Zucchero

"Every country produces one singer in each generation who represents that country, the way Bruce Springsteen represents America or Bono does  Ireland.  Zucchero is the Italian voice for everyone in the world." — Sting

Zucchero is Italy's most beloved rock star and one of the top Italian artists worldwide, having sold 40 million records over three decades. As a singer-songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist, Zucchero has collaborated with the royalty of international rock, blues, R&B, jazz and classical music – from Bono, Sting and Eric Clapton to Miles Davis, John Lee Hooker and Solomon Burke to Luciano Pavarotti and Andrea Bocelli. On October 4, 2011, Decca Records releases the North American edition of Zucchero's Chocabeck, a recording that is simultaneously a concept album about his roots in traditional village life and a milestone in his exceptional international career. Chocabeck – co-produced with Don Was (the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan) and Brendan O'Brien (Pearl Jam, Bruce Springsteen) – includes English lyrics by Bono, Iggy Pop and Roland Orzabal of Tears for Fears.

Asked to describe Zucchero, his longstanding collaborator Bono said: "My friend Zucchero has had Italy singing and dancing for years. . . His boyish smile makes him the most charming man in Italy, that smile that just runs all over his face. But the voice is the sound of aged oak, like an old, oak-aged whisky. . ."

Born Adelmo Fornaciari, Zucchero – like only the very brightest luminaries in pop – has become known far and wide by his one-word nickname, bestowed on him by a schoolteacher back in his hometown in northern Italy. The 11 songs of Chocabeck loosely follow the cycle of life in an imaginary countryside location not dissimilar to the village where Zucchero was raised. "This album is all about my roots," he says. "Fragments of life and emotions on a typical Sunday from dawn to dusk in the village where I grew up."