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/
Love Is The Power
Michael Bolton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Just to be strong
We talk through the night
But never reach the other side
We fill our lives
With endless words, an aimless search
When all that we need, we hold within our hearts
[Chorus]
We know that
Love is the power, love is the key
Love is the reason, reason to believe
Love is the answer--when we will see?
Love is the power, love is the power we need
Look at our lives
Look at this world we've made
We close our eyes, and, oh, the price we pay
We reach for the sky
But never get beyond our pride
Fighting like fools
This faithless game is such a shame
When all that we need we hold within our hands
Oh, when will we find the faith to understand?
[Chorus]
All that we need we hold within our hands
Oh, when will we find the faith to understand?
[Chorus]
The lyrics to Michael Bolton's song Love Is The Power speak to the importance of love as a force that can guide us out of darkness and into a place of understanding and connection. The verses describe a cycle of talking through problems without making progress, filling our lives with meaningless words, and fighting with each other instead of working together. The chorus offers a message of hope, reminding us that love is the key to unlocking the power we need to make positive change in our lives and the world.
The lyrics are poignant and universal, speaking to the human experience of struggling to connect with others and finding hope in the power of love. The use of repetition throughout the song reinforces the message and makes it feel like a heartfelt plea for understanding and connection. The song's uplifting message and catchy melody have made it a popular choice for weddings and other celebrations of love.
Line by Line Meaning
Tell me how long can we go on this way
How much longer can we continue on this path?
Just to be strong
Even if we have to be strong for the sake of it
We talk through the night
We discuss things endlessly
But never reach the other side
But we never arrive at a conclusion
We fill our lives
We occupy ourselves
With endless words, an aimless search
With pointless conversations and meaningless searches
When all that we need, we hold within our hearts
Everything we need is already within us
When will we find our way out of the dark?
When will we find a way out of our current situation?
Love is the power, love is the key
Love has the ability to unlock and solve everything
Love is the reason, reason to believe
Love is the justification for believing in the good in the world
Love is the answer--when we will see?
Love is the solution, but when will we realize it?
Love is the power, love is the power we need
Love is the force needed to overcome our challenges
Look at our lives
Look at how we live
Look at this world we've made
See the world we've created
We close our eyes, and, oh, the price we pay
We ignore the truth and suffer the consequences
We reach for the sky
We aim high
But never get beyond our pride
But our pride keeps us from achieving more
Fighting like fools
Fighting without reason or purpose
This faithless game is such a shame
This pointless game is a disgrace
All that we need we hold within our hands
We already have everything we need
Oh, when will we find the faith to understand?
When will we believe to comprehend?
We know that
We are aware
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC, Realsongs, Kobalt Music Publishing Ltd.
Written by: WALTER AFANASIEFF, MICHAEL BOLTON, DIANE WARREN
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind