''Spirito DiVino'' is the seventh studio album by the Italian

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

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 ...

, released on 27 May 1995 by

Polydor Records Polydor Records Ltd. is a German-British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. ...

. The album was also released in partial Spanish language edition, and English edition titled ''Spirito DiVino: Stray Cat in a Mad Dog City''.

Overview

It is his first album in three years, after the "darker" '' Miserere'', and when started to see things more positive after the divorce which affected him. The album's title is wordplay of "Spirito Divino" (Divine Spirit) and "Spirito di Vino" (Wine Spirit). As it is the case with his studio albums, it includes notable guest collaborations. The New Orleans Gospel Choir,

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 ...

David Sancious David Sancious (born November 30, 1953) is an American musician. He was an early member of Bruce Springsteen's backing group, the E Street Band, and contributed to the first three Springsteen albums, and again on '' Human Touch'' (1992), '' Tra ...

Jeff Beck Geoffrey Arnold Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock music, rock guitarist. He rose to prominence with the Yardbirds and after fronted the Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. In 1975, he switched to a mainly instrumental style, ...

(on "Papà perche"), Sheila E. (on "Alleluja", lyrics written by Italian rapper

Jovanotti Lorenzo Cherubini (; born 27 September 1966), better known as Jovanotti (), is an Italian singer-songwriter, rapper and disc jockey. The name Jovanotti derives from ''giovanotti'', the plural form of the Italian word ''giovanotto'' ("young man") ...

and Mark Addison), and

Francesco De Gregori Francesco De Gregori OMRI (born 4 April 1951) is an Italian singer-songwriter. In Italy, he is popularly known as "Il Principe dei cantautori" ("The Prince of the singer-songwriters"), a nickname referring to the elegance of his lyrics. He is of ...

who wrote the lyrics of "Pane e sale".

Release

The album topped the charts in Italy four weeks in 1995, and one week in 1996 at its 39th week on chart. With sales of 700,000 copies in 1995, and 400,000 in 1996, with 1.1 million copies in almost two years it was certified 11× Platinum in Italy. It also entered the Top 5 in France and Switzerland, being certified Platinum in both countries, selling over 2.5 million copies worldwide until December 1996. Those songs in Spanish in the Spanish edition were translated by

Fito Páez Rodolfo Páez Ávalos, popularly known as Fito Páez (; born 13 March 1963), is an Argentine popular rock and roll pianist, lyricist, singer-songwriter and film director. Biography Early career Paez was born in Rosario, Santa Fe Province; hi ...

and Carlos Toro, while in English edition by Pat MacDonald, Angelo Palladino, Tena Clark, Mark Addison,

Alberto Salerno Alberto Salerno (born 30 December 1949) is an Italian lyricist and producer. Life and career Born in Milan, Salerno is the son of the popular lyricist Nisa. He started composing lyrics in the late 1960s, becoming a usual collaborator of Mino Rei ...

, and

Frank Musker Frank John Musker (born 1951) is a British songwriter and composer. Most prolific in the 1980s and 1990s, he worked with artists such as Sheena Easton, the Babys, Robert Miles, Jennifer Rush, Bucks Fizz, Air Supply, Lucio Battisti, Zucchero, ...

. Zucchero toured to promote this album in 1995–1996 with Spirito DiVino World Tour, with over 150 concerts in Europe and North America, an estimated audience of 1.4 million people.

Reception

The album has generally met with positive reviews. Stephen Thomas Erlewine from

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the dat ...

gave the (Italian edition) album 3/5 stars, concluding it is immaculately produced, but "most of the songs aren't particularly distinctive, lacking immediate melodies or memorable hooks", however "they were selected as showcases for Zucchero's charisma and they do a very good job of demonstrating the singer's charm and sex appeal".

Track listing

;Italian edition

Personnel

* Zucchero - vocals, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, hammond organ, piano, mellotron, percussions, * Luciano Luisi - keyboards * Polo Jones - bass *

- keyboards, hammond organ *

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 ...

- acoustic guitar, electric guitar, keyboards * Steve Smith - drums *

Stewart Copeland Stewart Armstrong Copeland (born July 16, 1952) is a Scottish-American musician and composer. He is best known for his work as the drummer of the English rock band the Police from 1977 to 1986, and again from 2007 to 2008. Before playing with th ...

- drums (in ''Papà perché'') * Johnnie Johnson - piano, hammond organ, bass * Rosario Jermano - percussion * Pat MacDonald - guitar * Sheila E. - chorus, percussion * Clarence Clemmons - saxophone,

wind instruments A wind instrument is a musical instrument that contains some type of resonator (usually a tube) in which a column of air is set into vibration by the player blowing into (or over) a mouthpiece set at or near the end of the resonator. The pitc ...

- electric guitar (in ''Papà perché'') * Leo Nocentelli - electric guitar, chorus (in ''Senza rimorso'') * Memphis Horns - wind instruments * Lisa Hunt - chorus, background vocals *

Mino Vergnaghi Mino Vergnaghi (10 April 1955, Trivero) is an Italian singer and songwriter. In 1979 he won the Sanremo Music Festival with the song "Amare". Life and career Born in Trivero, Vergnaghi started his career as lead singer of a number of groups ...

, Arthur Miles, Emanuela Cortesi, Antonella Pepe, New Orleans Gospel Choir, Coro della O.L.S.M.M. - chorus

Certifications

References

External links

Spirito DiVino
at Zucchero's Website
Spirito DiVino
(English version) at iTunes {{Authority control 1995 albums Zucchero Fornaciari albums Polydor Records albums Italian-language albums