Bolton from a distance
Michael Bolton has sold more than 75 million records. He has recorded eight Top 10 albums. He became renowned for his long, golden locks — and equally renowned for chopping them off. But never in his 46-year career has he experienced recording an album re
Q How have you been?
A It’s so impossible to not feel like being transported into some weird practical joke ... but one that’s not funny. It’s been depressing. It’s been oppressive. It’s been limiting to all of the things we instinctively want to do and that we should be able to do. The end of my last tour was in early March (2020), and we thought we were talking about maybe a two-week delay of shows or two more weeks of time off. And then it just became this ... We have been able to put on fundraisers and do all kinds of things. Zoom has allowed us to, technology has allowed us a lot, but the human experience was really challenged last year, and the effects of it are going to linger on. I am grateful I recorded an entire album in the room I’m speaking to you from with people who have their keyboards set up in California and New York and other places. And we found a way to continue writing and getting creative. But I don’t ever want to see anything like this again.
Q So you recorded this thing at a distance?
A I’ve got an acoustic guitar and piano in this room, and I’m on with any number of young writers, producers, artists and coming up with melodies. It took longer here, but it was definitely surreal. But then we started making tracks, and it became more and more like being in a room like I’ve always been with songwriters and not coming out until you earn your lunch. It started reminding me of how everything was. And I thought, ‘I can live with this. I could be OK with this.’
Q When will it be released? A I don’t want to say for sure, but I’m hoping for the fall.
Q What I think would be interesting, and I know what you’re looking for is advice from me, is you doing a three-record set. The first record is just covers. All these songs would be done without a band. You choose whatever you want. I would throw in Heart of Gold though. No. 2, you redo a record of songs you’ve written, but without instrumentation. And then the third one, I would say do a bunch of my songs. I don’t have any, but I think that would make me a lot of money. A When did you make your move into comedy?
Q Your voice clearly is largely unchanged. And that’s not common. What do you do to keep your voice in shape?
A So first of all, thank you very much for saying that. I know the difference. It’s kind of a sports analogy, which I often find connects with music. It’s like the difference is, I don’t think we have an off-season. We have time where we’re down, when you’re not on the road as much, but there’s not an off season to rest your body, recover and then start up this training camp. But it is very much like an Olympic experience hitting the road and doing six months of shows. When you’re a tenor and you’re going to hit big high notes, you kind of want to do that all your life. One of the most important things I did was kind of by accident. I got invited to sing with Luciano Pavarotti in Modena, his hometown in Italy, and he was my favourite tenor. I hadn’t studied opera. I don’t read music. I write it, but I don’t read it ... But Luciano was so gracious and so generous. And I told him I had been studying him, and he smiled ear to ear and I said, ‘I don’t know what I’ve been doing with my voice all these years.’ And he said, ‘Oh, if you do not sell as many records as you have then you’re doing the wrong thing with your voice. Come, let’s rehearse.’ During that time, I realized that as an R&B singer, I didn’t even know there was a way to exercise your voice, to stretch it, to strengthen it ... Singing opera and preparing for notes, really big, full notes, you can’t mess around with it. So you actually have to study with a teacher.