For Michael Bolton, soulful singing with symphonies a dream come true
Credit to Author: Stuart Derdeyn| Date: Tue, 04 Feb 2020 20:15:47 +0000
When: Feb. 12, 8 p.m.
Where: Orpheum Theatre, 601 Smithe St.
Tickets and info: From $44.50 at vancouversymphony.ca
Michael Bolton celebrates 50 years in the music business this year. The 66-year-old vocalist says it’s hard to believe it when he reads it in his own press kit.
Fans would be surprised to know he had his beginnings in the hard rock and heavy metal scene.
“I was signed to Epic Records when I was 16, for a singles deal, and a year later received a kind note from them that I was now free to sign a deal with whoever I liked, as they no longer required my services,” said Bolton. “So that was my first positive experience in the industry, and I kept getting signed to different companies for one or two solo albums and then it was over, or with the band Blackjack for two albums and it was over. It was a blur of excited executives who saw a lot of potential in the marketing metrics, but me not having a hit.”
Blackjack’s peak was once opening for Ozzy Osbourne. Bolton started to peak when he co-wrote How Am I Supposed to Live Without You with pop singer Laura Branigan. The tune hit No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1983, holding the position for three weeks. Bolton would follow up this success with the song I Found Someone. A minor hit for Branigan in 1985, the tune put Cher back on the charts two years later.
“Everything changed with How Am I Supposed to Live Without You,” he said. “Record companies and managers all look at you differently because you laid the golden egg, and they want to be there for the next one. And I was hungry for that next one.”
Fittingly, his breakout 1987 album was titled The Hunger. Featuring Bolton’s cover version of Otis Redding’s classic (Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay, the album was certified double platinum in the U.S. After half a life in the industry, Bolton had arrived. The stylistic change from howler to crooner has translated into in excess of 75 million in album sales, two Billboard #1 singles, eight top-10 albums, six American Music Awards and two Grammy Awards.
It just took Bolton a bit longer than the mythical 10,000 hours of work before he hit the jackpot.
“It took 34 years of life before I had my own hit as an artist, so I was off by 18 years,” he said. “Now I’ve got the new album on Entertainment One titled A Symphony of Hits. That’s how it goes.”
Recorded with the 65-piece West Australian Philharmonic Orchestra in Perth, 2019’s A Symphony of Hits presents Bolton’s powerhouse pipes with his band and the full orchestra covering some of his most-loved songs, including When a Man Loves a Woman, To Love Somebody and the career-shifting How Am I Supposed to Live Without You. Known for blasting out his vocals, he sounds more laid back and in the pocket on the recording than on many of his other adult contemporary releases.
“I love the orchestrations so much, singing with an orchestra, and it all goes back to being invited to sing with Luciano Pavarotti,” he said. “I didn’t want to just come out and sing a pop song, I wanted to sing in his world. So I started studying opera, staying up late listening to Caruso and Pavarotti and others I didn’t really know and I learned you need a very different engine to hold a high C over multiple bars.”
Operatic technique came pretty naturally to Bolton, and he continued studying to learn techniques to protect and project his voice. The end result of the preparation was that it widened his appreciation for the music and other ways his mix of R&B, pop and country classics and originals could be presented. The arrangements he and his band will perform with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra came out of experimenting with ways of “freshening up the sets.”
“There is nothing quite as powerful and moving as a full orchestra, and we were able to time the recording with the beginning of an Australian tour, so I was able to get everything done and hit the road with a full orchestra every night,” he said. “While there are many other great orchestras to work with, you really need to have one that can cut a deal with you where you retain the use of your orchestrations to be able to tour all over the world. Otherwise, you may be limited to doing only a few, specialized limited engagements or TV specials.”
Bolton knows a few things about how to produce a good TV special. Michael Bolton’s Big, Sexy Valentine’s Day Special on Netflix showcased comedy chops that nobody knew the singer possessed until appearing in a Saturday Night Live collaboration with The Lonely Island titled Jack Sparrow. That digital short became a viral sensation and the singer has described the segment in interviews as “the gift that keeps on giving.”
“You go on Saturday Night Live and get embraced by a new audience, and the next thing you know, you are embraced by a whole new public of 12- to 40-year-olds who have never owned one of your albums,” he said. “And then you have a whole new fan base buying your albums and coming to your shows that wouldn’t have existed without Captain Jack Sparrow. It was fun from the moment I met Andy Samberg and the Lonely Island are just unstoppably funny together in a room to work with.”
Besides singing with symphonies and going for laughs on SNL and Netflix, Bolton has also taken on a new role for this coming tour: perfumer. His “soulful fragrance collection” includes three scents: Time, Love and Tenderness.
“This three-piece fragrance collection captures the essence of his eponymous album and hit single of the same name,” says the press release, noting the soulful top notes, passionate heart notes and romantic dry down. All in a day’s marketing, says a laughing Bolton:
“What else could we sell? How about perfume,” he said. “But really, scents have become something tied to artists and there is a woman who does that show Living who thought it would be a great fit to sell it at the shows and online. And the fans love it, so there it is.”
Expect to hear a selection of songs that would pair perfectly with each of those scents when Bolton and the VSO perform.
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