Michael Bolton

Michael Bolton is an American singer-songwriter born in 1953. Initially, he had a long career under his real name Michael Bolotin and then found success as the lead singer in the group Blackjack. The band released two albums during the 1970s but by 1983 he had launched a solo career as Michael Bolton.

His debut album was Michael Bolton (1983), which was moderately successful. Unfortunately he did not maintain the momentum and his second album Everybody's Crazy was a flop.

The Hunger was released in 1987 and became his breakthrough album. With it he abandoned his rock pretensions and concentrated on the power ballads for which he would become famous. Soul Provider was released in 1989 and became a huge hit, selling four million, winning a Grammy and spawning three hit singles. Time, Love & Tenderness continued the trend, outclassing its predecessor to sell six million copies. In spite of detractors who criticized his derivative style he continued to sell well until 1993's All That Matters, which failed to make much impact at all on the charts. Undaunted he turned his attention to classical crossover and released My Secret Passion, an album of opera and arias which was well received critically and commercially.

He has continued to release albums; most recently he released Bolton Swings Sinatra (2006), an album of Frank Sinatra covers.