicians. The year after, the same CD was a suc- cess in the US, also thanks to its distribution through Starbucks. Could you expand on that? ZU & Company was a collec- tion of old, unreleased duets and new ones. I presented the album in a special concert at London's Royal Albert Hall, with some of the guests featured in the CD, the likes of Luciano Pavarotti, Eric Clapton, Brian May, Dolores O'Riordan, Fher from the Mexican rock band Maná. It was the first album that entered the Billboard 200 chart in the US, also thanks to the record label handing over its distribution to the Starbucks chain. Let's jump forward to the Americana Tour, in 2014. What were its highlights? It was a long and successful tour, with 38 concerts across North America. Aside from a dozen dates in Canada, the remaining ones touched every main city in the US. The enthusiastic reception from the North American audi- ence, inspired me to repeat the experience, with my new upcom- ing, Black Cat World Tour, fea- turing twenty concerts in Canada and the US, between March and April. Tell us more about the lat- ter, in which you are going to perform songs from your last album with the same name. You also collaborated with Bono, lead vocalist of the Irish rock band U2, who penned the lyrics for Streets Of Surrender (S.O.S.). I've been friend with Bono since 1992. We partnered profes- sionally from that year's Miserere, through the 1999 chari- ty tour, Net-Aid - hosted, among other venues, in New Jersey's Giant Stadium - up to this latest collaboration. I composed the music for a song of my last album, Black Cat, and, then, asked the Irish artist to write the lyrics. Inspired by the November 2015 Paris attacks, Bono penned poetic words about peace and hope, inviting to not respond to hate with other hate. In conclusion, on March 17, you're going to perform at Los Angeles' Saban Theatre, as part of your Black Cat World Tour. What's your opinion of Los Angeles? I've been recording my last five albums in Los Angeles, so I have lots of friends there, includ- ing half of my band's musicians, who live in L.A. We're planning to have there the rehearsals of our tour. I really feel like the city has become a second home to me. Zucchero loves Los Angeles and feels like the city is a second home to him Zucchero brings his Black Cat World Tour to the US

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