Michael Bolton

Michael Bolton began his path as a hard rock vocalist distinguished by a gritty rasp and four-octave span before attaining superstar status through a deliberate pivot to blue-eyed soul. He achieved this by reinterpreting 1960s R&B classics such as Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay” and Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman,” while also creating his own soul-pop successes, among them the 1989 composition “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” that reached the summit of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1990. Throughout the early and middle years of the 1990s Bolton ruled adult-contemporary radio, accumulating multiple chart-topping AC singles that simultaneously climbed high on the Hot 100. He attained the number-one position on the Billboard album chart with 1991’s Time, Love & Tenderness, an album containing two covers alongside eight new compositions, and again the following year with Timeless: The Classics, devoted entirely to reinterpretations. Although single releases tapered off toward the close of the decade, Bolton maintained an active touring and recording schedule, occasionally returning to the upper album rankings with projects such as 2006’s Bolton Swings Sinatra and 2013’s Ain’t No Mountain High Enough: A Tribute to Hitsville U.S.A. Even in 2023 his 24th studio album, Spark of Light—his first consisting solely of original material—still registered on the Billboard 200.

Recording at first under his birth name Michael Bolotin, he appeared on RCA Records in the mid-1970s delivering both cover material and original blue-eyed soul numbers delivered in a style that echoed Joe Cocker. He subsequently fronted the heavy-metal group Blackjack, which issued two albums on Polydor before disbanding in the early 1980s. Seeking a fresh start, he adopted the stage name Michael Bolton and joined Columbia Records as a solo artist in 1983.

The self-titled Michael Bolton arrived in April 1983 and entered the Top 100 best-sellers list, as did its opening single “Fools Game.” Concurrently the ballad “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You,” co-written by Bolton with Doug James, became a Top 40 success for Laura Branigan. Bolton’s follow-up Columbia release, 1985’s Everybody’s Crazy, nevertheless failed to register commercially outside Sweden, where it reached the Top 50. Breakthrough arrived with his fifth album, The Hunger, issued in September 1987. On that project Bolton set aside the hard-rock approach of earlier work and focused on blue-eyed soul, both in his own material such as “That’s What Love Is All About” and in covers including Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.” The two singles marked his initial entries into the Top 40.

Soul Provider, released in July 1989, elevated Bolton to certified superstar level. Containing songs co-authored with established writers including Diane Warren and Desmond Child, the album reached the Top Ten in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, and Norway and yielded five Top 40 singles, among them Bolton’s number-one rendition of “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” together with the Top Ten entries “How Can We Be Lovers” and “When I’m Back on My Feet Again.” “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You” also earned Bolton the Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Time, Love & Tenderness, issued in April 1991, proved even more commercially potent, ascending to number one on the Billboard 200 and generating four Top 40 hits that included a chart-topping cover of Percy Sledge’s “When a Man Loves a Woman” as well as the North American Top Ten singles “Love Is a Wonderful Thing”—later the focus of a successful plagiarism suit filed by the Isley Brothers—and “Time, Love and Tenderness.” The set secured another Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, awarded for “When a Man Loves a Woman.” Bolton followed with Timeless: The Classics in September 1992, an album composed exclusively of classic covers; led by a Top 20 treatment of the Bee Gees’ “To Love Somebody,” it likewise reached number one in the United States. His next collection of primarily original songs, supplemented by a U.K.-charting version of Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me,” arrived as The One Thing in November 1993. It attained the U.S. Top Three and topped the charts in Australia and Norway, propelled by the Top Ten single “Said I Loved You…But I Lied.” Bolton marked a decade of hits with the compilation Greatest Hits 1985–1995, which debuted inside the Top Five in both the United States and United Kingdom. This Is the Time: Christmas Album followed a year later and peaked at number 11 on the Billboard 200.

After reaching the summit of the adult-contemporary chart with “Go the Distance,” a track he produced for the Disney film Hercules, Bolton returned in late 1997 with All That Matters, his first album of new material since The One Thing. The set barely entered the U.S. Top 40. Undeterred, he next explored classical repertoire with My Secret Passion, a collection of opera arias released in January 1998. By classical standards the album performed strongly and attracted favorable critical attention. Bolton supported both releases on a tour co-headlined with Wynonna Judd. He next issued 1999’s Timeless: The Classics, Vol. 2, which, unlike its chart-topping predecessor, failed to reach the Billboard 200. His profile on the charts rebounded in early 2002 when Only a Woman Like You, his debut for Jive Records, climbed to number 36 in the United States and reached the Top 20 in the United Kingdom. Vintage, an album devoted to material from the 1930s through the 1950s, followed on Passion Group/Universal in September 2003 and peaked at number 76 on the U.S. album chart. A blend of seven studio tracks and 11 live recordings captured in August 2004, 2005’s ’Til the End of Forever appeared in the lower half of the Billboard 200.

Bolton recovered momentum in 2006 with Bolton Swings Sinatra, a twelve-song tribute to Frank Sinatra that featured a duet with actress Nicollette Sheridan; the album reached positions 51 and 54 in the United States and United Kingdom, respectively. One World One Love, containing collaborations with Ne-Yo and Lady Gaga, surfaced first in the United Kingdom in 2009 and reached American stores the following year, landing inside the U.K. Top 20. Later in 2010 Bolton competed on the eleventh season of Dancing with the Stars, having previously appeared on the 2007 series Clash of the Choirs. He also contributed vocals to the Lonely Island’s hip-hop parody “Jack Sparrow,” which premiered as a Saturday Night Live digital short and later appeared on the comedy troupe’s second album, Turtleneck & Chain. Continuing the collaborative approach, he released Gems: The Duets Collection in 2011, pairing with vocalists such as Seal and Delta Goodrem, country acts including Rascal Flatts, and guitarist Orianthi. The album climbed to number 11 in the United Kingdom and number 28 in Australia while peaking at 128 on the U.S. chart.

Two years afterward Bolton honored Motown Records with Ain’t No Mountain High Enough: A Tribute to Hitsville U.S.A. Upon its February 2013 release the album returned him to the U.K. Top 20 and debuted at number 38 on the Billboard 200; a revised edition featuring a duet with Leona Lewis on the title track appeared a little over a year later. Also in 2013 Bolton published the memoir The Soul of It All: My Music, My Life. His subsequent major release, Songs of Cinema, arrived in February 2017 and collected ten songs drawn from popular films; issued thirty years after the platinum-certified The Hunger, it still registered on the Billboard 200. That same month Michael Bolton’s Big, Sexy Valentine’s Day Special premiered on Netflix.

Bolton revisited earlier material with orchestral arrangements on 2019’s Symphony of Hits, his debut for the Montaigne label and his nineteenth appearance on the Billboard 200. He returned to the label with 2023’s Spark of Light, marking the first time in his solo career that an album contained only original compositions.