Michael Steven Bublé (
/ˈbuːbleɪ/; born 9 September 1975) is a Canadian singer and actor. He has won several awards, including three Grammy Awards
and multiple Juno Awards.
His first album reached the top ten in Canada and the UK. He found a worldwide audience with his 2005 album
It's Time, and his 2007 album
Call Me Irresponsible which reached number one on the Canadian Albums Chart, the U.S.
Billboard 200 albums chart, the Australian ARIA Albums Chart and several European charts. Bublé has sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.
Michael Bublé was born in the City of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada to Lewis Bublé, a salmon fisherman,
and Amber (née Santagà).
He has two younger sisters,
Crystal (an actress) and Brandee.
He attended Seaforth Elementary School and Cariboo Hill Secondary School.
According to an
Oprah interview on 9 October 2009, Bublé dreamed of becoming a famous singer since age two. When he was a teenager, he slept with his Bible and prayed to become a singer.
Bublé's interest in jazz music began around age five
when his family played Bing Crosby's
White Christmas album at Christmas time.
The first time that his family noticed his singing talent was at Christmas time when Bublé was 13 years old, and they heard him powerfully sing the phrase "May your days be merry and bright" when the family was singing to the song "White Christmas" in a car ride.
Bublé had a strong passion for ice hockey and wanted to become a professional ice hockey player for the Vancouver Canucks growing up, but believed he was not good at it,
stating: "I wanted so bad to be a hockey player... If I was any good at hockey, I probably wouldn't be singing right now."
Bublé often played hockey in his youth,
watched Vancouver Canucks games with his father,
and said that he "went to every single home game as a kid. . . I remember I wanted to be Gary Lupul, I wanted to be Patrik Sundstrom and Ivan Hlinka. I used to think that being named Michael Bublé was pretty cool because I was close to being called Jiri Bubla."
Bublé also shared his hockey interest with his grandfather.
From age 14, Bublé spent six years working during the summer as a commercial fisherman with his father and crewmates.
Bublé described his work experience as "The most deadly physical work I’ll ever know in my lifetime. We’d be gone for two, sometimes three months at a time and the experience of living and working among guys over twice my age taught me a lot about responsibility and what it means to be a man."
His first singing engagements were in nightclubs at the age of 16 and were facilitated by his Italian grandfather Demetrio Santagà,
a plumber originally from the small town of Preganziol,
in the district of Treviso, who offered his plumbing services in exchange for stage time for his grandson.
Bublé's grandfather also paid for his singing lessons. One of his vocal instructors was Joseph Shore, the opera baritone.
Bublé grew up listening to his grandfather's collection of jazz records and credits his grandfather in encouraging his love for jazz music. "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 'n' 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 never stopped believing that he would become a star but admitted he was probably the only one who believed in his dream, stating that even his maternal grandfather thought Bublé was going to be "an opening act for somebody in Las Vegas".
Bublé's maternal grandmother Iolanda Moscone
was also Italian, from Carrufo,
Villa Santa Lucia degli Abruzzi, Italy.
Bublé has stated he never learned to read and write music, using only emotion to drive his songwriting ability.
At the age of 18, Bublé entered a local talent contest and won. But after winning, he was disqualified by organizer Bev Delich because he was underage. After that, Delich entered Bublé in the Canadian Youth Talent Search, which he won. Following that win, Bublé asked Delich to be his manager. Delich signed on and represented Bublé for the next seven not-so-fruitful years. According to Delich, Bublé would do every gig imaginable, including talent shows, conventions, cruise ships, malls, hotel lounges, bars, clubs, corporate gigs, musical revues, singing telegrams, and even the occasional singing Santa Claus gig.
In 1996, Bublé appeared in TV's "Death Game" (aka Mortal Challenge) as a Drome Groupie. Also in 1996, he appeared (uncredited) in 2 episodes of
The X-Files as a Submarine Sailor.
Bublé's first national TV performance was on a 1997 award-winning Bravo! documentary titled
Big Band Boom!, directed by Mark Glover Masterson.
Beginning in 1997, Bublé also became a frequent guest on Vicki Gabereau's national talk show on the CTV network. During its first season the Vancouver-based program aired live, which ultimately worked in Bublé's favour. When a scheduled guest was forced to cancel, the show's music producer (Mark Fuller) often asked Bublé to fill in at the last minute. On one occasion, Bublé shared guest duties with fellow British Columbian Diana Krall, who was already a Grammy-nominated jazz musician. According to Fuller, Krall was suitably impressed with Bublé's performance. The Gabereau appearances provided Bublé with great exposure, but they also helped the singer hone his television skills as a performer and as an interview guest. In a mutual show of gratitude, Bublé appeared on the final Gabereau show in 2005, along with Jann Arden and Elvis Costello.
Bublé received two Genie Award-nominations in 2000 for two songs he wrote for the film
Here's to Life! ("I've Never Been in Love Before", "Dumb ol' Heart").
He recorded three independent albums (
First Dance, 1996;
Babalu, 2001;
Dream, 2002).
But by 25 years of age, Bublé moved from British Columbia to Toronto, Ontario and was ready to give up the dream of professional musicianship to move back to Vancouver, British Columbia to pursue a career in journalism, when his lucky break came in 2000.
Music career
In 2000, Bublé's career breakthrough came from a surprising chain of events. An aide to former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, Michael McSweeney, saw Bublé's performance at a business party
and received a copy of Bublé’s self-financed independent album. McSweeney showed the album to Mulroney and his wife and Bublé was subsequently invited to sing at the wedding of Mulroney's daughter Caroline, where he sang Kurt Weill's "Mack the Knife".
At the wedding, Bublé was introduced to David Foster, a multi-Grammy Award-winning producer and record executive who had worked previously with artists such as Madonna, Brandy Norwood, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Céline Dion, Barbra Streisand, Kenny G., Cher, Josh Groban, and Andrea Bocelli.
Initially, Foster was reluctant to sign Bublé to his 143 Records label because he "didn’t know how to market this kind of music." Bublé moved to Los Angeles for a brief period, with his agent, to convince Foster to sign him. Eventually, Foster agreed to produce an album for him if he raised $500,000 to cover the costs of the production, which Bublé did. Foster ended up covering the costs of production in the end under his label, with no assurances of support from Warner Brothers, and after Bublé received the personal stamp of approval and support of Foster's friend Paul Anka. After David Foster agreed to produce Bublé’s debut album, Bruce Allen, whom Bublé had pursued for years to be his manager, also signed Bublé.
Bublé did some acting in this period; in 2000, as a karaoke singer in
Duets opposite Gwyneth Paltrow and Huey Lewis, and in 2001, as Van Martin (a club owner), in
Totally Blonde, produced by Andrew Van Slee.
2003–04: Michael Bublé
Michael Bublé's debut album, was released 11 February 2003 by 143 Records/Reprise Records. The album features a range of standards from various eras including "Fever", "The Way You Look Tonight", "For Once in My Life", "Moondance" and "You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine". Also on the album is "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?", with Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees singing back up vocals. The album went to the top 10 in Canada, the United Kingdom, South Africa and reached #1 in Australia. It was #33 on the ARIA Top 100 Albums of 2003.
It achieved marginal success in the United States reaching the top 50 on the Billboard 200.
Three tracks from the album (Kissing a Fool, How Can You Mend a Broken Heart?, Sway) reached the top 30 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart.
Bublé appeared nationally on NBC television in the United States on the
Today program on 14 February 2003.
A campaign featuring "Fever" was launched before Valentine's Day with a quirky marketing campaign that simply stated "You pronounce it Boo-blay." The album went Gold there. Then he began to travel all over the world to promote the album. The tour included Singapore, South Africa, the Philippines, the United Kingdom, Canada, South America, and eventually the United States.
In November 2003, Bublé released a Christmas EP
Let It Snow, containing 5 previously unreleased tracks, that peaked at 56 on the Billboard 200.
The title track reached the top 40 of the Australia singles chart. A live DVD/CD called
Come Fly with Me was released in early 2004. The
Come Fly with Me CD was #99 on the Aria Top 100 Albums of 2004.
The DVD included live footage and behind the scenes footage of Bublé's first world tour. The CD included 3 new studio tracks, 2 live recordings of new songs, and 3 live recordings of songs from the album
Michael Bublé. The album peaked at 55 on the Billboard 200.
In November 2004 the Christmas edition of his debut album was released as a 2-disc set that included both the
Michael Bublé and the
Let It Snow EP.
Bublé won the "New Artist of the Year" award at the 2004 Juno Awards and his album was nominated for "Album of the Year", but lost out to Sam Roberts.
Bublé appeared in the 2003 movie
The Snow Walker. Also in 2003 he portrayed a lounge performer on an episode of
Days of Our Lives.
In 2004 he appeared as himself in
Las Vegas.
Songs from Bublé's debut album ("For Once in My Life", "Kissing a Fool") were released on the soundtrack for the movie
Down with Love (2003).
The soundtrack also included a previously unreleased duet with Holly Palmer of the movie's title theme. The Junkie XL remix of the theme for the 60s TV cartoon version of
Spider-Man from Bublé's
Babalu album was played during the closing credits of
Spider-Man 2 (2004), and this version was also released as a single. A CD was released in 2003 of the 7 songs that Bublé sang for
Totally Blonde, calling it
Totally Bublé.
After the success of Michael Bublé's self-titled debut, DRG Records belatedly released the jazzy soundtrack from the 2001 film
Totally Blonde in which Bublé had a co-starring role as a nightclub singer/club owner. Capitalizing on Bublé's newfound stardom, DRG Records basically ignored the music's connection to the film by altering the title and putting a shot of Bublé on the cover making it appear as if this was a proper Michael Bublé release. The slight misrepresentation was not lost on Bublé who has stated on his website that he did not want these songs released, but that it was out of his control.
His version of "Come Fly with Me" is used in
Looney Tunes: Back in Action.
2005–06: It's Time
Bublé's second studio album,
It's Time, was released 15 February 2005, again by 143/Reprise Records. The album included standards from a variety of eras including "You Don't Know Me", "Feeling Good", "Can't Buy Me Love", "Save the Last Dance for Me", "Song for You", and "Quando, Quando, Quando" (a duet with Canadian pop singer Nelly Furtado). It also included an original track, "Home", co-written by Bublé, his musical director Alan Chang, and Amy Foster-Gilles (David Foster’s daughter).
The album reached #1 in Canada, Italy, Japan, and on the
Billboard Top Jazz chart, #2 in Australia, and #7 on the
Billboard 200. Additionally it reached the top 10 in the United Kingdom, Switzerland, Norway, Austria, and Sweden. The album spent 104 weeks on the
Billboard Top Jazz chart, including a record-breaking 78 weeks in the #1 spot.
It’s Time was
Billboard's Top Jazz Album in both 2005
and 2006
The first single, "Feeling Good", was met with little commercial success. However, the second single from the album, "Home" reached #1 on Billboard Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and #72 on the
Billboard Hot 100.
The third single "Save the Last Dance for Me" reached #5 on the
Billboard AC Track Chart and #99 on the
Billboard Hot 100.
In 2005, he also appeared in a commercial for Starbucks Frappucino line, singing his single "Come Fly with Me". The single appeared as a bonus track for a Starbucks edition release of
It's Time.
Bublé won four Juno Awards in 2006 for Pop Album of the Year –
It's Time, Single of the Year – "Home", Album of the Year –
It's Time, Artist of the Year, and was additionally nominated for the Juno Fan Choice Award, but lost out to the Canadian pop band Simple Plan.
Bublé was nominated twice for a Grammy in the category Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album in 2006 (
It's Time) and 2007 (
Caught in the Act) but lost, in both cases, to Tony Bennett. In 2007, Bublé received one Juno nomination, for Fan Choice, but lost to Nelly Furtado.
2007–08: Call Me Irresponsible
Bublé's third studio album,
Call Me Irresponsible, was released 1 May 2007 by 143/Reprise Records. His third effort included songs from different eras such as "Always on My Mind", "Dream", "I've Got the World on a String", and "Comin' Home Baby" (a duet with Boyz II Men). In the U.S., the album debuted at number two on the
Billboard 200 and rose to number one in its second week. Only a few artists have been able to accomplish this, like Michael Jackson and Sugarland. The album has sold nearly 2 million copies in the US alone. Internationally, the album also fared well. In Australia, the album debuted in the top position, and was the best-selling album of the year 2007. In the UK, both the standard version and the special edition were best-selling albums, with the latter outselling the former (standard: 300,000; special edition: 462,000). Additionally, the album was certified 2× Platinum in Europe with over 2 million copies sold.
Call Me Irresponsible has sold over 5 million copies worldwide.
The first single off the album was "Everything". It carried a more adult-contemporary sound than his usual big band style and was released in May 2007. The song became one of Bublé's biggest hits ever, reaching #46 on the
Billboard Hot 100, #1 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart,
and #10 in Canada. "Me and Mrs. Jones" was set to be released as the second single off the album but was cancelled despite a music video being made. The next single, released in November 2007, was "Lost", a #97 hit on the Hot 100 and #19 in the UK. "It Had Better Be Tonight (Meglio Stasera)" was released mainly as a remix single, with many mixes by Eddie Amador. The song reached position #89 in Canada. The final single from the album, "Comin' Home Baby", was released in April 2008.
2009–2011: Crazy Love
Michael Bublé's third DVD (after
Caught in the Act and
Come Fly with Me) titled
Michael Bublé Meets Madison Square Garden was released on 16 June 2009.
An exclusive trailer premiered online at his website. The DVD is a recollection of events building up to Bublé's most important live performance yet.
The standard CD contains 10 live tracks and has an orange cover. The online edition contains two additional tracks ("Sway" and "That's Life") and has a blue-coloured alternate cover. In America, the blue edition can only be purchased through his online store—however, everywhere else the special edition is available for purchase anywhere.
In 2009, Bublé was featured in the CTV television film
My Musical Brain with neuroscientist and writer Daniel Levitin, based on Levitin's bestselling book
This Is Your Brain On Music.
Bublé's fourth studio album,
Crazy Love, was due for release by 143/Reprise Records on 13 October 2009.
However, an early release in the United States occurred on 9 October 2009,
in which Bublé appeared on
Oprah that same day and performed the album's first single "Haven't Met You Yet".
The album was also promoted in an interview with George Stroumboulopoulos on
The Hour on 17 October 2009,
and on the 22 December episode of
The Glenn Beck Program.
The album contains 12 tracks (and one bonus track), including two original songs co-written by Bublé, "Haven't Met You Yet" and "Hold On".
Its first single, "Haven't Met You Yet" was released 31 August 2009,
and reached #1 on
Billboard's Canadian Adult Contemporary chart.
Most of the tracks off the album were recorded live because Bublé did not want his album to sound overproduced and slick.
Bublé also wrote the opening part for his cover on the single "Cry Me a River" in
Bond-like theme because he wanted the song to sound very cinematic and bombastic.
Crazy Love debuted at No. 1 on the
Billboard 200 chart,
becoming Bublé's fourth No. 1 album on
Billboard's Top Jazz Albums chart. It also debuted at No. 1 in Australia and Canada, where it became his fastest-selling album.
The album was supported by the (ongoing) Crazy Love Tour. During the tour, Michael performed two nights at the new Aviva Stadium in Dublin, Ireland, which were the first concerts to take place at the venue. The stadium holds 51,700 (which is excluding taped off areas) and all tickets sold out in one day. The first night of the tour was Bublé's largest ever audience.
In 2009, Bublé took part in series 6 of
The X Factor in the UK on the ITV network. He was the celebrity mentor for the finalists in week 3 and also appeared on the finale, duetting with Stacey Solomon.
Bublé was the musical guest on
Saturday Night Live on 30 January 2010. He sang "Haven't Met You Yet", "Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" with Sharon Jones, and did a sketch with Jon Hamm for "Hamm & Bublé Restaurant".
Bublé also took part in 2010 Winter Olympics torch relay in Vancouver before the opening ceremony.
He performed on NBC's
Today on 12 February, the day of the opening ceremony and during the broadcast on Grouse Mountain. His opening to "Cry Me a River" was selected as the theme tune for the BBC's coverage of the games.
Bublé appeared in a TV special
Michael Bublé's Canada which aired on Australian cable television in January, ahead of the 2010 Winter Games, with co-host Sophie Faulkiner.
Bublé performed alongside other Canadian celebrities (including Michael J. Fox) at the closing ceremony singing a version of the song "Maple Leaf Forever", originally appearing as a 'Mountie', but subsequently having the uniform torn off to reveal a white tuxedo underneath.
He also appeared on the American comedy news show
Colbert Report for Colbert's 2010 Vancouver Winter Games coverage.
On 18 April 2010, Bublé won four Juno Awards for Juno Fan Choice Award, Single of the Year ("Haven't Met You Yet"), Album of the Year (
Crazy Love) and Pop Album of the Year (
Crazy Love),
plus two Juno nominations for Artist of the Year and Songwriter of the Year.
Crazy Love producers David Foster and Bob Rock both received two separate nominations of their own for the Jack Richardson Producer of the Year Award, with Bob Rock winning the award.
Bublé re-released
Crazy Love on 25 October 2010 in the U.S., with an earlier release date of 15 October 2010 for Europe. The special edition is called "Crazy Love: Hollywood Edition",
and contains several bonus tracks including Bublé's newest single, titled "Hollywood", co-written with Toronto songwriter/pianist Robert G. Scott.
On 7 September 2010 "Hollywood" was released worldwide on radio and as a digital single on iTunes. He recently played to 100,000 people at the Aviva stadium Dublin his biggest concert to date and rumours sparked that there will be a DVD release of the concert.
Bublé was featured in an ITV special called
This Is Michael Bublé. The special featured concert footage from his gigs at Aviva Stadium. On 23 February 2011, Bublé featured as the narrator of BBC Radio 2's Song Stories: My Way.
In October 2011, Buble released his fifth studio album,
Christmas, which rose to the top of the US and UK charts.
Personal life
Michael Bublé was engaged to long-time girlfriend Debbie Timuss, a stage actress, 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.
Timuss was also featured in the music video for "Home".
Their engagement ended in November 2005. Their breakup inspired Bublé to co-write the hit original song "Lost".
During an appearance at Australian television's Logie Awards in 2005, he met British actress Emily Blunt and again a few months later at his concert backstage in Los Angeles. Eventually they began a relationship. He thought she was a BBC television producer
She also provided background vocals on the cover of "Me and Mrs. Jones" on the album
Call Me Irresponsible. The hit original song "Everything" was penned by Bublé for Blunt.
Bublé's publicist confirmed on 11 July 2008 that he had broken up with Blunt.
Bublé became engaged in Argentina
to girlfriend Luisana Lopilato in November 2009. She is an Argentine actress and model.
Bublé co-wrote the hit single "Haven't Met You Yet" for Lopilato,
and she appeared in the song's music video.
They reportedly met in November 2008 at a party thrown by Bublé's record company after one of his concerts in Buenos Aires.
The couple wed on 31 March 2011 in Buenos Aires
Since 2005, Bublé has had dual Italian-Canadian citizenship.
A big hockey fan since childhood, Bublé requires "one local team hockey puck" in his dressing room as part of his rider contract to concert promoters in every city.
He is one of the Vancouver Canucks' most prominent celebrity supporters and since December 2008, he has been co-owner of the Vancouver Giants.
On 12 February 2009 Bublé pledged a donation of A$50,000 to the victims of the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, Australia.
Kim Hyun Joong (Hangul: 김현중, Hanja: 金賢重) was born on 6 June 1986. He is a South Korean entertainer and the leader of boyband SS501. Kim is well-known for his role as Yoon Ji Hoo in the 2009 Korean drama Boys Over Flowers, winning Best Actor Award at the Seoul International Drama Awards 2009, and Popularity Award at the 45th PaekSang Arts Awards. He is also known for playing in the late 2010 Korean drama Playful Kiss, as Baek Seung Jo. He is a style icon in Korea, winning several icon award
