His achievements include selling 53 million albums, eight top ten albums, two number one singles on the Billboard charts, and awards from both the American Music Awards and Grammy Awards.
Michael Bolton had an extensive, though not very successful, career under his real name, Michael Bolotin, before emerging in the mid-'80s as a major soft rock balladeer. Bolton began recording in 1975. This first album was self-titled using his original surname, Bolotin. Early in his musical career, he focused on hard rock. His band, Blackjack, once toured with heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne. He turned up on RCA Records in the mid-'70s singing in a gruff, Joe Cocker-like voice both his own blue-eyed soul songs and cover tunes. Neither record buyers nor critics were much interested by the result. He then became the lead singer in Blackjack, a heavy metal band that made two albums for Polydor at the end of the '70s and the start of the '80s. In 1983, he changed his name to Michael Bolton, signed to Columbia Records as a solo act, and relaunched his career.
Michael Bolton was released in April 1983, and made the Top 100 bestsellers, as did its single, "Fools Game." At the same time, "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You," which Bolton had co-written, became a Top 40 hit for Laura Branigan. Nevertheless, Bolton's second Columbia album, Everybody's Crazy (1985), was a commercial flop. His breakthrough came with his third album, The Hunger, released in September 1987. On this album, Bolton abandoned the more hard rock aspects of his style to concentrate on blue-eyed soul singing: both on his own songs, such as "That's What Love Is All About," and on covers like Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay." Those two songs became Top 40 hits.
Soul Provider, released in July 1989, turned Bolton into a superstar, reaching the Top Ten, selling four million copies, and spawning five Top 40 singles, including Bolton's number one version of "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You," and the Top Ten hits "How Can We Be Lovers" and "When I'm Back on My Feet Again." "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" won Bolton a Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Time, Love & Tenderness, released in April 1991, was even more successful, hitting number one, selling six million copies, and featuring four Top 40 hits, including the chart-topping cover of Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman," and the Top Ten hits "Love Is a Wonderful Thing" (later the subject of a successful plagiarism suit brought against Bolton by the Isley Brothers) and "Time, Love and Tenderness."
Bolton won another Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance, for "When a Man Loves a Woman," but he had to put up with abuse from two camps of detractors at the February 1992 ceremony. Just after Bolton had performed, pre-rock songwriter Irving Gordon won the Song of the Year award for "Unforgettable" and pointedly attacked songs that "scream, yell, and have a nervous breakdown" and singers who "have a hernia" when they sing. Then, backstage, Bolton faced a hostile press corps of critics unhappy with his tendency to copy great soul singers like Redding, Ray Charles, and Sledge. Bolton suggested they apply their lips to a certain part of his anatomy. He further responded with Timeless: The Classics in September 1992, an album made up entirely of cover songs. It went to number one, sold three million copies, and featured a Top 40 hit in Bolton's version of the Bee Gees' "To Love Somebody." Bolton's next album of original material, The One Thing, came in November 1993. It hit the Top Ten, sold three million copies, and featured the Top Ten hit "Said I Loved You...But I Lied." Bolton released Greatest Hits 1985-1995 in the fall of 1995, which debuted in the Top Ten. The following year, This Is the Time: Christmas Album appeared.
Bolton returned with All That Matters, his first album of new material since 1993's The One Thing, in the fall of 1997. Instead of continuing his success, it was a surprise flop. Not only did it not generate a hit single, it barely cracked the Top 40 and fell out of the charts after 15 weeks. Its lack of success didn't stop Bolton from turning his attention to My Secret Passion, a collection of opera and arias that he released in January 1998. By classical standards, the album was a hit, and the record received a great deal of press and surprisingly good reviews. He supported the two albums with a summer tour which were co-headlined with Wynonna Judd. He voluntarily stepped back for almost four years, disappearing from the public eye until the spring of 2002 when he began promoting Only a Woman Like You, his first album on Jive Records. After a brief sabbatical, he returned with Til the End of Forever, a hybrid new album of seven new recordings and a live greatest-hits concert. In 2006 he released Bolton Swings Sinatra, a 12-song tribute to Ol' Blue Eyes that included a duet with fiancée/actress Nicolette Sheridan.
It would be worth mentioning "Can I Touch You There" proved to be one of the all-time hit love songs from Micheal Bolton from the album Greatest Hits.
www.michaelbolton.com/
How Am I Supposed to Live Without You
Michael Bolton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When I heard the news today
I had to come and get it straight from you
They said you were leavin'
Someone's swept your heart away
From that look upon your face, I see it's true
So tell me all about it
Oh, tell me one thing more before I go
Tell me how am I supposed to live without you?
Now that I've been lovin' you so long
How am I supposed to live without you?
And how am I supposed to carry on?
When all that I've been livin' for is gone
Too proud for cryin'
Didn't come here to break down
It's just a dream of mine is coming to an end
And how can I blame you
When I built my world around
The hope that one day
We'd be so much more than friends
I don't wanna know the price I'm gonna pay for dreaming
Oh, even now it's more than I can take
Tell me how am I supposed to live without you?
Now that I've been lovin' you so long
How am I supposed to live without you?
And how am I supposed to carry on?
When all that I've been livin' for is gone
Now I don't wanna know the price I'm gonna pay for dreaming
Oh, now that your dream has come true
Tell me how am I supposed to live without you?
Now that I've been lovin' you so long
How am I supposed to live without you?
And how am I supposed to carry on?
When all that I've been livin' for is gone
In "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You," Michael Bolton is singing about the heartbreak and pain he is feeling after learning that his lover is leaving him for someone else. He expresses his shock and disbelief by saying he had to come and get the news straight from her, hoping that it wasn't true. However, seeing the look on her face confirms that it is, in fact, true. While he doesn't try to stop her from leaving, he asks her to tell him all about her plans for the future, wanting to know as much as he can from her before she is gone for good.
Throughout the song, Bolton is struggling to come to terms with the fact that everything he has been living for, his relationship, is slipping away. He is too proud to cry, but he admits that he is struggling to carry on with life without his lover by his side. Bolton is aware that he built his world around the hope that they would become more than friends one day, but now that the dream is coming to an end, he doesn't know how he will carry on. The song's title speaks directly to his pain -- he can't imagine how he will be able to live without her now that he has been loving her for so long.
In essence, the song is about heartbreak, loss, and the struggle to move on after a relationship ends. The lyrics express the pain, shock, and denial that often accompany such difficult situations. Bolton's powerful vocals and emotional delivery capture the emotions the listener can relate to, making "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" a timeless classic.
Line by Line Meaning
I could hardly believe it
The news I heard was so shocking that it was difficult for me to accept.
When I heard the news today
I only learned about the news today and I'm still in disbelief.
I had to come and get it straight from you
I needed to hear the news from you directly so that I could confirm its accuracy.
They said you were leavin'
I was told that you were leaving.
Someone's swept your heart away
Somebody has taken your heart and left you.
From that look upon your face, I see it's true
Your expression confirms that what I've heard is indeed true.
So tell me all about it
I want you to tell me all the details about what happened.
Tell me 'bout the plans you're makin'
Let me know what your future plans are.
Oh, tell me one thing more before I go
Before I leave, there is one more thing I need to know.
Tell me how am supposed to live without you?
I need to know how I can go on living without you in my life.
Now that I've been lovin' you so long
I've been loving you for an extended period of time, and now you're leaving.
And how am I supposed to carry on?
How can I continue to exist and move forward knowing that you're gone?
When all that I've been livin' for is gone
Everything I have been working towards seems to have disappeared with you.
I'm too proud for cryin'
I don't want to cry or show any signs of weakness.
Didn't come here to break down
I didn't come here for an emotional breakdown.
It's just a dream of mine is coming to an end
It feels like a dream of mine is ending.
And how can I blame you
I can't blame you for leaving, even though it hurts me.
When I build my world around
I constructed everything in my life around you.
The hope that one day we'd be so much more than friends
I always hoped that we would have a deeper relationship than just being friends.
I don't wanna know the price I'm gonna pay for dreaming
I don't want to face the reality of the consequences of my dreams.
Oh, even now it's more than I can take
Even now, I'm struggling to handle the situation.
Now that your dream has come true
Now that you have achieved what you wanted, my dream is shattered.
And how am I supposed to carry on?
I'm still trying to figure out how I can keep going without you by my side.
When all that I've been livin' for is gone
Now that you're gone, it feels like everything I was doing was for nothing.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Doug James, Michael Bolton
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@yerryririassa3662
I could hardly believe it
When I heard the news today
I had to come and get it straight from you
They said you were leavin'
Someone's swept your heart away
From the look upon your face, I see it's true
So tell me all about it
Tell me 'bout the plans you're makin'
Then tell me one thing more before I go
Tell me how am I supposed to live without you?
Now that I've been lovin' you so long
How am I supposed to live without you?
And how am I supposed to carry on?
When all that I've been livin' for is gone
I'm too proud for cryin'
Didn't come here to break down
It's just a dream of mine is coming to an end
And how can I blame you
When I build my world around
The hope that one day
We'd be so much more than friends
And I don't wanna know the price I'm gonna pay for dreaming
When even now it's more than I can take
Tell me how am I supposed to live without you?
Now that I've been lovin' you so long
How am I supposed to live without you?
And how am I supposed to carry on?
When all that I've been livin' for is gone
Now I don't wanna know the price I'm gonna pay for dreaming
Now that your dream has come true
Tell me how am I supposed to live without you?
Now that I've been lovin' you so long
How am I supposed to live without you?
And how am I supposed to carry on?
When all that I've been livin' for is gone
@kimtinte84
Um, I don't agree.
Having been in these lyrics.
I love 1 man that deeply, .
I fell in love with him at 14.
Yes he shattered my heart 4 yrs later and I still
wonder how am I supposed to go on without him over 30 yrs later.
Doesn't matter if I'm happily married, ( I am. And my hubby knows all about it)
Now all chances are gone, even if I could go back.
If you can't love someone that deeply you dont need to be with them.
@jonathanmullenix6714
22 years and my wife left me while I was in the hospital. Seven surgeries on my leg and didn't visit me once in a month. I'm so lost and devastated. How am I supposed to do this on my own. Can't walk, can't work and now I got our two beautiful boys to take care of when I can barely even take care of myself. God give me strength and peace.
@ruthmavinga1811
Where do you live??
@Kate-ju6tz
Oh man, that stinks, really really feel for you there. Stay strong, take each day as it comes, don't look forward too much and bit by bit the pain will very very slowly ease. I promise. Kate x
@ruthmavinga1811
Where do live? Maybe I can help
@vitalino1981
U should take some pills, if U feel U can't handle the pressure.
Pills carried me through hell.
@adb2490
Praying for your entire situation! Peace and blessings brother
@soulchillvibes2006
To all future generations, do not let this classic die.
@Malitubee
We won’t
@Rodavid0919
Also this is one of my favorite songs even though I'm just 14
@Rodavid0919
And I rarely listen to 2010s-2020s music