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/
My Girl
Michael Bolton Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
When it's cold outside I've got the month of May
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl (my girl, my girl)
Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl)
I've got so much honey the bees envy me
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl (my girl, my girl)
Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl)
Hey hey hey
Hey hey hey
Ooh
I don't need no money, fortune, or fame
I've got all the riches baby one man can claim
I guess you'd say
What can make me feel this way?
My girl (my girl, my girl)
Talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl)
I've got sunshine on a cloudy day
With my girl
I've even got the month of May
With my girl
The lyrics of Michael Jackson's song "My Girl" paint a picture of a person’s romantic relationship that provide them with all they need in life to be content. The lyrics contain various imagery to visually represent the profound feelings of happiness and satisfaction the person has in the relationship. For instance, the first two lines indicate that the person feels like they have sunshine on a cloudy day when they are with their significant other. This could be interpreted as seeing the good in a difficult time because they are with the one they love. The next lines mention that even when it is cold outside, they have the warmth of the month of May, symbolizing the feeling of being cozy and comfortable.
The lyrics also point to the fact that the person is so happy in the relationship that it feels like they have everything they need in life. They do not feel the need for any external validation, such as money, fortune, or fame. The line "I've got all the riches baby one man can claim" suggests that the person feels like their partner is the only treasure they need to feel complete. Overall, the song depicts a romantic relationship that brings happiness, joy, and satisfaction to the person, making them feel like the richest person in the world.
Line by Line Meaning
I've got sunshine on a cloudy day
Even in dark times, my girl brings light to my life.
When it's cold outside, I've got the month of May
Even in the coldest and toughest of times, I have warmth and happiness because of my girl.
I guess you'd say, what can make me feel this way?
It's hard to explain just how much my girl means to me and what she does to make me so happy.
My girl (my girl, my girl), talkin' 'bout my girl (my girl)
The only thing that can bring me this level of joy and happiness is my girl.
I've got so much honey the bees envy me
I am blessed with an abundance of sweetness and joy in my life because of my girl.
I've got a sweeter song than the birds in the trees
My happiness is amplified by my girl and I feel like I have the most beautiful song to sing.
Hey hey hey, hey hey hey, ooh
This song is a celebration of my girl and how much she means to me.
I don't need no money, fortune, or fame
Because of my girl, I don't need any external validation or wealth to make me happy.
I've got all the riches baby one man can claim
I am blessed with the greatest riches in life because of my girl's love.
I've got sunshine on a cloudy day, with my girl
Even in the toughest of times, I can find happiness and warmth because of my girl's love in my life.
I've even got the month of May, with my girl
The month of May is traditionally a time of renewal and joy, and with my girl by my side, I feel this even more strongly.
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Ronald White, William Robinson Jr.
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind