''Blue's'' is the fourth studio album by Italian singer-songwriter

Zucchero Fornaciari Adelmo Fornaciari (; born 25 September 1955), more commonly known by his stage name Zucchero Fornaciari or simply Zucchero (), is an Italian singer, musician and songwriter. His stage name is the Italian word for "sugar", as his elementary teach ...

. It was released on 15 June 1987, with Fornaciari credited as "Zucchero Sugar Fornaciari". The album sold over 1.3 million copies. The success that Zucchero had experienced at music festivals in the early 1980s, including several appearances at the

Sanremo Music Festival The Sanremo Music Festival, officially the Italian Song Festival () and commonly known as just (), is the most popular Italian song contest and awards ceremony, held annually in the city of Sanremo, Liguria. It is the longest-running annual ...

, eventually attracted the attention of foreign musicians. After travelling to the United States in the mid-1980s, he returned with a new band including some American musicians and a focus on the

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

. Among them was keyboardist David Sancious. The tour following the release of the album included performances featuring

Joe Cocker John Robert "Joe" Cocker (20 May 1944 – 22 December 2014) was an English singer known for his gritty, bluesy voice and dynamic stage performances that featured expressive body movements. Most of his best known singles were recordings of son ...

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...

Eric Clapton Eric Patrick Clapton (born 1945) is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is often regarded as one of the most successful and influential guitarists in rock music. Clapton ranked second in ''Rolling Stone''s list of ...

, and

B. B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shimm ...

. The album elevated Zucchero's reputation internationally It became the best-selling album internationally by an Italian musician until it was overtaken by Zucchero's subsequent studio album '' Oro Incenso & Birra'' in 1989.

Track listing

Personnel

*Zucchero – vocals, piano *Giorgio Francis – drums *Rosario Jermano – percussions *Polo Jones – bass *

Corrado Rustici Corrado Rustici (born 1957) is an Italian musician, songwriter and producer. Recording career Rustici was a founder member of the Naples-based progressive rock group Cervello. The band recorded the album '' Melos'' in 1973, with Rustici on guitar ...

– guitar * David Sancious – keyboards * Wayne Jackson – trombone, trumpet * Andrew Love – saxophone *

Clarence Clemons Clarence Anicholas Clemons Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death in 2011, he was the saxophonist for The E Street Band. Clemons released several s ...

– saxophone *Eric Daniel – saxophone *James Thompson, Aida Cooper, Arthur Miles, Simona Pirone, Coro di Voci Maschili della Chiesa Avventista – backing vocals *John Etchells – sound engineer

References

1987 albums Zucchero Fornaciari albums Italian-language albums {{1980s-rock-album-stub