Long before Michael Bolton melted housewives’ hearts with his soulful vocals, he was a hard rocker melting speakers. In 1987, Bolton had the first of more than a dozen Top 40 hits and the beginning of a new career that would result in record sales of more than 75 million globally. However, in 1975, he was a hard-working rocker releasing the first of six records that sounded like a cross between Whitesnake and Foreigner. So, before you go judging Michael Bolton for all of those sappy love songs, take a look at this list. You will never listen to Michal Bolton the same way again.
Bolton released his first album under his original family name Michal Bolotin in 1975. The album titled Michael Bolotin was issued on RCA Records with a studio band that included drummers Bernard Purdie (Steely Dan, Aretha Franklin and Miles Davis) and Andy Newmark (Sly and the Family Stone, David Bowie, Pink Floyd and Roxy Music), guitarist Wayne Perkins (who played on Bob Marley’s Catch a Fire, Joni Mitchell’s Court and Spark and Rolling Stones’ Black and Blue). The album sounds like a lost Joe Cocker record and shows off his vocal prowess.
He would release his second record, 1976’s Everyday of My Life. The album kicked off with a cover of Joe Walsh’s “Rocky Mountain Way” and also featured a version of The Guess Who’s “These Eyes.”
Bolton would then form Blackjack – a hard rock band that would include Bruce Kulick (who would later join KISS) on guitar, drummer Sandy Gennaro (later with Pat Travers) and Jimmy Haslip on bass.
Blackjack would release two hard rock albums – Blackjack (1979) and Worlds Apart (1980). The debut album was produced by Tom Dowd – best known for his work with Eric Clapton, Derek and the Dominos and The Allman Brothers Band.
Blackjack opened for Ozzy Osbourne, Peter Frampton and The Marshall Tucker Band.
Blackjack’s song “Stay” was sampled by Jay Z for his song “A Dream” off of 2002’s The Blueprint 2: The Gift & The Curse. A second Blackjack song – “Maybe It’s The Power of Love” – was re-recorded and used by Kanye West on the song “Never Let Me Down” on the 2004 Kanye West album The College Dropout.
Michael Bolton would return to solo work in 1983 with the hard rocking album Michael Bolton. The album would peak at number 89 on the Billboard Charts and included brothers Bob and Bruce Kulick on guitar along with contributions from George Clinton and Aldo Nova. The album netted a minor hit with “Fool’s Game” which reached #82 on the Billboard singles chart.
Bolton returned to the hard rock sound with 1985’s Everybody’s Crazy. The album was produced by Neil Kernon who would eventually build an impressive resume working with hard rock / heavy metal bands such as Dokken, Autograph, Queensryche, Lynch Mob, Flotsam and Jetsam and Helix. Bruce Kulick also returned for guitar duties but even the solid cast around Bolton would not help sales of the album – which did not even reach the Billboard Top 200 charts.
In 1989, Bolton co-wrote the hit single “Forever” with Paul Stanley for the Kiss album Hot in the Shade. “Forever” was released as a single in early 1990 and would reach #8 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Despite the disappointment of six mostly commercially ignored albums over a decade, Michael Bolton was undeterred. Two years after the dismal sales of Everybody’s Crazy, Bolton would release his commercial breakthrough The Hunger in 1987. The record would go on to sell 2 million copies in the US alone and would yield his first two Top 20 hits.
