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/
Lost In The City
Michael Bolton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
I'm movin' around
To the sound of the song
I've been living
High altitudes mixed
With wrong attitudes
Make me wonder
Why has it taken so long?
Tell me where I belong
Oh, oh
Love can open the door
Through these eyes I see
And love has opened this heart
For me
See you, I see you fly high
All above all of this
Makes me miss home
And the freedom
I've known for so long
Why has it taken so long?
Tell me where I went wrong
Oh, oh
In Michael Bolton's song "Lost in the City," he describes the feeling of being disoriented and unsure of himself amidst the fast-paced, high-pressure environment of the city. He speaks about how he is "movin' around to the sound of the song [he's] been living," indicating that he feels like he's just going through the motions without any sort of direction or purpose. He then goes on to say that "high altitudes mixed with wrong attitudes make me wonder just what I've been giving," suggesting that he feels like he's been living his life in a way that is not authentically him, but rather a façade he's created to fit into this urban environment. He then poses the question, "why has it taken so long? Tell me where I belong," conveying a sense of longing to find his place in the world.
Bolton then shifts his focus to the idea that love can provide a sense of direction and grounding amidst this chaos, with the lines "love can open the door, through these eyes I see, and love has opened this heart for me." He seems to be saying that he's found love, and it's helped him find his way again. He then contrasts his own feelings of being lost with someone else who is "fly[ing] high, all above all of this," which makes him "miss home and the freedom [he's] known for so long." This can be interpreted as a desire to return to a simpler way of life, where he feels more in control and free.
Line by Line Meaning
Lost in the city
Feeling disoriented and disconnected in the busy urban environment
I'm movin' around
Navigating through the city streets, feeling aimless
To the sound of the song
Being influenced by the music in the background while roaming around
I've been living
Reflecting on the life choices made and pondering over their consequences
High altitudes mixed
Being in a state of elevation amidst an unhealthy mentality
With wrong attitudes
Having pessimistic thoughts and a negative mindset
Make me wonder
Provoking thoughts and making him question his current situation
Just what I've been giving
Thinking about what he has contributed and given to the world
Why has it taken so long?
Reflecting on why he's taken so long to find his true purpose and happiness
Tell me where I belong
Seeking clarity and direction in life
Love can open the door
Believing that love can bring positivity and happiness in life
Through these eyes I see
Perceiving the world in a new light through the lens of love
And love has opened this heart
Feeling emotional and vulnerable after experiencing love
For me
Realizing that love is a personal experience
See you, I see you fly high
Observing others who are living life to the fullest
All above all of this
Feeling distant and disconnected from it all
Makes me miss home
Longing for a comfortable and familiar environment
And the freedom I've known for so long
Missing the sense of liberation he's been accustomed to for a long time
Tell me where I went wrong
Asking for introspection and questioning his mistakes and shortcomings
Oh, oh
Expressing a sigh of frustration and sorrow
Lyrics © HIPGNOSIS SONGS GROUP
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