Zucchero

An Italian blues rocker who has performed with Elton John, Eric Clapton, Ray Charles and Luciano Pavarotti, Zucchero has sold over 50 million records and been one of his nation's biggest global stars for over 40 years. Born Adelmo Fornaciari and raised in the Tuscany seaside town of Forte dei Marmi, he started out playing in a string of local groups in the 1970s before making his mark when his band Taxi won the national talent contest Festival di Castrocaro in 1981. Discovered when Miles Davis overheard Dune Mosse on the radio in 1988 and recorded a version of the track with Zucchero, he went on to record album Blue's (1988) with Randy Jackson and it became the biggest selling Italian record of all time. Follow-up Oro Incenso E Birra (1989) brought more success and his duet with Paul Young, Senza Una Donna, reached Number 4 in the UK; but his style took a darker, more introspective turn on Miserere (1992), which featured contributions from Pavarotti, Elvis Costello and Bono. His European take on pop, blues, soul and rock led to collaborations with most of music's leading stars over the years, and album Zu & Co. (2004) compiled a collection of his duets with Sting, Tom Jones, Sheryl Crow, John Lee Hooker and B.B. King. Still revered as Italy's greatest pop export, he experimented with Cuban music on twelfth studio album La Sesion Cubano in 2012.