Michael Bolton Quotes (43 Quotes)



    A lot of my success comes from black music. It's something I'm very proud of.

    One song will launch you, but you don't want to be a one-song artist.

    This has been five or six years of the most difficult experience of my entire life.

    I'd like to write again with Bob Dylan again. I have some ideas about where I want to go and I'd love to work with him, at least lyrically. It was a really painless writing experience, again I was intimidated and star-struck - in awe of his brilliance and the music that I loved as a kid, the songs of his I did in clubs. When I was in his presence, I was a kid, trying to quiet my mind from this mantra of 'Oh my god this is Bob Dylan'


    Dr. King is so inspiring, so impressive, so moving as a human being.

    I kept looking to do songs that were written years ago and would live or outlive all of us, and the one thing they had in common was Sinatra.

    You can't make everybody love what you do, but you can know how great you feel doing it.

    You cry when you see these kids around the world, ... would never be able to afford the (hearing aids) and had no knowledge they would be able to hear.

    We used to call it recurrent airplay when someone had a hit.

    When Coretta Scott King invited me to come to Atlanta and give a speech and sing at a tribute to her last year, I decided to write a song for her and sing it directly to her. I was studying her words and history, and I wrote 'The Courage in Your Eyes.' I look at those pictures of her standing with Dr. King -- she was a rock.

    There are certain people who have become better artists, but they're brilliant at marketing. I think someone who's been phenomenal like that is Madonna.

    The bigger you are, the harder they come down on you.

    When you have great songs that are going to live longer than the composers, everything you can do to bring those different elements and nuances out, serve the song.

    Black music has increased my enjoyment of what I do. It has increased my range, my ability to reach into myself and accept myself.

    It begins with a little quest and turns into this giant learning experience, what I consider this ongoing tragedy in America -- terror perpetrated on Americans by Americans,

    When I was invited to sing with Pavarotti, I had about two weeks to learn Italian.

    You're presuming too much by using the word legacy - presuming that someone is going to care.

    To sing along with Stevie Wonder, you had to make your voice do things it was not accustomed to doing.

    Someone told me there was a publisher that could find a good home for my songs, but I didn't want to give up my pursuit of a career in the business as an artist.

    We'll see if we can get (Swayze) up on stage, ... He had a big hit with 'She's Like the Wind.' And we all know he can dance that's for sure.

    Bolton says the concert will also honor martial arts expert Norris who teaches self-defense techniques to at-risk youth in Texas through his program, Kick Start. Tens of thousands of kids come through his organization, ... and he is a great hero for doing that kind of work.

    No matter how great we get with digital formats of instrumentation, nothing really quite duplicates the real thing.

    A lot of the greatest compositions were made famous by Sinatra.

    I'm listening to Pavarotti and I'm thinking 'What the hell have I been doing with my voice all these years Why haven't I taken my voice as far as I can take it as an instrument'

    I have to be happy in the here and now because every time you start focusing on your legacy you're really setting yourself up for disappointment.

    I love songwriting. It's second to my love for singing in how I express myself.

    With the internet, things are so much more immediate. People taste-test things to see if they want to buy the CD.

    It's a combination of melody and lyrics, not one without the other. It's a confluence of these different elements that makes something powerful.

    Whoever best serves the song is going to be served by the song.

    On singing in the swimming pool If I can move the water, I can move the people.

    It's an important thing to remember where you came from.

    I was blown away by the control and the range that I was hearing. I'm listening to Pavarotti and thinking, What the hell have I been doing with my voice all these years?

    It's understanding the intention of a composer that allows a producer and an arranger to make those moments speak.

    He was a storyteller. There was a lot of background that makes Frank Sinatra such a powerful icon. We all know the strong character that Frank Sinatra was, but the more music of his that you listen to, the more you sense the vulnerable artist that he was.

    I'm proud of my mentors. Ray Charles is the strongest influence on me as a singer.

    Considering the amount of information we're bombarded by, it's amazing if a song can transcend time.

    When I started studying for the arias it was like going into training for a heavyweight title fight.

    Time works against you in this kind of career - there's someone sitting on the bench who's a little better, a little faster. If you do take care of your voice, and you have the good fortune of having enough success for a certain period of time, you can continue doing what you love to do.

    Sinatra, here's a guy who plays a tough guy in all his movies, but was allowed to be vulnerable when he stepped up to the microphone.


    I have friends who've tried to break into the UK, who went back with their tails between their legs. Fortunately I've had the opposite experience.

    The Top 40 is geared toward 20 and under, not 20 and up. That's the audience I'm geared to.


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