He’s sold more than 75 million records, won Grammys, American Music Awards, and toured the world – but all Michael Bolton wants to do is relax.
The soft-rock icon, who performs in Winnipeg Dec. 19 at the Club Regent Events Centre, told 680 CJOB Thursday that he’s accomplished what he set out to do as a singer-songwriter, and now he’s enjoying having fun along with his audiences.
“The audience is going to hear the greatest hits, they’re going to sing along, and basically, we’re going to have fun,” said Bolton of the upcoming Winnipeg gig.
“What I’ve realized in the last three or four years more than ever is that so many people have every record I’ve made, and they know all the songs … so I can just relax.”
“The whole thing becomes a celebratory, fun experience. Yes, it’s my career, but when the audience responds the way they have in recent years, that inspires everybody onstage to make it an extra special experience.”
Bolton said he recently re-recorded his greatest hits with a 60-piece orchestra in Australia, and although he’s not bringing all of those musicians on the road with him, technology has made it possible for his regular group to bring those orchestral arrangements on tour and present the well-known material in a new way.
Bolton, 65, said he can reflect on his unexpected and long-lasting success as a singer, which includes eight top-10 albums.
“(Music is) really my first passion, my first big love of my life,” said Bolton, who is also a longtime philanthropist, actor and director.
“I could have had no way to have guessed or foreseen that not only would I be doing what I loved to do, but travelling around the world to countries were English wasn’t the first language – or even the second – and everyone was singing along with the choruses.”
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