Zucchero Hopes To 'shake' The World

When Shake—the new Polydor album by Universal Music Italy's domestic superstar Zucchero—appeared Sept. 14, there was little doubt that within a few days, it would take its place atop the Italian album charts.

It duly did so, and it repeated the feat in neighboring Switzerland. But the company is convinced that, in the months following that initial release, the album will prove itself a strong international seller. In the Music & Media European Top 100 Albums chart for the week ending Nov. 3, Shake was at No. 17 after peaking at No. 12, thanks to chart placings in Austria, Germany, Belgium, Italy, Switzerland, and the Netherlands.

Universal is confident that Shake will outsell Zucchero's 1998 album, Bluesugar, which sold 700,000 units in Italy and 250,000 elsewhere. Universal Italy president Piero La Falce predicts it can sell 2 million copies worldwide. According to Universal, global sales of the album—Zucchero's 10th—are approaching the 500,000 mark. Shipments in Italy and Switzerland are currently 285,000 and 81,000 units, respectively.

London-based Heloise Williams, Universal Music International marketing manager (excluding the U.S. and the U.K.), comments, "I wouldn't want to put a [final] sales figure on this, but there is a very positive Europe-wide feeling about this album, and we hope to build on that in the run-up to Christmas."

Zucchero—whose real name is Adelmo Fornaciari—is no slouch when it comes to promotion, and this time around his itinerary has been particularly intense. Germany is traditionally a strong market for him, and the artist was in Berlin taping TV appearances when the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks took place in the U.S. Those broadcasts were delayed as a result of blanket news coverage of the unfolding events, and sales in Germany—where the album was released Oct. 1—got off to a sluggish start.

Ivan Gostivari, buyer at retailer Saturn in Cologne, Germany (part of the nationwide Metro/Media Market/Saturn retail combine), concedes that Shake is not yet performing as well as Bluesugar. But he expects that to improve with "more TV exposure. Zucchero's German fans already know the album, but new purchasers need to be drawn to this recording." German sales now stand at 37,000 units.

On Sept. 17, the album was released in Austria, Belgium, Hungary, Turkey, and Greece. It was released Sept. 24 in the Netherlands. The following weeks saw the artist continue his travels across Europe, with his itinerary designed to take into account release dates in Sweden (Oct. 15) and France (Oct. 23). In the latter territory, sales have reached 48,000 units.

The 11-track album is available in three versions: Italian, Spanish, and English. The version with the highest proportion of English-language vocals has been released in Austria, Denmark, the Czech Republic, and Hungary; Shake is scheduled to debut in Spain in January. It has already been issued in several Asian markets, and release plans for remaining territories (including the U.K. and the U.S.) in 2002 will be formulated in coming weeks. A full European tour is set for early 2002.

Zucchero, who has previously recorded with Bono, Sheryl Crow, Sting, and Eric Clapton, says Shake reflects "the great interest I have taken in the people and the music of the Mississippi Delta in the last five years." The album includes a notable duet, "Ali d'Oro" (Wings of Gold), which features the late John Lee Hooker in one of the veteran bluesman's final recordings. Throughout the album, Zucchero spars with Los Angeles-based female vocalist Chance.

Shake's first single, "Baila (Sexy Thing)" was a summer hit in Italy and Switzerland. Some three months after being serviced, it is still one of the 10 most-played tracks on Italian radio, according to the Music & Media Major Market Airplay listing for the week ending Nov. 3. According to Angelo De Robertis, artistic director at Italian CHR network Radio 105, "Like many artists in today's difficult market, Zucchero is sticking to what he knows best, which is probably a good thing when it comes to gaining new fans abroad."

Claudio Buja, Universal Music Italy A&R director, suggests Zucchero's recent management switch to London-based Roger Forrester—for many years Clapton's manager—has had a positive influence on the artist's career. "Under new management," Buja says, "Zucchero is concentrating on his music rather than his image. We're seeing an artist at the height of his maturity."

Zucchero concludes, "I don't know whether this album will do well abroad. I have chosen a difficult path because I'm not a typical melodic Italian artist, but I'm not a blues artist either. Instead I'll have blues, or rhythm and blues, but with a chorus in melodic Italian. Let's say that I'm just an Italian singer who—for reasons which even I don't understand—takes things from black music."