Bolton concert revisits greatest hits
Singer hits the stage Monday at the Fraze. Promises surprises and some guests.
Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter Michael Bolton will take the stage Monday at Kettering’s Fraze Pavilion.
We had the chance to talk with the pop/soul singer, who has sold more than 53 million albums and singles worldwide, in advance of his local show. Here are excerpts from the interview. You can access the full interview online at ActiveDayton.com/ music. A: “The tour is going to consist of mostly greatest hits because that’s what people want to hear and that’s what the core fans really come back for. “There are people who have had their lives and their life experiences to the backdrop of music. “Music is like the soundtrack of certain important life experiences for people and that’s something you learn through the years of touring and meeting people that tell you why the song is so important to them. “It’s a powerful kind of cathartic experience for people to listen to and get them through the toughest times of their lives, but also to celebrate their most joyous parts of their lives — from having kids and raising family. “I never thought of that when I was a kid trying to do this for a living. I had a record deal when I was 16; I didn’t have my first hit until I was 34. I was trying to write songs and perform songs that I love, that were written by other people, that I thought people were going to enjoy listening to. I forgot how powerful music was for me in the application of recording and writing for my own career. It was about doing what I loved to do and hoping other people like it. “(At the concert), we are going to bring some surprises, of course, and have a few guests who I bring with me on tour, who are amazing musicians and artists. We will walk people through some of the songs and some of the hits that I’ve written for other artists that people are not aware of that were big songs. It’s going to be a feel-good night.” A: “I like to say good taste. … I was about 10 maybe 11 when my family moved. The first time Stevie Wonder’s “Fingertips” came on, my brother introduced me to it. And I remember Ray Charles being the single strongest influence as a kid on me vocally. When I started recognizing the Motown sound, then of course, Marvin Gaye became my primary influence for a long period of time. Why? I couldn’t tell you. I mean, I became a Beatles fan and a (Rolling) Stones fan and played their music when I was in bands, but you know I was playing blues and R&B when I was 13,14 years old in Connecticut. It felt good vocally. It felt more at home vocally to bend notes and back phrase, then it did singing anything in school. “I still miss what Motown taught us. People who wrote songs that were relatable stories, that were about relationships, that were about what really goes on and what really happens to people and what they really feel.”