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/
Joy to the World
Michael Bolton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
The Lord has come
Let earth receive her king
Let every heart prepare Him room
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven and nature sing
And Heaven, and Heaven and nature sing
The Savior reigns
Let men their songs employ
While fields and floods
Rocks, hills, and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy
He rules the world
With truth and grace
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness
And wonders of His love
And wonders of His love
And wonders and wonders
Of His love
The song "Joy to the World" by Michael Bolton is a classic Christmas hymn that celebrates the arrival of Jesus Christ. The song begins by declaring "Joy to the world, the Lord has come," and encourages the earth to receive its king by preparing a room for him in every heart. The next line goes on to suggest that this proclamation of joy should be joined by the heavens and nature itself, singing out in praise for the birth of their creator. The second verse continues with the arrival of the savior and encourages all men to join in singing songs of joy. The chorus repeats, this time with the fields, floods, rocks, hills, and plains all joining in the celebration. The final verse ties everything together by proclaiming the Lord's rule over the entire world, ruling with truth and grace, and causing the nations to prove the glories of his righteousness and wonders of his love.
Line by Line Meaning
Joy to the world
This is a message of happiness and delight to everyone on earth.
The Lord has come
The Creator of the universe has manifested himself in human form and is here amongst us.
Let earth receive her king
The world should embrace and welcome its new king, who has come to lead us to eternal salvation.
Let every heart prepare Him room
Each person should be ready to receive the Lord into their hearts with open arms and make a place for him in their lives.
And Heaven and nature sing
Even the angels in heaven and the whole of creation are singing praises to this wonderful news.
And Heaven and nature sing
This message of love and hope has touched the hearts of the heavenly beings as well as the natural world around us.
And Heaven, and Heaven and nature sing
Everyone and everything in the universe is singing about the arrival of our King and the joy it brings.
The Savior reigns
Our Savior has taken his rightful place as the ruler of the world and is here to lead us to salvation.
Let men their songs employ
Every person should lift their voice in song of praise to the Savior who has come to save us all.
While fields and floods, Rocks, hills, and plains
All of creation, from the smallest streams to the highest mountains, should also join in singing joyful praises.
Repeat the sounding joy
We should continue to celebrate the arrival of our King by singing praises in unison and proclaiming it joyously.
Repeat the sounding joy
Let us continue to spread the message of the Savior's coming and the happiness it brings by continuously expressing it through song.
He rules the world
The Savior has absolute power and authority over the entire world and has come to bring peace and harmony to it.
With truth and grace
He uses both honesty and compassion to govern, leading with morality and love.
And makes the nations prove
He has come to show the peoples of the world the truth of his message and to help them see the goodness and love of God.
The glories of His righteousness
The Savior's divine goodness and righteousness should be celebrated and revered throughout the world.
And wonders of His love
The depth and extent of the Savior's love for all humanity should also be recognized.
And wonders of His love
His love is truly a wonder, awe-inspiring, and amazing.
And wonders and wonders
The wonders of his love are endless and indescribable.
Of His love
His love for us is beyond measure and deserving of our praise and thanksgiving.
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Realsongs, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: Walter Afanasieff, Michael Bolton, Mariah Carey
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind