Alfie Zappacosta: Unspoken

By Kerry Doole

Alfie Zappacosta - Unspoken (ALMA Records/UMC): This just-released new single is the second one taken from the Edmonton-based pop-rock veteran's new album, Saved, coming on Feb. 5.

Unspoken is a tender romantic ballad, with Zappacosta's honeyed vocals depicting a truly fulfilling love - "a trust unbroken, no words can describe." Muted trumpet, keyboards, and crisp acoustic guitar provide perfectly complementary accompaniment. A tune highly deserving of commercial radio play.

The Juno-winning, platinum-selling artist is now in the fifth decade of his career, and advance listens to Saved confirm this is an artist at the top of his game, as a singer, a songwriter and producer. There is that rich soaring voice that has always been his signature, one that has improved with age, gaining a new degree of resonance evident on the album.

The musically eclectic Saved  draws from pop, jazz, gospel, and rock elements, and reflects Zappacosta's current mandate. He explains in his press bio that “I’m a writer and I like to write as many different kinds of songs as I can. Once upon a time, record labels would want you to have a certain style so they knew how to market you, but now I can do anything I want.”

“For the last six records I’ve made, I realised I had nothing to lose, so I took the bull by the horns. I am very much in control of what I do these days. Now, ‘it’s just shut up and go to work,’ plus I’m completely comfortable with everyone I work with.”

Songwriting and musical collaborators on Saved include Gerry Mosby, Marco Luciani, Andrew Glover, Silvio Pupo, Denis Keldie, Blake Manning, and engineer Louis Sedmak, and the production values are top-notch.

Zappacosta was named Most Promising Artist at the 1988 Juno Awards, and he won a second Juno, Album of The Year, for his hit second record, A-Z.

He then found multi-platinum success with Overload, a song he co-wrote with Marco Luciani and recorded for the soundtrack of the Patrick Swayze movie, Dirty Dancing. That album sold over 42 million copies, and earned Zappacosta an American Music Award.

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Publicity: Jane Harbury