MB Older Magazine Articles

I found these scanned pages of some older magazine articles and most of us probably have seen them, but I didn't think they were actually posted on the site anywhere.  And I know I haven't actually read them in years, it's good to read them again.  Hope you agree and enjoy!
Joy

from the Jersey Shore

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Permalink Reply by sylvie boisvert on March 10, 2013 at 12:33am

Wow, thanks girls: Marcela, Katia and Sylvia for finding, sharing and translating the article. Isn't it incredible that we could have found out about Randy's suggestions for a rock album for Michael 2 years ago? Very interesting. Anyway, thanks again girls, take care. Hugs, sincerely, Sylvie Qc Canada

Permalink Reply by katia Rochet on March 10, 2013 at 12:47am

With great pleasure

katia

Permalink Reply by Kellie Brown on March 10, 2013 at 1:28am

Many thanks to Marcela, Katia and Sylvia great find, and hope that Randy and Michael will rock out again for us soon.

Have a nice Evening Ladies,

Kellie

Permalink Reply by sylvie boisvert on March 10, 2013 at 2:01am

Hi Kellie, Michael mentionned that Randy has been bugging him for about 6 years now, during the Reddit chat and there was even a video response of his saying that. Michael won't have enough of 3 lifetimes to do everything he wants to do, I think... :D Take care Kellie. Hugs, sincerely, Sylvie Qc Canada

Permalink Reply by Robin on March 16, 2013 at 4:08pm

I'd love to see him finally do a rock album with Randy Jackson. I think it would be so cool!!!Just my 2 cents!!LOL

Robin in MD:)

Permalink Reply by katia Rochet on March 16, 2013 at 12:17pm

January 27, 2013 12:37 PM

Michael Bolton really likes to sing

Singer-songwriter Michael Bolton. (CBS News)

(CBS News) With a big birthday coming up, Michael Bolton is looking back on his career -- and sharing more details about his life. This morning he talks with Martha Teichner . . . For The Record:

If one hears the name Michael Bolton, there's a good chance you'll think the hair.

On his way to selling 53 million singles and albums, to winning two Grammys, to reaching music superstardom, his trademarks were that voice, singing love songs, and the hair.

"It became my look," Bolton said. "Not exaggerating, there was probably a good $50 million to $100 million in marketing that was spent on establishing my appearance."

How he came to cut his hair is just one of the stories he tells in his memoir, out Tuesday.

"It was traumatic, yeah, it was really traumatic, it really was," he said. "It was like a part of my childhood and my rebellion and everything I went through to wear long hair."

Singer-songwriter Michael Bolton.

/ CBS News

Born Michael Bolotin in New Haven, Conn., in 1953, his rebellion was pretty dramatic. After his parents' difficult divorce, he lost himself in music, and dropped out -- literally -- at the age of 14.

He didn't go to high school. Instead, he hitchhiked to California with a band, then became a hippie, singing for change in Greenwich Village.

"I was in love with music, the one primary, consistent element throughout it all was this first passion that I was born with and that I held onto," he said.

He signed a record deal at 15 (or rather, his mother had to sign it for him) . . . the first of six over the next 18 years, that all failed to turn him into the rock star he wanted to be.

Bolton was broke, with a wife and three daughters, facing eviction.

"There were times in Connecticut when I would gig, if it snowed the clubs would close, and you'd get a phone call from the agent, who said, 'Sorry, but Friday night's off.' And it doesn't do you any good to say, you know, 'Yeah, but we have to eat. I gotta feed my family.'"

What finally saved him were commercials. Bolton did dozens of them through the mid-1980s. He called it "shaking the money tree."

At the same time, other performers -- Cher, Barbra Streisand, Kiss among them -- began recording the songs he was writing on the side.

"How Am I Supposed to Live Without You," a number one hit for Laura Branigan in 1983, was life-changing for Michael Bolton.

Columbia, Bolton's record label, gave him a piece of advice: Forget rock and roll, sing your own songs. Don't give them to everybody else to turn into hits.

The result is all over the walls of his basement . . . gold and platinum.

"Time, Love, and Tenderness" sold over 14 million, worldwide. A bittersweet blockbuster, because on it is this song, "Love Is a Wonderful Thing." Michael Bolton spent 14 years in court fighting and ultimately losing copyright infringement lawsuits brought by the rhythm and blues group, the Isley Brothers, whose song by the same name he swears to this day he had never even heard.

"What I have to live with is a piece of me torn away from me," Bolton said, "and a lot of, a sense of betrayal, and a loss of faith is probably the worst part of it. But, you know what? Things happen."

And he's written or co-written other songs -- more than 220 of them. "Basically, I just mess around until I see something start to happen that I like," he said.

His collaborators have included Lady Gaga ("Murder My Heart") and Bob Dylan ("Steel Bars").


Permalink Reply by sylvie boisvert on October 28, 2013 at 5:54am

Hi all, I was doing a bit of research on the internet and came across this interview/article. I don't know when this was written, although judging by the fact that Michael mentions "pen and tapedeck", it might date some, but I thought it was interesting enough to bring over here. Enjoy! Take care and hugs to all, sincerely, Sylvie QC Canada :D

 

Michael Bolton songwriter interviews Songfacts

 

Go behind the music with some of the world's best songwriters

 

Michael Bolton

 

 By Bruce Pollock

 

Shortly before he became Michael Bolton and released six multi-platinum albums in a row between 1987 and 1995, but after he was Michael Bolotin, going nowhere as a generic heavy rocker, Michael Bolton was following the career path of the songwriter, collaborating with everyone and stalking his contacts at the labels if there was a chance he had a shot at a single. His crowning moment was scripting the #12 hit for Laura Branigan "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" in 1983. It was at this heady juncture that I caught up with him to glean his hard-won insights.

 

Writing Hits

 

 

Anybody who says they're not trying to write hits is either in the wrong business or lying, because once you realize what you're up against - the odds of even getting a song on a record - then you'd better write a hit, or it's not gonna be on the record. Hit songs are the life blood of the industry. Every company is screaming for songs; the hit song is what keeps the industry alive, because that's all that radio wants to play. I didn't realize that until all of a sudden I started writing for other people. I've got a list right here of about 70 artists and producers who are looking for songs. Right now I've got songs on about 12 or 13 albums. I have no idea whether they're gonna be sung well, whether they'll be produced well, whether any of them will even be singles. But I'm hoping for hits.

 

 

Letting the Songs Go

 

 

I didn't know anything about the publishing world until about three years ago. I was between record deals, between managements. A friend of mine, Patrick Henderson, had written "Real Love," with Michael McDonald, so I asked him if he had any more things like that hanging around. I flew out to California and we wrote three songs, with the attempt being to put together a record deal for me. The next thing I knew was that his publishing company said they could place those songs instantly. I needed the money, so I said, let the songs go, and all the songs were gone in a matter of weeks. One of those songs - the very first one I wrote, has been recorded seven times. It's called "Still Thinking of You." Larry Graham did it, Fran Jolie, Rachel Sweet. Through Larry, George Duke became a big fan of the song, and I suddenly realized how it's great to have producers really hot on a song. They're just gonna keep cutting it until they have a hit.

 

 

Words and Music

 

 

I write everything - music, lyrics, melody - and I don't like writing just one of those things. I have been offered assignments to sit down with a piano player and write lyrics, but I won't do that. I like to be there during the conception of the song. I like to sit down and start fumbling around with a melody, or some idea, until the song starts revealing itself, where the lyrics and music are creating each other at the same time. I don't go anywhere without a pen and paper and my tape deck. If I get an idea I write it down.

 

About 60% of the time somebody has an idea and they say, 'Michael will be real good with this one.' Once you've had a hit record, people start calling you up. I don't care if a guy's involved with a hit. What I'm interested in is knowing what he contributed to the song. Is he a melody person? Does he come up with a theme? There are a lot of writers who can come up with a song that sounds just like their last hit only sideways. The writers I enjoy working with want to write songs that will be around ten years from now. I just started writing with Randy Goodrum ("You Needed Me"). I felt a little intimidated by his success. But he's the kind of guy who writes forever songs.

 

 

Levels

 

 

First you hear they're gonna cut your song. Then you find out they never did cut it. The next level is that they cut it, but never put a vocal on it. Then they cut it, put a vocal on it, but it didn't make the record. Usually when I'm told the song is on hold it winds up on the record. But I don't believe it until I hear it. Then they tell you it might be a single. When they tell you it's going to be a single, that's the only time I feel really comfortable that the song is going to be on the record. I don't believe it's really going to be a single until I hear the version of it. Once I hear the version of it, I can start making noise myself and have whatever friends I have at that label go to see them every other day and say, did you hear that track yet? I don't hype my work actively, but if I think there's a single there, I don't want to lose it. If it's not good enough to be a single, then I hope it's bad enough to be the b-side of a single. If it looks like it may be a single, they'll never put it on the b-side.

 

Then, if it does get released as a single and it makes the charts, that's like going to the races. And they're off....

 

 

Bruce Pollock has written ten books on music, including By the Time We Got to Woodstock: The Great Rock Revolution of 1969. In his column "They're Playing My Song," Susanna Hoffs, Jules Shear and many other songwriters tell the stories behind the one song that most impacted their careers. Visit Bruce at brucepollockthewriter.com.

http://www.songfacts.com/blog/interviews/michael_bolton/

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