Michael Bublé

This article is about the artist. For his self-titled debut album, see Michael Bublé (album).

Michael Bublé

Michael Steven Bublé (born 9 September, 1975) is a critically acclaimed Grammy-nominated, multiple Juno Award-winning Canadian crooner, big band singer and actor. While achieving modest chart success in the United States, his 2003 self-titled album has reached the top ten in Canada, the UK and Australia. In 2004, a live album and video called Come Fly with Me was listed on the Billboard music video charts and reached Australia's top 40 album charts. He reached commercial success in the U.S. with It's Time. He currently lives in Vancouver. His third album, Call Me Irresponsible, was released on May 1, 2007, with the first single from that album, Everything, reaching success on the adult contemporary charts. He has sold over 12 million albums.[5]

Early Years

Bublé was born in Burnaby, British Columbia. Bublé grew up listening to his grandfather's collection of jazz records. On his website, Bublé highlights the importance of his grandfather in encouraging his musical tastes. "My grandfather was really my best friend growing up. He was the one who opened me up to a whole world of music that seemed to have been passed over by my generation. Although I like rock and roll and modern music, the first time my granddad played me the Mills Brothers, something magical happened. The lyrics were so romantic, so real... the way a song should be for me. It was like seeing my future flash before me. I wanted to be a singer and I knew that this was the music that I wanted to sing."

Bublé's grandfather encouraged him to learn the standards that he loved and to enter a talent contest in Vancouver which he won before a later disqualification for being underage. Not discouraged, he won first prize in a Canadian Youth Talent Search at the age of seventeen.

For the next few years, Bublé pursued a musical career without great success. He appeared as Elvis in a Red Rock Diner road show and sang as a star of a musical revue called Forever Swing. He also appeared in an episode of pleth Game in 1996. He recorded a couple of independent albums, one as a present to his grandfather. Bublé received two Genie Award-nominations in 2000 for both songs he wrote for the film Here's to Life starring fellow Canadian Eric McCormack.

Career breakthrough

File:Buble2.jpg

Bublé frequently walks through the crowd at his concerts, as shown here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on August 8, 2007.

Bublé's career breakthrough came when Michael McSweeney, associate to former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, saw his performance at a business party. McSweeney enjoyed Bublé's performance, and Bublé gave him an album, which McSweeney, in turn, gave to Mulroney and his wife. Bublé was then invited to sing at the wedding of Mulroney's daughter Caroline in 2000, where he sang Kurt Weill's "Mack the Knife". At the wedding, Brian Mulroney introduced Bublé to David Foster, a multi-Grammy award winning producer and a Warner Brothers record executive who had worked with Josh Groban previously. Foster signed Bublé to his '143' record label, producing the self-titled album Michael Bublé in 2000. The album features a range of standards from various eras including "Fever", "The Way You Look Tonight", "For Once in My Life", Van Morrison's "Moondance" and Lou Rawls's "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine". Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees sang back up vocals on Bublé's version of the group's "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?".

Michael Bublé was released in early 2003 and soon entered the Canadian album charts. Chart success in the UK, U.S., Australia and elsewhere soon followed with the album going Platinum and reaching the top ten of the album charts in the UK and Canada and going all the way to #1 in Australia. The album has reached the top 50 of the Billboard 200 album charts in the U.S. His version of George Michael's "Kissing a Fool" was released as a single from the album and reached the top 30 of the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart. "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" reached the top 30 of the Billboard Adult Contemporary chart as well. His third single "Sway", originally performed by Dean Martin, also reached the top 30 of the Adult Contemporary chart, while a Junkie XL remix of the song reached the top 20 in Australia in May 2004.

Bublé won the "Best New Artist" award at the Juno Awards of 2004 and his self-titled album was nominated for "Album of the Year", but lost out to Sam Roberts.

Bublé released a Christmas EP Let it Snow in late 2003. The title track reached the top 40 of the Australia singles chart, ironically in mid-summer in that country. He released a live album and video in April 2004 with the video reaching the top 10 of the Billboard video charts. The album also reached the top 50 of the Australian album charts as at the end of April and the Billboard 200 album charts.

Bublé has also appeared in a variety of films in the past few years including his appearance as a karaoke singer in Duets opposite Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis. He also has appeared in Totally Blonde in 2001 and in The Snow Walker in 2003.

Songs from Bublé's debut album ("For Once in My Life", "Kissing a Fool") were released on the soundtrack for the Ewan McGregor/Renée Zellweger movie Down with Love, but the soundtrack also included a previously unreleased duet with Holly Palmer on the movie's title theme. The Junkie XL remix of "Spider-Man" from Bublé's Babalu album was played during the closing credits of Spider-Man 2, and this version was also released as a single.

It's Time: Bublé goes mainstream

File:Buble3.JPG

Bublé's band.

Bublé's second studio album, It's Time, debuted as a hugely successful performance. The album reached number 7 on the Billboard 200 album chart and number 2 on the ARIA Album Charts in Australia. It's Time also debuted at number 4 on the UK Album Charts. The album features covers of Beatles and Ray Charles songs, and the hit single "Home".

Bublé can be seen in Starbucks commercials singing his cover of the Jimmy Van Heusen/Sammy Cahn swing standard, "Come Fly with Me" from his debut album, and more recently, ESPN has used "Feeling Good" in commercials for poker tournaments.

Michael Bublé has now sold in excess of ten million recordings worldwide. His popularity continues to grow as he has a massive following across Europe, North America, Australia, Southeast Asia, South Africa and Brazil.

Michael Bublé won four Juno Awards (equivalent of the American Grammy Awards) at the 2006 Juno Awards in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, including "Pop Album of the Year" (It's Time), "Single of the Year" ("Home"), Album of the Year (It's Time), and Artist of the Year. He was also nominated for the Juno Fan Choice Award, but did not win. Overall, Michael Bublé took away the most awards at the 2006 Junos.

He is managed by Bruce Allen, who also manages Martina McBride and Bryan Adams.

On April 4, 2007, Bublé appeared on American Idol, as a last minute replacement to Tony Bennett, singing Frank Sinatra's "Call Me Irresponsible." He later joked with Ryan Seacrest asking, "Am I wasting my votes still voting for Antonella Barba?"

As of summer 2007, Bublé's new song "Everything" can be heard on various music channels, as well as the radio.

Personal life

Bublé was engaged to long-time girlfriend Debbie Timuss, a stage actor, dancer, and singer. Both were in the musicals Red Rock Diner in 1996 and Dean Regan's Forever Swing in 1998. Timuss was listed as one of the dedicatees in Bublé's self-titled album Michael Bublé and It's Time, and as background vocalist on It's Time. While away in Italy, Bublé co-wrote the hit single "Home" for Timuss. She was also featured in his Home music video. They were later engaged in 2004 and ended their relationship in November 2005. During an appearance at Australian television's Logies Awards in 2004, he met British actress, Emily Blunt backstage. He thought she was a BBC television producer. [6] They are now dating. Bublé has, during an interview with Australia's channel 10, jokingly expressed his concern for her fast becoming more famous than himself. She also provided background vocals on the cover of "Me and Mrs. Jones" on the album Call Me Irresponsible.

Bublé grew up with a best friend from Denmark ('Rasmus') with whom he celebrated julefrokost quite often. He is fond of Danish snaps, familiar with Danish culture and Danish drinking songs, and speaks a bit of Danish, which he mentioned at a concert in Denmark.. He is also good friends with Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo.

Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park has been known to be a fan of Bublé, as seen in an AOL music interview

Discography

Main albums

Year	Album	US	UK	CAN	AUS	ITA	GER	AUT	SWI	NE	SWE	EU	UWC	Sales
2003	Michael Bublé	47	6	-	11	2	49	-	53	32	28	-	39	Worldwide: 4 million RIAA: Platinum Soundscan: 1,604,812 ARIA: 7x Platinum (490,000)[7] CRIA: 4x Platinum (400,000)[8] IFPI Europe: Platinum (1.000.000)[9]
2005	It's Time	7	4	1	2	1	2	3	7	2	4	1	4	Worldwide: 5,5 million[10] RIAA: 2x Platinum Soundscan: 2,238,832 ARIA: 5x Platinum (350,000)[11] CRIA: 6x Platinum (600,000) [12] IFPI Europe: Platinum (1.000.000)[13] Italy: 4x platinum (450,000) GE: 3x Gold (300,000)[14] Belgium: Gold (25,000)[15]
2007	Call Me Irresponsible	1	2	1	1	1	1	2	2	1	5	1	1	Worldwide: 2,2 million[16] RIAA: Platinum Soundscan: 727,430 [17] ARIA: 2x platinum (140,000)[18] Belgium: Gold (25,000)[19]

Live albums

Year	Cover	Album	US	UK	CAN	AUS	ITA	GER	AUT	SWI	NE	SWE	EU	UWC	Sales
2004	Come Fly with Me (Live CD and DVD)	55	52	-	-	-	-	-	-	40	-	-	-	RIAA: Platinum (video longform) [20] ARIA: Gold (35,000)[21] CRIA: Gold (50,000)[22], 3x Platinum (video longform; 30,000)[23]
2005	Caught in the Act (Live CD and DVD)	82	25	-	16	10	31	30	51	26	-	-	-	RIAA: Platinum [24] ARIA: Gold (35,000)[25] CRIA: 8x Platinum (video longform; 80,000)[26] GE: Gold (video longform; 25,000)[27]

EPs and other albums

Year	Album	Sales
1996	First Dance
2001	Babalu
2002	Dream
2003	Totally Bublé
2003	Let It Snow! (EP)	US: 168,150
2006	With Love (EP)	RIAA: Gold (500,000+)[28]

Singles

Year	Title	US					UK	CAN	AUS	Italy	GER	AUT	SWI	NE	SWE	EU	UWC	Album
		Hot	AC	Pop	Dig	Dance
2003	"How Can You Mend A Broken Heart"	-	22	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Michael Bublé
	"Kissing A Fool"	-	29	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
	"Let It Snow!"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	25	-	35	25	28	-	-	-	-	Let It Snow!
	"The Christmas Song"	-	6	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2004	"Spider-man" (Junkie XL Remix)2	-	-	-	-	-	-	6	21	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Spider-Man 2 / Babalu
	"Sway"	-	24	-	-	-	-	-	15	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	Michael Bublé
2005	"Feeling Good"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	36	66	-	-	-	-	-	It's Time
	"Home"2	72	1	55	36	-	31	1	35	1	55	36	33	-	55	-	-
	"Song For You"1	-	-	-	-	-	63	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2006	"Save The Last Dance For Me"	99	5	-	-	22	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
2007	"Everything"	46	1	47	26	-	38	10	19	2	39	34	28	5	43	29	25	Call Me Irresponsible
	"Me and Mrs. Jones"	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	68	-	-	-	-

¹ Charted as a double A-side with "Home" in the UK.
² Chart position in Canada is peak position on the Canadian Singles Chart.

Guest songs

Year	Song	Album
2003	"Kissing a Fool" "For Once in My Life" "Down with Love" (with Holly Palmer)	Down with Love Soundtrack
2004	"I Won't Dance"	Taking a Chance on Love
2004	"Elf's Lament"	Barenaked for the Holidays
2005	"Let There Be Love"	To Love Again
2006	"Just in Time" "Steppin' Out With My Baby"	Duets: An American Classic
2008	"Untitled Track" (with Styles of Beyond)	Rocket Surgery

Filmography

• Duets (2000)
• Totally Blonde (2001)
• The Snow Walker (2003)
• Las Vegas (2005)
• Da Kath & Kim Code (2005)

Awards and achievements

Year	Award	Category	Result
2004	Juno	Best New Artist	Won
2004	Juno	Album of the Year - Michael Bublé	Nom.
2006	Juno	Pop Album of the Year - It's Time	Won
2006	Juno	Single of the Year - Home	Won
2006	Juno	Album of the Year - It's Time	Won
2006	Juno	Artist of the Year	Won
2006	Juno	Juno Fan Choice Award	Nom.
2006	ECHO	Jazz Production of the Year - It's Time	Won
2006	Grammy	Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album - It's Time	Nom.
2006	MuchMusic Video Awards	MuchMoreMusic Award - Home	Won
2007	Grammy	Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album - Caught in the Act	Nom.
2007	People's Choice Awards	Favorite Remake - "Save the Last Dance for Me"	Nom.

Touring band members

• Frank Basile - Baritone saxophone
• Josh Brown - Trombone
• Alan Chang - Piano
• Bryan Lipps - Trumpet
• Randy Napoleon - Guitar
• Robert Perkins - Drums
• Craig Polasko - Bass guitar
• Justin Ray - Trumpet
• Mark Small - Tenor saxophone
• Jumaane smith - Trumpet
• Nick Vagenas - Trombone
• Rob Wilkerson - Alto saxophone

External links

• Michael Bublé at IMDb
• Template:Last.fm
• VH1 Michael Bublé artist page
• CTV article
• Bubléband, a site devoted to Buble and his band.
• Addicted 2 Bublé, a popular fan site about Bublé and the band
• Bubléland, a site developed in Amsterdam, with biographical information.
• Startpage about Michael Bublé
• Michael Bublé's Exclusive performance on AOL Sessions
• Michael Bublé on The Hour
• Offical Michael Buble site