Life as I know it
Singer Jack, 35, is married to actress Jemma Powell. They have two children and live in Oxfordshire
With hit singer Jack Savoretti
Not a lot of people know this but I’m very good at... cooking. It might be to do with my Italian heritage but it’s something I love to do. My speciality is pasta amatriciana, a Roman dish where you use the cheek of a pig in tomato sauce. It’s something else. My best friends are… my dogs. I have three dogs and there’s a lot to be said about having best friends that can’t answer back. My nickname is… Papa. Everybody at home calls me Papa because of my kids. My wife calls me Papa. Even my mum calls me Papa. I like it, even if it does make me sound like an old Mafia boss. The bravest thing I’ve ever done is… proposing to my wife and hoping I’d live up to what I was promising. It was pretty terrifying and it was possible she wouldn’t have said yes because at the time I asked her we weren’t really speaking, but thank God she did. My favourite TV show is… Mad Men. I like the complexity of every character and the fact that although a lot of it is about Don Draper it doesn’t focus on just one character and they’re so multi-layered. Just when you think you’ve sussed someone out they show you something different. Usually in TV shows characters stay the same for the duration. My perfect evening is... being at home with my kids and my wife, which might sound boring and clichéd but it’s true. I travel so much and am always bouncing around so any opportunity I get to sit at a dinner table at home with them is the ultimate for me.
I’d like to say sorry to… my parents for me deciding to do something that probably gave them many sleepless nights. It’s working out but there were many years where I can guarantee they weren’t sleeping so well.
My first kiss was... with a girl named Vanessa when I was 10 or 11. I’d just moved to Switzerland and was at a school where everyone spoke Italian except me and she was very kind and sweet. The one thing I’d change about myself is… I’d be more patient. I think patience is the key to success and happiness and
I wish I had more of it.
The best thing my parents taught me was… that parenting is endless, unrelenting love. The one thing I was never short of growing up was love.
The last time I cried was… when I watched the film Life Itself, which is by Dan Fogelman, the creator of This Is Us. I was a mess. I cry when I watch any episode of This Is Us and what I like about his writing is that it isn’t afraid of sentimentality. We’re all so proud of talking about how bad we feel that we seem to be ashamed of saying how happy and loved we feel.
The first record I ever bought was… an album called Talking Timbuktu by Ali Farka Toure and Ry Cooder. I bought it because of the cover of these two cool dudes and it ended up being a phenomenal record. Since then I always judge an album by its cover. It’s not good for my image but I like... crying at sentimental TV shows like This Is Us.
My greatest weakness is... pasta. I have to have some type of pasta at least once a day otherwise I get moody. Maybe I don’t look like someone who eats a lot of pasta yet, but I will do. When you’re moving around a lot of pasta is fine but when you stop and chill out it all shows. It’s waiting for me around the corner. If I could pass any law I would... decriminalise marijuana for medical reasons. I’ve seen people suffer from things that could be very much avoided if they’d had access to it.
I drive... an Audi Q7 e-tron, which is their first electric hybrid car and I feel very spoilt every time I get into it. The fact that a car of that size and comfort is electric is incredible.
The shop I can’t walk past is… any furniture shop. If I’m anywhere in the world and I see a furniture shop I have to go in and see lamps, chairs and tables, especially if it’s antique furniture. Most of the furniture in our house is random benches, stools and stuff like that which I’ve bought and had shipped home.
The most expensive thing I’ve ever splashed out on is… all of that antique furniture, although
I was in Marrakech and it was cheaper to fly there, buy rugs and tables and ship them back than it is buying them here.
The person who’d play me in a film is… probably Gael García Bernal. I’ve been mistaken for him a few times. A girl once thought I was him and asked me to sign an autograph, and the more I kept saying I wasn’t him the more she insisted I was so I ended up signing my name as Gael García Bernal.
The worst job I’ve done is… chopping onions and frying falafels at a shop in Shepherd’s Bush. I ended up eating falafels every day and smelling of onions and fried food. There’s no amount of showers you can take to get rid of that smell.
My perfect Sunday is... getting the Sunday papers, making a nice roast, taking the dogs for a walk, then sitting by the fireplace with the family.
My favourite place in Britain is... Oxfordshire. Moving out to the English countryside was the best decision I ever made. I didn’t realise how much I wasn’t a city boy until I left London.
My last holiday was… in Rome. It wasn’t really a holiday as I was making the new album but it’s impossible not to experience the magic of Rome when you’re there. The minute you get in a taxi you’re slapped in the face with the Roman way of life.
I’m currently reading... a biography about Pier Paolo Pasolini, a writer, director, poet and actor in Italy in the 1960s, and a fascinating character.
The best day of my life was… There are three days – my daughter Connie being born, my son Winter being born and Italy winning the World Cup in 2006. If I had half an hour left on
Earth I’d… be with my wife and kids by the sea in the Mediterranean.
Jack’s album Singing To Strangers is out now. His European tour starts next month. For details, go to jacksavoretti.com.