If you’ve been to a dentist or grocery store since the 1980s and 1990s, then you’re probably familiar with Michael Bolton. Bolton powerfully sang the love and heartbreak songs that topped the charts at the time, and found longevity in Muzak systems that will channel his distinctive voice into retail experiences for eternity. Its sound, part opera and part metal, is still playing on air as of this writing, especially with the tracks “How am I supposed to live without you”, “Love is a wonderful thing” and its version of “When a Man Loves a Woman”.
Bolton became a big celebrity, not only for his music, but also for his vibe: being handsome and sporting long hair while singing love songs certainly didn’t hurt a boy’s chances of becoming a romantic idol in the 90s The singer “Said I Loved You But I Lied” has been around for years, and his life is as interesting (but probably not as heartbreaking) as the emotional content of his songs. Here’s a look at the life, loves, and works of soft rock king Michael Bolton.
Michael Bolton shook him
While Michael Bolton is arguably one of the most successful acts in the long, smooth history of soft rock, and one of the names most closely associated with the genre, it is a bit odd. That immensely strong voice, and all that long hair (at least in the 80s and early 90s) suggested that Michael Bolton would have been more at home in a hard rock band. Well, it could have been, but that race didn’t work so well.
In the late 1970s, young Michael Bolotin (that’s his real name) led a foreign or Bad Company-like band called Blackjack. While playing the radio-friendly type of rock that was popular at the time, Blackjack struck a deal with Polydor Records and released two albums: the self-titled 1979 LP (above) and Worlds Apart the following year. However, none of the albums sold particularly well or topped the charts, and a modest national concert tour didn’t help, nor did a pre-MTV promotional video. All the members of the band had separated by the beginning of 1981, although the rappers would test Blackjack songs almost inexplicably. Jay-Z used part of “Stay” in his 2002 song “A Dream,” and Kanye West interpolated “Maybe It’s the Power of Love” for “Never Let Me Down” in 2004.
Did Michael Bolton almost replace Ozzy Osbourne?
While Blackjack recorded some catchy songs with a hard edge, it’s an empirical fact that the band was not as successful. What was undeniable about the group was Michael Bolton’s talent: the man could sing a song with a bang. After his time in Blackjack came to an end in the early 1980s, Bolton explored what could have been a breakthrough in his career and which would have rewritten the history of heavy metal.
After virtually inventing (or at least popularizing) heavy metal in the 1970s, Black Sabbath fired its charismatically menacing lead singer Ozzy Osbourne at the end of the decade. His replacement: the Ronnie James Dio large pipe metal eagle (from the Dio and Rainbow bands). After their departure in 1982, the band went back to looking for a leader. David Coverdale rejected the offer (to form the 80s hair metal band Whitesnake), leading to auditions with other singers. “We would audition various singers, including Michael Bolton, believe it or not, he was one of them, which was weird,” said Black Sabbath guitarist Tony Iommi on GibsonTV’s Icons in February 2024. Finally, the band left with Deep Purple singer Ian Gillan.
Despite Iommi’s confirmation, Bolton denies that the audition took place. “That rumor about me auditioning for Black Sabbath was just a rumor, I don’t know how the hell it started,” Bolton Eco said in 2014.
Michael Bolton wrote tons of hit songs for others
Michael Bolton experienced many different stages of his career, and many of them before finding fame as a soft rock ballad. After his solo albums from the 1970s didn’t sell, his period with Blackjack didn’t last, and a second solo period proved to be a non-opener, Bolton started writing (and co-writing) songs for other people, and at that time, it was quite successful.
Adult contemporary legend Laura Branigan, who some might call the Michael Bolton of the early 1980s, was successful n. ° 12 with Bolton’s distraught ‘How am I supposed to live without you’, and a minor success in 1985 with the triumphant ‘I Found Someone’. , “Which was a top-10 hit for Cher in 1988. Just a few weeks after Bolton himself took” How am I supposed to live without you “at # 1 in 1990, the rock band Kiss achieved one of their biggest hits. with the ballad “Forever,” which was also co-written by Bolton. Bolton also wrote album cuts for acts as varied as classic rocker Joe Cocker, Broadway star Sheryl Lee Ralph, synth pop band Starship, teen idol Rex Smith, and soft jazz Michael Bolton, Kenny G.
Michael Bolton’s early albums failed
Before singing with Blackjack, Michael Bolton had already released solo material, and under his real name: Michael Bolotin. According to the Schenectady Gazette , he signed a contract at 15 with Epic Records to record a pop single (well, his mother signed for him because he was a minor), but by the time he was seventeen, it hadn’t been recorded. nobody and the deal fell. apart. However, rock icon Leon Russell asked him to be his opening act for a show in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then invited the young singer to record some demos in his home studio in Oklahoma. Bolotin obtained a new contract with RCA Records and organized his first comeback.
In 1975 and 1976, he released Michael Bolotin and Cada dia de mi vida. Neither album received much attention from the music press or record buyers, leaving Bolotin to regroup and join Blackjack. After his rock period turned fallow, Bolotin returned to solo things and R&B-influenced pop. Now renamed Michael Bolton, the singer released two more albums and experienced some minor successes: Michael Bolton (above) hits # 89 on the Billboard album chart in 1983, while the single “Fool’s Game” peaked at # 82 on the Success list. It wasn’t until Bolton Hunger hit the stores in 1987 that he became a superstar.
Does this song by Michael Bolton sound familiar to you?
The first single from Michael Bolton’s 1991 album Time, Love and Tenderness was the great hit of Billboard 100 # 4 “Love is a wonderful thing.” It also caught the attention of Ronald and Marvin Isley of the legendary R&B group The Isley Brothers, who thought Bolton had covered their 1966 single “Love Is a Wonderful Thing.” “When I first heard his version of the song on the radio, I was really satisfied,” said Ronald Isley Billboard . “Then I went out to pick up the album and looked for my credit. I was upset that the credits weren’t there. In 1992, the Isleys sued Bolton, accredited co-writer Andrew Goldmark, and rights holder Sony Music Publishing in 1992 for copyright infringement.
In April 1994, a jury ruled against Bolton and company, determining that his song plagiarized the Isleys’ song in five different ways. Based on a formula to determine how much of the song’s success was due to the stolen material, the court ordered Bolton, Goldmark, and Sony to pay $ 5.2 million to the Isley Brothers. At the time, this was the largest financial trial ever seen in a music plagiarism case. Bolton and his henchmen appealed, and it was not resolved until 2001, when the courts upheld the ruling. Bolton was on the hook for $ 933,000, Goldmark for $ 221,000, and Sony for $ 4.2 million.
Love was not so wonderful for Michael Bolton
Michael Bolton has been half of two great relationships in his adult life. His first marriage happened before he was famous, to a woman named Maureen McGuire. While Bolton became the father of three daughters, the couple separated in 1990 after 15 years of marriage. Before long, Bolton moved on.
In 1991, Star Knot Landing Nicollette Sheridan married LA Star Act (and People’s Sexiest Man in the World) Harry Hamlin. But one night, when he was out of town, Sheridan went to a party with some of his closest friends: the popular saxophonist Kenny G and his wife, Lyndie. That night, Kenny G introduced Sheridan to another of his many famous friends: Bolton. (“Michael was a lot of fun,” said TV guide Sheridan (via the Official Knot Landing Guide blog), adding: “It makes me laugh more than anyone else I have ever met.”) The couple started dating in 1992 , after Sheridan parted ways with Hamlin, a divorce allegedly caused in part by the growing attraction between the soap star and Bolton.
According to People , Bolton and Sheridan stayed together for five years, separating in 1997. Then, apparently out of nowhere, they rekindled the relationship in 2005, and in 2006, some 14 years after their first meeting, they announced that they were engaged. But unfortunately, it wasn’t the second time either, and Sheridan and Bolton parted ways in 2008.
Michael Bolton loves softball almost as much as he loves soft rock
Celebrities, like the less fabulous people, are also rabid sports fans, only they can afford to do things like buy seats on the court, buy parts of sports franchises, or spend endless hours on their game of choice. Michael Bolton is not a Lakers fan or co-owner of the Memphis Grizzlies or anything like that, but he is extraordinarily interested in softball, a sport played primarily by kids and office teams.
In the 1990s, Bolton formed his own softball team in the workplace, leading a team made up of members of his band. The Bolton Bombers adapted for charity softball games across the country, and according to the Baseball Flyer , raised over half a million dollars in more than 50 games. In 1993 Bolton released a home instructional video about the sport called Michael Bolton’s Winning Softball. Bring in softball expert Dave Carroll to provide solid advice for both hitters and pitchers, such as “relax [ing] their arms” and how to throw a »side wheel«, respectively. Bolton appears throughout the video to interact with the viewer, all while wearing a hat and an old-fashioned baseball shirt with the word »BOLTON«.
Cheesy Michael Bolton songs wouldn’t be possible with cheese
Michael Bolton has a voice like no other singer. It is deep and throaty, but at the same time it groans and has a sharp tone. It is a distinctive voice that propelled its owner to international success and millions of dollars in wealth. And while many vocalists lose some of their reach, power, and nuance over the years, Bolton has not: it sounds almost the same in “Jack Sparrow” as it does in “When a man loves a woman.” What is your secret? Gargling with gravel and then sticking with lemon tea and teeth? Actually, it’s what you don’t do that keeps your voice.
Catarro describes a large amount of mucus in the throat or other airways, which can be devastating for a singer. Bolton avoids this by avoiding dairy products. “I love pasta, pizza, and ice cream, but too much sweet dairy causes a cold and affects my voice,” Bolton told the Daily Mail in 2013. Beyond that, he remains in a state of general good health for “work [ ing] four days a week «and follow a vegetarian diet for more than 40 years.
Comedy star Michael Bolton
In 2011, Michael Bolton scored his first entry on the Hot 100 Billboard since 1997, when his Hercules song “Go the Distance” was a huge success. Bolton was featured as a featured artist in “Jack Sparrow,” a Turtleneck and Chain cut by the comedy trio The Lonely Island, and made popular through one of the extremely popular segments of the group “Digital Short” on Saturday Night Live. . The premise: The Lonely Island (directed by Andy Samberg) is trying to record a sick hip-hop jam, and hires Bolton to provide the hook … only he goes astray and sings about all the movies he loves, particularly Pirates of the Caribbean saga. The video features Bolton dressed as the rogue Captain Jack Sparrow, as well as Tony Montana from Caracortada, and Erin Brockovich.
So how did an adult contemporary singer past his heyday end up in a comedy company rap song? “The guys from Lonely Island contacted my management and said they wanted to do this,” Bolton Entertainment Weekly said , adding that he was initially skeptical of the project. «I was automatically scanning through my memory banks the most evil language and images. You want to work with guys like this. But at the same time I receive invitations to perform at the Vatican! Bolton agreed to do so, but worked with The Lonely Island to tone down the lyrics, which were “intense and badly colored” at first.
Critics hate Michael Bolton, but he has his apologists
Michael Bolton made a name for himself as a serious singer of excessive ballads of the 80s and 90s that now seem almost as old-fashioned as the long, stringy hair that Bolton tossed around the same time. For these and other reasons, Bolton is a cultural auction and a punching bag. Rolling Stone called him “one of the most vilified figures” in music; Blender placed it at n. # 3 on his list of “50 Worst Artists in Music History”; and he’s a joke. Office space , where the character Michael Bolton resents sharing a name with a “talentless clown.”
The vitriol doesn’t seem to bother Bolton much. Why should I do it? Many people clearly like the guy and his music: He has sold over 75 million records, won a couple of Grammy Awards, and has received accolades from figures he respects. In 1990, the great Bob Dylan asked Bolton to write with him (which became the song “Steel Bars” from Bolton’s album Time, Love and Tenderness ) And in 1987, after he recorded a version of the incomparable classic of Otis Redding “(Sittin ‘On) The Dock of the Day”, the widow of the late Redding, Zelma, praised him publicly. “It brought tears to my eyes,” said Chorro . “It reminded me so much of my husband that I know that if I listened to him, I would feel the same.”