Renato Zero: “Elton John has always respected me”

“Elton John wanted me to go on tour with him, but the dates didn’t coincide”: this was revealed by Renato Zero, speaking about the lack of collaboration with Mr. Crocodile Rock. The King of Sorcini is preparing, as already announced, an album of covers, the second of his career after “Tutti gli Zeri del mondo” (in which in 2000 he paid homage – among others – Fabrizio De André, Luigi Tenco, Lucio Battisti and Mogol, Umberto Bindi and Franco Califano).

The album will contain tributes to international artists to whom the Roman singer-songwriter is in one way or another linked: among these also Elton John himself, for whom he rewrote the lyrics of “Sorry seems to be the hardest word” in Italian, which became “Silence that your gaze speaks for you” and already performed in the last concerts of the “Autoritratto” tour. Now in an interview granted to La Repubblica, signed by Andrea Silenzi, Zero speaking of his relationship with the British rock star says:.

I met him three or four times, at one point he wanted me to go on tour with him, but the dates didn’t match. He was the first to give me the release for the rights to the song, he always respected me.

In addition to Elton John, on the album – which does not yet have a title or a release date: “it will come out calmly”, says Zero – the voice of “Mi vendo” also reinterpreted in Italian hits by Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston, Nat King Cole, Frank Sinatra, Lou Reed and David Bowie. And precisely regarding the late White Duke he says:

What if I met him? Unfortunately not, but it made me feel less alone, not only for aesthetics but also for courage. He too wore very eccentric clothes: we belonged to ourselves, to our imagination, to a professional honesty that prevents us from copying.