Crowe appearance stuns in new career move

Russell Crowe might be a movie star, but he has another passion that was born when he was a child, long before he hit the stage.

Russell Crowe is making headlines in Europe thanks to his latest collaboration with an unlikely co-star - and it’s a long way from the big screen.

The Hollywood megastar has been following his “other” passion of late, teaming up with one of the most influential Italian artists of all time for a delicate, emotional take on Pearl Jam’s Just Breathe.

Crowe told news.com.au the collaboration with Zucchero “Sugar” Fornaciari happened over a backstage beer.

“Zucchero is a legend in Italy, Central Europe and South America, selling some 60 million albums,” Crowe said.

“He has worked with friends of mine like Sting and Tom Jones. Way back he had a huge global hit Sensa Una Donna with Paul Young.”

The pair met at the 30th anniversary Andrea Bocelli concert in Tuscany last year when Crowe’s Indoor Garden Party was touring Italy.

Russell Crowe features on the latest single from Italian singer Zucchero. He recorded his vocals on his farm in Nana Glen, and shot his part of the video in Guanaba in Queensland. Picture: Zucchero/Youtube

MORE: My ‘LSD’ walk through - Crowe’s $42m secrets

“As the summer went on, Zucchero then attended a couple of Indoor Garden Party concerts in La Spezia and Castiglioncello,” Crowe said.

“Backstage over a Guinness he asked if I’d have any interest in doing a duet with him. I was enthusiastic about the idea, he told me about his new album plans.”

Crowe recorded his vocals on his farm in Nana Glen, and shot his part of the video in Guanaba in Queensland.

Their version of the Eddie Vedder classic features on the deluxe edition of Zucchero’s Discover II album which went straight to number one in Italy last November.

“When they dropped the video in Italy last week, it received huge coverage and ran as a news story, got 2.2million views just on my Instagram,” Crowe said.

Over a 40-year career, Zucchero has sold more than 60 million records and earned a Grammy nomination, blending Italian soul with blues, gospel, and rock influences.

Over a 40-year career, Zucchero has sold more than 60 million records and earned a Grammy nomination, blending Italian soulwith blues, gospel, and rock influences. He says he has always been a fan of movie star Russell Crowe and now “maybe a little bit as a singer too”. Picture: Zucchero/Youtube

He reportedly said of Crowe: “I’ve always been a fan of his as an actor… now maybe a little bit as a singer too”.

For Crowe, creating music is something he has always done.

“Music is like an adrenaline shot, rock and roll is my theatre, and instead of doing a season of Shakespeare in my time off like some actors do, I play music,” Crowe told this journalist in 2023.

“The reality is music has always been so important to me, and even though I don’t talk about it all the time, it’s simultaneous with everything I do creatively.”

He was given his first guitar when he was just six years old.

“I was staying at my grandfather’s house at Church Point. The next-door neighbour was the famous cabaret artist Reg Livermore.

“He used to have musicians and actors and artists over all the time, so one day I got my guitar and walked across the back garden. One of the musicians there taught me three guitar chords, and I went home and sat down and started to write a song. So I have always seen a guitar as a method to create.”

Russell Crowe and Sting play live show at Gramercy Theatre, New York City, October 13, 2012. Picture: BetweenTheRock/Youtube

Sting once wrote Crowe a letter describing a song he’d written about his mum and dad called “Raewyn” as a “royal gift” to his kids.

“That thing of another artist purely understanding that you have written something, not for mass consumption, not for radio, but you’ve just written it because it needed to be written. To get a note like that from an artist like Sting was amazing,” Crowe said.

“There are lots and lots of reasons to write a song, and the song going to number one isn’t one of them for me. That’s not a requirement. I’m not in the business of music as such. I do it for other reasons.”

Russell Crowe’s Indoor Garden Party has one concert in Australia this year - at the Enmore Theatre in Sydney on December 20. Tickets go on sale on August 2.

And in his “down time” he’s been making movies, with several due out this year including Nuremberg with Rami Malek and Michael Shannon, Billion Dollar Spy with Harry Lawtey and Vera Farmiga and Bear Country with Teresa Palmer, Luke Evans and Danny Zovatto.

Originally published as Crowe appearance stuns in new career move