1998
For the OST of the film “Widows”, Zucchero performed the song “Happy birthday to me”, the CD was called ORIGINAL SOUNDTRACK WIDOWS.
Zucchero performed at the “Annual Grammies Award” in New York, having been invited by Luciano Pavarotti to sing “Va, pensiero”.
He was invited by Roman Polanski to Gstaad, the city where the “Cinemusic International Festival” was taking place, alongside Vangelis and a large orchestra, he sang “Va, pensiero”.
A tribute to Elvis Costello was released called “BESPOKE SONGS, LOST DOGS, DETOURS & RENDEZVOUS SONGS OF ELVIS COSTELLO”, and on which is included the song “Miss mary”.
Once again he participated in “Pavarotti International” and performed “Va, pensiero” with Luciano Pavarotti, “Menta e rosmarino” and with all of the other guests “Peace wanted just to be free”; the video was released while on the CD the song “Menta e rosmarino” was not included. The title was “PAVAROTTI & FRIENDS FOR THE CHILDREN OF LIBERIA”.
Sixth edition of “Sugar Night”.
The song “Let the good times roll”, recorded with B.B. King was included in the OST of the Sharon Stone film “The mighty”, released in Italy as “Basta guardare il cielo”.
The first single, “BLU”, from the new album was released on Zucchero’s birthday.
“BLUESUGAR” was released in Italian and English versions.The musicians that took part were: Zucchero, Corrado Rustici (guitar/keyboards), Michael Urbano (drums) and Benny Rietveld (bass); collaborators for the recording were: Mark Feltham, Massimo Marcolini, Will Malone, Katie Kissoon, Shirley Goss, Mino Vergnaghi and Leonardo Rosi; guests that participated were: Stevie Winwood and Irene Fornaciari; songwriters were: Zucchero, Rosi, Marcolini, Panella, A. Fornaciari, I. Fornaciari, Farè, Tonet, Cogliati, Buchanan, Bono and Bazilian.
At the presentation of the new album, a CD TICKET was also donated, a new ticket for Zucchero concerts that could also be listened to. On the CD there was an unreleased blues acoustic.
Zucchero performed “Blue” on a TV show alongside Sheryl Crow.
The Christmas version of “BLUESUGAR” went on sale, with a leopard-style packaging.
1999
The “BLUESUGAR world tour 1999″ started in Italy with a band including: Luciano Luisi (MD/keyboards), Mario Schilirò (guitar), Derek Wilson (drums), Gail Ann Dorsey (bass), James Thompson (horn section/guitar), Mark Feltham (harmonica), Federica Bergamaschi, Gaia Mecocci, Claudia Pedrani and Benedetta Chiari (strings).
” VA, PENSIERO” was recorded for the English market as a duet with Sinéad O’Connor.
The foreign dates of the tour began and a string section was removed from the line-up.
For the Paris Bercy date, a limited edition of the TICKET CD was produced with a dedication in French by Zucchero.
A collection by Ennio Morricone was released called “THE ENNIO MORRICONE SONGBOOK VOL. 4 CANTO MORRICONE”. On this, the song “Libera l’amore”, sung by Zucchero, was included.
The first leg of the tour should have finished but, owing to the great success, extra dates were added. Noa, Paul Young, Cheb Mami and the group Muvrini took part in the Paris date.
“BLU (LO QUE SUENO)” was released in Spain, sung in Spanish by Zucchero.
The “BLUESUGAR” album was released in Spain with “Blu (lo que sueño)” sung in Spanish with Rosana and the introduction of a shortened version of “I tempi cambieranno”.
Invited onto the Royal Albert Hall stage by Paddy Moloney of the Chieftains he performed: “Va, pensiero” and the classic Van Morrison song “Have I told you lately”.
In Austria, at the “IMST Festival”, with a public of 200,000 people, Zucchero performed after Bryan Adams and before the Rolling Stones.
A guest at “Pavarotti International” he sang: “U make me feel loved”, “Hey man” with B.B. King and “We are the world” with all of the guests, the video and a reduced CD were released under the title “PAVAROTTI & FRIENDS FOR GUATEMALA AND KOSOVO”.
The remix “YOU MAKE ME FEEL LOVED” was released, and the song “Blue”, recorded live on Taratatà with Sheryl Crow was also included.
He took part in the first year of the “Heineken Jammin’ Festival”. The band was made up of: Luciano Luisi (MD/keyboards), Mario Schilirò (guitar), Derek Wilson (drums), Gail Ann Dorsey (bass), James Thompson, Massimo Greco (horn section) and Federica Bergamaschi, Gaia Mecocci, Benedetta Chiari and Silvia Leonardi (strings).
As a guest in Monaco for the “Michael Jackson & Friends” event, Zucchero performed: “Va, pensiero”, “My love” and with various other guests “What more can I give”.
The first leg of the tour was closed by the special guest Rosana.
Seventh edition of ” Sugar Night” Zucchero came on stage with his old friend Paul Young and sang: “Diavolo in me”, “Arcord”, “Blu”, “Il volo”, “Hey man”, “Per colpa di chi?”, “Senza una donna” with Paul Young, “Everytime you go away” with Paul Young.
A musical cartoon called “La banda del rock – i musicanti di Brema”, was published and the singing was done by: Zucchero, B.B. King, Oleta Adams and James Ingram.
After a short pause, the tour started again and the group was made up of: Luciano Luisi (MD/keyboards), Mario Schilirò (guitar), Derek Wilson (drums), Dwayne Thomas (bass), James Thompson, Massimo Greco (horn section) and Federica Bergamaschi, Gaia Mecocci, Claudia Pedrani and Benedetta Chiari (strings).
Guests in the Italian leg of the tour were: Mauro Pagani, The Chieftains and Pino Daniele with whom he did a great version of “Napule e’”.
“OVERDOSE D’AMORE: THE BALLADS”,a compilation, was released onto the American market, and included the unreleased single “Muoio per te” sung and written with Sting.
Invited by Bono of U2, Zucchero took part in the “Net-aid” charity concerts in London (Wembley Stadium), Geneva (Palais des Nations) and New Jersey (Giants Stadium) and performed “Il volo” and accompanied Bono when he sang “One” and sang “New day” with all of the artists present; the show was broadcast live on internet and all profits went to children’s charities in the most depressed areas around the world.
” RELOAD”, the duet CD, was released by Tom Jones, and included “She drives me crazy”, sung with Zucchero.
He took part in the “Nokia Night Of The Proms”, an itinerant festival with many artists, Zucchero was the main guest and his musicians were: Luciano Luisi (MD/keyboards), an orchestra, a choir and a band conducted by Robert Groslot, for the song “Miserere”, the tenor was Natalie Choquette while “Senza una donna (without a woman)” was sung with John Miles, the finale of the evening saw all of the singers together on stage preforming “Hey Jude” by the Beatles.
” BLUESUGAR & WHITECHRISTMAS” was released for the Christmas market, with the added classic “White christmas”, by Berlin.
The LP “SILENT NIGHT: A CHRISTMAS IN ROME” was released. It was organized by Paddy Moloney and Mons. Marco Frisina for the Jubilee. Zucchero performed one part of the song “Silent night” and played guitar. His version was then mixed with the other versions to create a single mix.
The compilation “THE NIGHT OF THE PROMS 1999” came out, and included orchestral versions of: “Hai scelto me”, “Il volo” and “Madre dolcissima”.
To celebrate the end of 1999, Zucchero performed in the Dome Square, Milan, and was accompanied by: Luciano Luisi (MD/keyboards), Mario Schilirò (guitar), Dwayne Thomas (bass), Derek Wilson (drums), James Thompson and Massimo Greco (horn section).