Zucchero

Zucchero is one of Italy's biggest pop exports, an international star whose style has more to do with American music than with the musical traditions of his own country. Zucchero (Italian for "sugar"), was born Adelmo Fornaciari in 1955. Heavily influenced by American blues, soul, and rock, he embarked on a singing career in the '70s, but he first became known in Italy through other artists' versions of his songs. In the '80s he became a star in his own right, and he crossed over to the UK market in the early '90s via a duet with Paul Young. Over the years, he's recorded and toured with a wide array of musical gentry from England and America, including John Lee Hooker, Eric Clapton, Sting, and Sheryl Crow.

• pop
• italian
• 1990s
• 1980s
• 2000s