Michael Bolton Quotations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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

The whole industry evolves around a great song

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

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

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

For years I've kept a list of dream projects.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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!'

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.

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,

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.

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.

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

It's an extremely stressful case for the clients and they're all going to be pleased to have it moving along.

I have to be happy in the here and now because I've seen that every time you start focusing on your legacy you're really setting yourself up for disappointment, you're basically presuming too much by even using the word legacy - that someone is going to care, that someone is going to look and to listen.

I just feel like the best I can do is step up to the microphone, sing something I can get my vocal teeth into. That must be how Lennox Lewis feels when he gets into the ring. That's my domain. And you can't make everybody love what you do, but you can know how great you feel doing it.

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?

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

It's not quite the Tom Jones show, but yes, I've had undergarments. If I get a bra chucked on stage I'll hold it up so the audience can decide what to think. And I'll usually blame a guy for doing it.

I like the simple 'I love your work' letters. You never get sick of people's appreciation. They think they're troubling you, but it's lovely people associate my songs with certain moments in their lives.

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

Said I loved you but I lied, cause this is more than love I feel inside.

Tonight I feel like a prisoner on fire, waiting desperately... denied, sentenced forever more. Only your love can set me free.

When your car is about to go off a cliff, it’s a weird time to be thinking about gas mileage and drag coefficients; better to take the right control action—look out the window and steer or use the brake until you’re back on course.

But I'm not superstitious. I don't really eat dinner before I go on stage, because digesting a lot of food kind of shuts you down. And I try not to get involved in emotional conversations with anyone beforehand either, so I've got a clear head.

A 'passing' test doesn't mean 'no problem.' It means no problem *observed*. This time. With these inputs. So far. On my machine.

The more complicated the movie, the more complex the budget, the more lonely it gets. There's a point where ... who do you go to, other than prayer and friends?

I still get butterflies. It's because there's a certain level of responsibility you carry when doing a concert. You've got to sound at least as good as the record.

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

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

You know, fans who think we were made for each other and describe it in excruciating detail. You get peculiar things and beautiful things. But either way they're clearly thinking about you, which is nice.

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

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

I accept that appearance is a big thing in this business. But being around Hollywood and having actor friends and doing music videos, it does make you more aware of how you look. With music videos they send you rough cuts, and in certain frames of me, I just see a nose advert.

To be honest I listen to the female opinion on my photos. If all the girls in the office choose a certain shot, even if I don't like it, it becomes a front runner because, really, what do I know about how others perceive me?

As you get older, your experiences become more precious. Nothing material is important to me. It's people who are precious.

I'm pretty irreverent. There is a lot of need to find humour in life. Although I'd never be as disrespectful to laugh at someone's expense.

Yes!!! I booked a commercial!!!

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.