Burnaby’s Buble a homegrown star
From talent contests and local gigs to Grammy wins and international fame
To mark Canada’s 150th birthday, we’re counting down to Canada Day with profiles of 150 noteworthy British Columbians.
Among the musical exports Canada has gifted the world, jazz-pop singer Michael Buble is among the classiest. The 41-year-old performer emanates the kind of charm and showmanship recognized in Frank Sinatra, with all the down-to-earth goodness audiences would expect from a wholesome boy-next-door.
Buble was born in Burnaby on Sept. 9, 1975 to Lewis Buble and Amber Santaga. He is the oldest of three children (he has two younger sisters) and attended Seaforth Elementary and Cariboo Hill Secondary. Buble’s father was a fisherman and was often out to sea, which meant Buble spent much of his time with his maternal grandfather.
It was his grandfather’s record collection that introduced Buble to the world of jazz and soul music, inspiring him to pursue a life of performance à la Sinatra, Tony Bennett, and Stevie Wonder.
As a teen, Buble entered and won a local talent contest, but was disqualified when organizers learned he was a year younger than the contest eligibility rules required. Even so, an organizer for the contest recommended he enter the youth version of the competition, which he also won.
The organizer, Beverly Delich, then encouraged Buble to release an independent album, while his grandfather helped book local gigs for Buble in exchange for plumbing services. From there, Buble became a familiar name and face at a number of local venues, before later moving to Toronto to perform in a musical revue.
Later, Buble would perform at a party for an adviser to former prime minister Brian Mulroney. The adviser passed on Buble’s independent CD, which led to Mulroney and his wife inviting the singer, then 25, to perform at their daughter’s wedding in 2000. It was at that wedding that Buble was introduced to Grammy-winning producer and Warner Brothers executive David Foster.
After Foster signed Buble to 143 Records, the pair put together Buble’s first major label record, which was completed and released in 2003. The self-titled record quickly shot to No. 1 and went multi-platinum in various countries.
In 2004, Buble won Best New Talent at the Juno Awards, and from there his career went international. He has since released six more albums, including 2007’s Call Me Irresponsible, which nabbed him his first Grammy win for best Traditional Pop Vocal Album. Buble won again in that category in 2010, 2011, and 2014. His most recent album, Nobody but Me, was released in 2016.
In 2008, he began dating actress Luisana Lopilato and the couple were later married in 2011.
Together, the pair have two sons, Noah, born in 2013, and Elias in 2016. Late last year, Buble shared the news that his son Noah had been diagnosed with cancer and that both he and Lopilato had put their careers on hold while the boy underwent chemotherapy in the U.S.