Michael Bolton, The #75 Artist of the Rock Era, Part One

 "Bolton sings songs from the soul."

"His voice just melts my heart every time."

"Heart-touching lyrics and an amazing voice."

"An amazing singer and songwriter."

"His voice is unique and soulful...one of the best singers."

"I celebrate the guy's entire catalog."

"One of the most romantic artists of all-time."

"Amazing voice and sweet spirit--I just love him!"

"You can connect with his music and feel it in your soul."

"His music will resonate through the ages."


This versatile artist began as a hard rock singer but changed course to become one of the top Adult Contemporary artists of the '80s and '90s.

Michael Boltotin was born Michael Bolotin on February 26, 1953 in New Haven, Connecticut and raised on the sounds of Motown and the blues.  He began performing in local bars at the age of 15 and started recording in 1975, releasing his debut album under his original family name and the album Everyday of My Life in 1976.  Michael auditioned for Shelter Records and formed the hard rock group Blackjack.  They opened for Ozzy Osbourne and released two albums.

 

After Blackjack split, Bolton auditioned to be the lead singer in Osbourne's former group Black Sabbath.  When he wasn't selected, Michael signed a solo recording contract with Columbia Records instead.  He changed his stage name to Michael Bolton and released his self-titled album in 1983.  Helped by the single "Fool's Game", the album eventually was certified Gold.   

Michael co-wrote "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You", which became a #1 song on the Adult Contemporary chart for Laura Branigan and a song he later recorded himself.  Bolton also co-wrote "I Found Someone" for Branigan in 1985, which was only a minor hit for her but it later revitalized the career of Cher.  He also built relationships with some songwriting giants including Diane Warren, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and Desmond Child, writing songs for Starship, the Pointer Sisters and Irena Cara, among others.

Bolton's second album flopped, but his third release, The Hunger, showcased his four-octave range and started him on his way.  The key to success, and aspiring musicians should take note, is that Michael abandoned the hard rock he had been recording and began recording music for adults, who of course make up the vast majority of the listening audience.

 

The single "That's What Love Is All About" is the one that kickstarted Bolton's career, a #3 Adult Contemporary smash that peaked at #19 overall.

The Hunger has now sold over two million copies in the U.S. alone.  Bolton's rock connections paid off when he was able to recruit Journey's Neal Schon and Jonathan Cain to help him on the album.  Michael's remake of the Otis Redding classic "(Sittin' On) The Dock Of The Bay" got as high as #3 in Australia, #8 in New Zealand, #9 in Canada and #11 in the United States.

Upon release of the song, Redding's widow Zelma wrote Bolton a letter, calling Michael's "my all-time favorite version of my husband's classic".  Bolton promoted his music with a two-month tour of the United States with Heart.  The Hunger has now gone over two million albums sold.

 

The 1989 album Soul Provider was the one that catapulted Bolton to superstardom.  The title cut, with Kenny G on saxophone, matched "That's What Love Is All About" at #3 on the AC chart and peaked at #17 on the Popular chart.

 Bolton raced to #1 on both the Adult and Popular charts with "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You" and became an international star when he hit #2 in Australia and Ireland, #3 in the U.K. and the Netherlands, #8 in Canada, #9 in Sweden and #10 in New Zealand.  

 Bolton picked up a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You".  He pulled a third hit off the album with "How Can We Be Lovers?", another across-the-board smash at #3 on both the Popular and AC charts in the U.S., #2 in Canada, #3 in Australia and #10 in the U.K. and Sweden.

 

The sales were piling up (over six million now for the album) and Bolton continued his hot streak with "When I'm Back On My Feet Again", a #1 Adult Contemporary hit that also charted at #7 overall.  The song also rose to #2 in Canada.

Bolton filled major arenas on a tour that was named Tour of the Year by Pollstar.  Soul Provider sold six million copies, the second-biggest album of his career.  Michael achieved a fifth hit on the album with his remake of the Ray Charles standard, "Georgia On My Mind", #6 on the AC chart.

Bolton was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male at the Grammy Awards for "Georgia On My Mind". 

Be sure to check out Part Two below!

Michael Bolton, The #75 Artist of the Rock Era, Part Two

 

(Continued From Part One) 

 

He proved he belonged in the spotlight with his next album--Time, Love & Tenderness.  The title song exploded to #1 on the AC chart and #4 overall in the U.S. and #2 in Canada.  Bolton was named Songwriter of the Year at the BMI Awards and won a Hitmaker Award from the Songwriter's Hall of Fame for the song.

 

Few artists can remake a classic into any kind of a substantial hit, but Bolton did it again with his cover of the Percy Sledge song "When A Man Loves A Woman".  Michael's version topped both the Adult Contemporary and Popular charts in the U.S. and landed at #4 in Canada and 38 in the U.K.

Time, Love & Tenderness topped eight million in sales and generated four Top 40 hits.  Bolton picked up another Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his remake of "When A Man Loves A Woman".  

 

With amazing saxophonist Kenny G, Bolton scored another #1 AC hit with "Missing You Now", #12 overall and #8 in Canada.

 Michael was nominated for an American Music Award in 1991 for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist, and award he won the next year when he also received an award for Favorite Pop/Rock Album.  He pulled five hits off the album with "Steel Bars", #7 AC in the U.S. and #10 in Canada.

 Timeless:  The Classics in 1992 consisted entirely of cover songs and went to #1 on the Album chart.  Michael's remake of the great Bee Gees song "To Love Somebody" earned him a seventh #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart that was also #11 on the Popular chart in the U.S. and #2 in Canada.  It was Bolton's 11th consecutive Top 10 song among adults.

Michael won American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist and Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist.  Timeless has sold over four million copies, and also includes the #8 AC song "Reach Out I'll Be There", Bolton's remake of the great Four Tops song.

 

In 1993, Bolton released the album The One Thing, containing yet another Adult #1--"Said I Loved You...But I Lied".  The multi-format hit also peaked at #6 overall in the United States, #2 in Australia and #3 in Canada.

Michael was nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male at the Grammy Awards and he was nominated for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist and Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist at the American Music Awards.  The One Thing has also sold over three million units in the U.S. alone.  "Completely" also reached the Top 10 of the Adult Contemporary chart.

In 1993, Bolton started The Michael Bolton Foundation to help women and children at risk from poverty and emotional, physical and sexual abuse.

 Michael released the compilation Greatest Hits 1985-1995, which included the new song "Can I Touch You...There?", a #6 AC hit.  The package has topped three million in sales.  He won two more American Music Awards for Favorite Pop/Rock Male Artist and Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist.

Bolton released the album All That Matters in 1997.  "Go The Distance" was also featured in the Disney movie Hercules and reached #1 on the AC chart.

 Bolton made his big screen debut in the movie Meet Wally Sparks.  He received another American Music Award nomination for Favorite Adult Contemporary Artist, thanks to another Top 5 Adult hit, "The Best Of Love".

Bolton also appeared in the movies Snow Dogs and High Voltage in 2002, The Onion Movie in 2008 and Popstar:  Never Stop Never Stopping in 2016.

Bolton has released 10 studio albums since 1997.  In 2013, Bolton published his autobiography, The Soul of It All:  My Music, My Life.

Michael has enjoyed 22 career hits, with seven reaching the Top 10 and two going all the way to #1.  But he has excelled with adults, racking up 32 career hits, with a sensational 19 landing in the Top 10 and nine #1 songs.

Bolton has won six American Music Awards out of 10 nominations, two Grammy Awards from four nominations, a Songwriter's Hall of Fame Award and a BMI Award.

Bolton has sold over 75 million records.  Nine of his albums have reached Gold status, with seven of those going Platinum and six Multi-Platinum.  He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Join us tomorrow for #74!

Heart, The #76 Artist of the Rock Era, Part One

 "Heart is great...epic!"

"Their music is awesome--one of my favorite bands."

"The group pursued their dreams with talent, energy and passion."

"Heart's songs are magical."

"Amazing talent.  Just pure talent."

"Simply one of the best of all-time."

"Great songs that have substance and lyrics."

"Legendary Rock group."

"Heart really is magic, man."

"Big fan of the legendary Heart."



At #76, superstars that have been at or near the top of the world for four decades.

Guitarist Nancy Wilson told Believer magazine that the moment she and Ann wanted to be rock stars was when they tuned into The Ed Sullivan Show one night:


     The lightning bolt came out of the heavens

       and struck Ann and me the first time we saw 

       the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show. 

       My family was living on the marine base in

      Camp Pendleton, California, and we’d

     all gathered around the little black-and-white

      TV at our  grandmother’s in La Jolla.  Most 

      people didn’t have color sets at home back

      then. 

     There’d been so much anticipation and hype

      about the Beatles that it was a huge event,

      like the lunar landing:  that was the moment 

     Ann and I heard the call to become rock                                     musicians. I was seven or eight at the time.

In 1967, bassist Steve Fossen and guitarist Roger Fisher formed a group called The Army and played local gigs near Bothell, Washington.  The group experienced several lineup changes and changed their name to White Heart.  In 1970, they shortened their name to Heart briefly but after lead singer Ann Wilson joined, the band renamed themselves Hocus Pocus.

Mike Fisher, Roger's brother, was drafted into the U.S. military but moved to Canada.  One day when he crossed back into the United States, he met Ann at a Hocus Pocus show.  The two fell in love and Ann followed Mike back to Canada.  Soon, Fossen graduated and decided to move to Canada as well in 1972 and Roger followed shortly after.

The group Heart officially formed with Ann's sister Nancy joining in 1974, and it was not long before Nancy fell in love with Roger.  Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Heart enlisted the help of producer Mike Flicker and session guitarist and keyboardist Howard Leese to record a demo.  Leese soon became a full-time member of the group and Mike Derosier joined as a drummer.  

 

 Heart recorded their debut album at Can-Base Studios.  The investors who backed the studio also financed Mushroom Records.  Dreamboat Annie was released in 1976 and did so well in Canada that it was released in the United States, where it jumped to #7 on the Album chart.  The lead single, "Magic Man" rocketed to #6 in Australia, #8 in the Netherlands and #9 in the U.S.

Dreamboat Annie has gone Platinum and includes the classic "Crazy On You", one of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era* with a peak of only #35.

 

The title song is also underrated at #42.

 

 And, "Sing Child" is a Top Track*.

Mushroom bought a full page advertisement in Rolling Stone magazine showing the bare-shouldered Wilson sisters with the caption, "It was only our first time!".  When a reporter questioned the sisters if they were sex partners after a performance, Ann was so furious she went to her hotel room and wrote the song "Barracuda", and Heart broke its contract with Mushroom to sign with Portrait Records. 

This led to an extended court battle.  Mushroom released the album Magazine, which was only partially finished, in 1977.  A Seattle judge forced Mushroom to recall the album until Heart could remix tracks and add new vocals, and the album was re-released in 1978.

Meanwhile, Heart released the album Little Queen in 1977, and "Barracuda" became a big hit, despite its #11 ranking by Billboard in the U.S., a #2 smash in Canada.

Little Queen has outsold Dreamboat Annie (Triple Platinum compared to Platinum), even though Dreamboat Annie is a better album.  Some of the artists in The Top 100 for the Rock Era* have several hits and some worthy album tracks.  Heart had both the hits and the great album tracks.  The title track of Little Queen is one such example.

 

And, with a peak of #79, "Kick It Out" is one of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs of the Rock Era*.

 

To capitalize on Heart's success, Mushroom released the single "Heartless" from Magazine, a #18 hit in Canada and #24 in the United States.

 

Heart performed at the first Texxas Jam in 1978 in Dallas, Texas before 100,000 people.  Later in the year, the group released their album Dog and Butterfly.  "Straight On" is another underrated tune, #14 in Canada and #15 in the U.S.

 

The album went Double Platinum, but the title song is yet another of The Top Unknown/Underrated Songs*, with a peak of just #34.

However both Wilson-Fisher romantic relationships ended;  Roger was voted out of the band and Mike departed within a month after that.  The group carried on, but it was obvious to most that despite the best efforts of Nancy and Leese, Heart sorely missed the guitar wizardry of Roger in the years to come.

 

In 1980, Heart released the album Bebe le Strange, a #5 album that contained the #33 song "Even It Up".  Bebe le Strange was the first album not to reach Platinum status, though it did go Gold.

 

Heart released the double album Greatest Hits/Live, #13 on the Album chart, which contained their singles as well as some outstanding live tracks.  The group promoted the album with a 77-city tour and achieved what the charts said was their biggest hit to date (the #8 "Tell It Like It Is", even though only a novice would say it was better than either "Crazy On You", "Magic Man" or "Barracuda".

 

The album sold over two million copies.  This is the group's amazing cover of "Unchained Melody" by the Righteous Brothers.  

 

Years later, Ann and Nancy told of their love of Led Zeppelin and how they set out to become the female version of Robert Plant and Jimmy Page.  Heart remade "Rock And Roll" from their idols.

Heart's story continues in next post!