One step away from 70 years, the Bluesman tells himself: from the beginning in the church to the meetings with Miles Davis, Joe Cocker and Robert Plant
“I did the first tour in the canons of Emilia on Sunday afternoon. We were the Lords Flowers, that is, I, a friend of my elementary school rather chubby and a girl with the braids that I wanted to be my girlfriend. In those days, I was slender, thin as an anchovy…. We had only one handmade poster: I attacked her at the door of the church in the morning, then I detached her and I took it home » remember Sugar A few months after its seventieth birthday (September 25) »What times! It was an Emilia to Don Camillo and Peppone: my hard and pure Marxist uncle who discussed every day in front of the public well with the priest nicknamed Don Tagliatella. They were on radically opposite fronts, but they respected. In my house, although nobody frequented the church, it was absolutely forbidden to blaspheme, otherwise Caffoni flew … »Remember before returning to the Lords Flowers.
“To bring some 50 or 100 lire to fall into the hat we did a little bit of everything: from the imitations of Stanlio and Ollio, I was Stanlio, to our pieces, a little folk and a little folkloristic, things like” a rooster woke me up that morning and said I have no guilt “. Then there was the cult moment, my imitation of Ruggero Orlando (Rai journalist, the first correspondent with a big apple; ed): “Here New York, Ruggero Orlando speaks to you”. He was a mythical character with an incredible Erre Moscia »recalls by rewinding the ribbon of a life and a career that went beyond all his expectations:« I just wanted to live in music, I would never have thought of becoming a star, to sell millions of records. I got married young and 23 years old I already had a daughter. I had to put home, so from Monday to Friday I went to Milan sometimes even in the hitchhiking. I knocked on the many publishing houses by proposing my songs to interpret some other artist. For years the answer has always been the same: nice incidentally, but the verse does not work. Then I redone the verse and the answer was: good the verse but the refrain now does not go. Boh, maybe they were right. I saved myself thanks to two pieces, I gave it to Fred Bongusto that I had met at the compass (Versilia local historian; ed) and one to an artist at the beginning called Michele Pecora. Both songs went to the ranking and this fact allowed me to earn something and to have the strength and that little self -esteem that I needed to continue cultivating my dream »he explains.
Other times. Of Album Zucchero has sold sixty million, Wandering the world on tour like no other Italian artist, filling the Arena of Verona 54 times (over 600 thousand spectators). A record. In June, the return to four stadiums, the first time at the Circus Maximus and then, again, Verona «September 25 celebrated seventies with the last of seven new shows at the Arena. People from all over Europe arrives, from Australia, from the United States, they come to listen to me in a mythical place. The bet to convey my audience into the most beautiful amphitheater in the world proved to be a winner ».
Sugar that is told is a formidable time machine, made up of encounters collaborations, anecdotes and unforgettable images. Coma the photography that appears in the documentary (Sugar – Sugar Fornaciariavailable on Amazon Prime) that portrays him Together with Luciano Pavarotti aboard a scooter, both happy as kids. «Not easy to sit on a scooter with Luciano … He was like this, a planetary star who had preserved a share of his childhood and an attitude as a child diverges. That time we were in his home in Pesaro. At one point he tells me: come on Ciccio, let’s go for a ride. Among the memories of our friendship there are many fun moments based on snacks, escape and trips to the streets of New York »he underlines.
He witnessed the northern Law in Tromso, Norway, Ringing the goes to the guitar for Robert Plantthe former Led Zeppelin frontmanremained in underwear in a dressing room in Florence after giving her leather trousers to Eric Clapton (“he told me he liked it very much”) and from the Maldives is flown to New York to record dunes moved with Miles Davis. “I was in the Maldives to try to save my wedding, when I get a phone call:” Miles Davis awaits you in New York “.
I rush. Once the recording session is over, he tells me: at this point of the song you should insert a rolling “. Ok, I understand, I reply, and” no, you did not understand anything “. The gag goes on for a while and, at a certain point, Miles performs in an expression of the face that makes me burst into a strawberry laugh. face. He reveals Zucchero who has still alive the memory of a colossal jaw by Joe Cocker. “In Naples, I was waiting for him on stage at the time of With’s Utlo A Little Help from My Friends of the Beatles … I see him on the scene, late, with a hat on his head, staggering, approaches the microphone and, instead of urlo, only a little air comes out of his mouth. Then, it collapses to the ground, I put him back on his feet, he looks at me and says; “Strange Night, Tonight” and goes among the whistles of the audience. I played a couple of pieces again and then I left too ».
Sugar – Tour 2025
June 19 – Conero Stadium – Ancona
June 21 – San Nicola stadium – Bari
23 and 24 June – Circus Maximus – Rome
June 26 – Olympic Stadium Grande Torino – Turin
June 28 – Euganeo Stadium – Padua
16, 17, 19, 20, 22, 23, 25 September: Arena di Verona
