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Michael Bublé boldly climbs out of the retro box

MICHAEL Bublé swings, there's no doubt, but what's cooler is his punch. The strongman poses he frequently feigned Tuesday, opening a sold-out, three-night run at the Greek Theatre, weren't just a joke. Bublé, a 31-year-old Canadian vocalist who's claimed control of the American songbook with three successively more accomplished and popular studio albums, is a singer with an athlete's drive and a beat-master's sense of phrasing. At the Greek, his shiny suit and hot little big band signaled retro sophistication, but the best music placed him firmly in the here and now.

The music mattered most, but much of the evening was taken up with gags and monologues. Bublé's shtick endears him to his fans, but it was ultimately far secondary to his voice and his musical interaction with the players in his young band, especially pianist and musical director Alan Chang and drummer Rob Perkins.

Bublé was discovered singing at a wedding, and his flashy demeanor at the Greek showed what a great wedding singer he must have been. On a slanted stage that suggested a futuristic Las Vegas (not to mention Elvis Presley's legendary 1968 "comeback" television special), Bublé made the ladies swoon, joshed with the fellas, glad-handed in the crowd and cracked wise.

He strutted like a smarter version of Johnny Drama from "Entourage," did a spot-on Elvis imitation and engaged his young, uniformly attractive band in plenty of banter. Even the celebrity he singled out in the crowd was an interesting choice -- Brian Burke, general manager of the Stanley Cup-winning Anaheim Ducks and former GM of British Columbia native Bublé's team, the Vancouver Canucks.

Bublé's humor worked best when it had an edgy swagger recalling the infamous patter of his original role model, Frank Sinatra. But his fans adored every corny, canny move, sometimes to the detriment of the music. Bublé lapped up the love; he should have called for more quiet, as he did during a careful rendition of "Always on My Mind," which showed that he could achieve a honeyed tone and supple intonation.

Too much goofing almost obscured Bublé's inventive approach to melody and rhythm. Many young singers now are basically reference librarians, emulating their inspirations far too accurately. Bublé may have started his career in that vein, but he's developing a bold style of his own.

His take on "Feelin' Good" had some of the force of Nina Simone's version and its own, R&B-inspired kick. He drawled his way through "Call Me Irresponsible," showing how "lazy" phrasing can sometimes work. He even beat-boxed, ever so briefly. If he got a bit breathy here and there, he usually recovered by finding the songs' rhythmic core.

As much as Bublé's self-presentation turns fans' thoughts toward the Rat Pack, he's also reminiscent of his peers, notably the young hip-hop soul titan Usher and the blues-rock scion John Mayer. Two self-penned adult-contemporary hits, "Home" and "Everything," sounded quite a bit like Mayer; that's a smart commercial move, but it would be more exciting to hear Bublé throw down on some contemporary R&B.

For now, though, Bublé's formula is working. Donning a classic costume, but not strictly adhering to the musical approach those duds suggest, he can avoid the clichés of current mainstream pop and explore his potential as a singer.

Having found his way out of the retro box, he's not going back in. And that's the stance of a true fighter.

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TanyaB (Michael_Buble) все записи автора

TanyaB (Michael_Buble) все записи автора Отличная подборка с Майклом из фильма TOTALLY BLONDE(Настоящая блондинка) под песню, исполненную им же Nice 'N Easy

TanyaB (Michael_Buble) все записи автора

Friday, August 24, 2007 - 12:00 AM

Jazz Etc.
Bublé's grows in experience, vocal range

By Paul de Barros
Seattle Times jazz critic

Michael Bublé, whose album "Call Me Irresponsible" (143/Reprise) has topped the jazz charts 14 weeks, is riding to the Vancouver airport, headed for Los Angeles.

Bublé's voice is deeper and more mature now than it was when he hit the international scene four years ago, able to sustain long, low notes and keep them full and rich. Has he been doing anything special to achieve this?

"I've moved up to four, five packs a day," quips the Canadian. "And then there's the bottle of scotch before breakfast."

At 31, Bublé is still a kid at heart, who loves to joke with the press, particularly about our hapless descriptives for voices — "smoky," "scotch 'n' soda," "honeyed."

Unlike a lot of performers, though, he actually likes interviews. He squeezed this one in at the last minute, despite the fact his Seattle shows at McCaw Hall — Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday — have been sold out for weeks. (There are still tickets for the Monday show in Portland, though they are very expensive — $150-$305: www.ticketsnow.com.)

"I think I'm just older," he offers. "My range has naturally gotten lower and lower. And, like anything, the more you do it, the more you learn."

It's heartening that Bublé has continued to learn and grow. At first regarded with high suspicion by critics as yet another unctuous, Las Vegas-style derivative of Sinatra, Bobby Darin and Harry Connick Jr., Bublé has proved he is not just about style — which he definitely has on stage — but substance.

Many tunes on the new album were recorded live in the studio — with full band and strings — giving it a convincing, immediate feel.

"I afforded myself the opportunity to take a risk and sing live," he says. "Because of that, there's a little more continuity, emotionally. Maybe not as slick, but quite honest. The ballads were my favorite — 40, 50 strings and everyone's playing along. And you can really get into the lyric."

When Bublé launches into the bouncy Sinatra favorite "The Best Is Yet To Come," the track bristles with élan, thanks not only to Bublé but to arranger John Clayton, also the pen behind the last Diana Krall album.

"John is so brilliant," agrees Bublé, who says he personally invited Clayton and the great Bill Holman to write for the project. "John seems to be able to just take a song and make it stronger than you thought it would be. Just when you think it can't get any meatier, it does."

Never entirely a retro artist, Bublé has always done songs from the "second" Great American Songbook of the '60s and '70s. His bossa nova duet with the great Brazilian singer/songwriter Ivan Lins on Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" is a brilliant stroke. Miraculously, he and David Foster (who produced most of the album) transformed the dark, aching Leonard Cohen ballad "I'm Your Man" into swinging jazz.

Bublé grew up in Burnaby, B.C. (also home to Michael J. Fox), and after paying dues in local lounges and bars caught a break when former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney invited him to sing at his daughter's wedding. Foster was a guest, and the result was Bublé's first, self-named CD, released in 2003.

Since then, the effervescent showman has sold 13 million albums worldwide.

So why do two of the world's top jazz singers — Krall being the other — hail from British Columbia?

"Canada is a nation of observers," answers Bublé. "This American songbook is one of the greatest gifts ever given to the arts by America. We watch."

Bublé is doing a lot more than watching.

"Well, some people say there's nothing else to do in Canada Saturday night," he says, switching back to type.

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FROM STANDARDS TO POP, HE REACHES A WIDE AUDIENCE

By Yoshi Kato Special to the Mercury News San Jose Mercury News

Article Launched:08/23/2007 01:38:43 AM PDT

When seated among Michael Bublé's demonstrably enthusiastic fans at one of his concerts, shows by Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beatles and more recently 'N Sync, the Spice Girls and Britney Spears come to mind. Screams, mostly high-pitched, greet the vocalist, and various items are lovingly and lustily hurled onto the stage. Bublé, 31, has worked hard for success, starting some 17 years ago with lounge shows in his native British Columbia. Now he tours with a big band, led by San Jose native Alan Chang, and he continues to attract a growing audience with both vintage and contemporary material. "The fun thing for me that I've noticed this tour is there's a lot more men," says Bublé by phone while en route to the Vancouver airport. "I think that that's really healthy. I never wanted to be - I don't know what you call it, but you get my point. I think that those kind of acts (sometimes) fade away quickly and that women get tired of them quickly. It was important for me to show up and perform for those guys that were dragged to my shows, so that they'd want to come back." These days, Bublé suspects, some men willingly come to his concerts with their girlfriends. On Saturday, when the Canadian vocalist plays Oracle Arena in Oakland, the crowd is likely to be diverse. "It's definitely a trip," the singer says, "young, old, gay, straight, white, black, rich, poor - you'll see everybody." According to band leader Chang, sometimes the Bublé magic rubs off on him, too. "If we go out after shows and people are waiting in line to meet Michael," he says, "they'll sometimes say, `Oh, let's get the band to sign (an autograph), too.' It's funny to meet young kids who think that Michael wrote (Cole Porter's) `I've Got You Under My Skin.' But they know all the words; 13-year-old girls know all the words to that song, which is great." Bublé has spoken admiringly of his own idols - Presley, Sinatra, Ray Charles, Bobby Darin - noting their abilities, in some cases, to dance and act, as well as sing. Bublé tried out acting on an episode of NBC's "Las Vegas," but his real versatility is in the sweep of his music. First, there are the standards, including "I've Got the World on a String" and "Call Me Irresponsible" (the title track on his latest CD, from 143 records/Reprise). Beyond the American Songbook, there are selections from Leonard Cohen ("I'm Your Man"), Van Morrison ("Moondance"), Eric Clapton ("Wonderful Tonight," a duet with the great Brazilian singer-songwriter Ivan Lins), etc. And finally, there are the hits Bublé has composed himself, including "Home" (from "It's Time," 2005, co-written with Chang and Amy Foster-Gillies). "I think that, if I had only sung standards, you might see a certain demographic in the audience," Bublé says. "But I've got a No. 1 song that I wrote, that's on pop radio in America ("Everything"), and I sing everything from Queen to Marvin Gaye to Otis Redding." He says it doesn't matter to him "when they were written, or by whom. If I can interpret them and come up with a great concept, then I do my very best." His charisma and showmanship are impressive. Asked about the response of audiences at his shows, he says, "I'm sincere when I sing, and I'm hoping that's a part of why people respond the way they do."Michael Bublé mercurynews

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''If you write what I actually say, my mother will come after you and cut off your pee-pee." Occasionally, it can be hard to tell when Michael Bublé is joking, but the threat -- as weird and Freudian as it sounds -- seems earnest enough. For the past couple of hours he's been up on stage in the cavernous Events Center in Reno, Nev., rehearsing for the opening show of his U.S. tour, and things haven't been going well. His 13-piece band is finding it hard to get it together, the crew can't seem to hit the light and curtain cues, and the sound mix is muddy. Conditions are ripe for a diva fit, but Bublé has been behaving more like a teenager angling for a detention, and his between-song patter is getting progressively more profane with each new snafu. Everyone is laughing. But it's only after he's questioned the social graces and parentage of his imaginary audience and looks out into the empty seats to see a reporter scribbling away that he starts looking fussed. Now, crouched down on the edge of the stage, he tries his hand at being menacing, fails, then starts pleading not to be quoted. "Every time I say something stupid my mom calls me up and bawls me out."

The Burnaby, B.C., native's constantly running mouth and flip sense of humour have caused him enough trouble lately. There was the crack about marrying his girlfriend, the Hollywood starlet Emily Blunt (who's out in the seats studying for her role as the young Queen Victoria in Martin Scorsese's next film) that got played as a straight-up proposal in the gossip pages. Another off-the-cuff remark -- about how he was going to stay home from the Grammys because his category, best traditional recording, was awarded before the televised ceremony and was a lock for Tony Bennett anyway -- ended up playing as a peevish attack on a singer he adores. Add in earlier missteps like admitting he threw up in the garden at Leo DiCaprio's house. Or a booze-and-strippers boys' night out in the Philippines that was recounted in all its very graphic glory in a British magazine, and you get the sense that Bublé may be letting a lot of mom's calls ring through to voice mail.

The rules of the game are changing for the 32-year-old singer. He's no longer an up-and-coming kid with a nice backstory and a big set of pipes. Now, Michael Bublé is on the cusp of superstardom. His new album, Call Me Irresponsible, debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Top 200. In just 14 weeks, it has sold close to 820,000 copies in the U.S., and 1.4 million more worldwide. The 19-city American tour is already sold out, and will be followed by a string of even larger European dates -- culminating at London's Wembley Arena in December -- and then a winter Canadian tour. All told, Bublé expects to be on the road for the next two years, hitting more than 40 countries. He's already big in Australia, Italy, Germany, South Africa and the Far East. But if all goes according to plan, by the time he finally makes it back home, he'll be a truly global phenomenon.

The Grammys debacle was a wake-up call for Bublé. After 16 years of struggling to get people to pay attention, suddenly, they are. "I said a lot of s--t before, but no one cared," he says later as we sit in his dressing room. After the story broke, Bublé spent two days at home in his Vancouver condo with the shades drawn. What really stuck with him, he says, was the insight offered by one of his managers. "She said, 'For all the wonderful things that have happened in your life, and all the wonderful things you have, you do know that fame is the worst of all.' "

It's a lot to ask, to feel sorry for a guy who's living the dream. But Bublé's greatest talent is his likeability. Five minutes of conversation and it's as if you've been friends for life. There's no hovering PR flack, or entourage. His newly acquired "bodyguard" -- a job that mostly consists of extracting Michael from the warm embraces of overheated grandmas during shows -- is an extra-large buddy from high school. More than 12 million albums sold and he's still trying to break himself of the habit of looking up the bad reviews on the Internet and brooding about them. "It sucks when someone doesn't like you," he says. "I want everyone to like me."

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Jann Arden, the fellow Canadian who's the opening act on this tour, has a friendly warning for the men in the audience in Reno. "Michael's so sexy that he can turn you gay. It's true." When the curtain goes up a half-hour later to reveal Bublé at the microphone, black suit, loosened tie (Hugo Boss is a sponsor), and he launches into his jazzy cover of Leonard Cohen's I'm Your Man, the female screams are deafening. There's so much estrogen in the air that the real danger for the guys might be the spontaneous development of breasts.

Since his eponymous major-label debut in 2003, Warner Music Group has lovingly packaged Bublé as the smoky, heartthrob inheritor of Rat Pack cool. (Michael admits that one of the ways he convinced the company to sign him was his vow to "work his ass off" to fill the crooner slot Harry Connick, Jr. abandoned when he moved on to films and TV.) But a key source of Bublé's considerable charm is that he never seems to take the hype too seriously. On stage, he mugs and jokes his way through the set, relentlessly poking fun at himself. A bit of shtick about what a manly "bad ass" he is introduces a more than passable imitation of Elvis's That's All Right Mama (before he hit it big, Bublé played the King in a touring revue), which quickly morphs into a left field cover of Mika's Grace Kelly -- perhaps the campiest song of the last decade. "If this is your first show, you now realize what a dork I am," he tells the crowd.

Blunt, who has been with Bublé for almost two years now and shares his Vancouver home, says the gulf between the real Michael and the glossy image is laughable. "He's not like the music," says the 24-year-old Brit, who shot to fame last year as the bitchy assistant in The Devil Wears Prada. "He's a fart in a bottle." There's very little dancing, candlelight and flowers, she says, just lots of stay-at-home nights watching the Canucks and playing video games. "It's all right. I like a boy with food down his shirt."

That might be a defensive position. Bublé's fans can be, to put it politely, ardent. "They all hate me," Blunt says with a laugh. She tells of a teddy bear that someone handed him recently. Michael gave it to his road manager, who has a young daughter. When it arrived at the house, the girl gave it a tight squeeze, unleashing a recording of the laundry list of carnal pleasures the fan had in store for the singer. And all indications are that Blunt has it, just as bad as any of the women waiting at the backstage door. When Bublé pulls a stool up beside the piano during the Reno show and delivers a quiet, heartfelt rendition of (You Were) Always on My Mind, out in the audience, her eyes well with tears. "He's bloody good, my boy, isn't he?" she whispers.

Perhaps the most surprising thing about Bublé's live performances is how ill at ease he now seems with some of the standards that launched his career. In Reno, and again two nights later in Las Vegas, Come Fly with Me sounds more bored than Chairman of. And with the exception of Fever, the chestnuts tend to get played for laughs -- improvised lyrics, herky-jerky dance routines -- rather than romance.

In recent years, Bublé has frequently run down his first album (about five million copies sold to date) as "schmaltz" and "crap." He likes to tell the story of an interview he once did with a respected New York City jazz DJ who asked him -- live on the air -- why he didn't just leave blank space on the record instead of his note-for-note recreation of a Sinatra classic. "I knew he was right," says Michael. On the second record, It's Time, Bublé again caved to pressure for a "nostalgic" track, using the familiar Nelson Riddle arrangement of I've Got You Under My Skin. When the subject came up in the studio this time, the singer held firm. "I was like 'Over my dead body. It's not going to happen.' " Call Me Irresponsible has some of Frank's songs, but not in his style. I've Got the World on a String is breezy and Sylvester-the-cat sibilant. That's Life -- transformed into a gospel rocker -- is serving as the tour's showstopper, with a full choir joining Michael onstage every night. "It's okay to borrow things, to be influenced," he says. "But just to rip it off, just to repeat it? I think I have a responsibility to move the music forward."

It's a nice statement of purpose, but the singer and the people around him -- B.C.-born super-producer David Foster and yet another Vancouver native, agent Bruce Allen -- are canny enough to realize that people don't buy his records to feel experimental. (A full 46 per cent of Bublé's sales in the U.S. come from Target department stores.) The mantra for the new disc, says Bublé, was "growth without alienation." So along with the standards, fans get a version of Billy Paul's '70s-soul classic Me and Mrs. Jones (Blunt sings backup vocals), and an upbeat duet with Boyz II Men that stretches Mel Tormé's Coming Home Baby in unexpected directions. Most importantly for Bublé -- and his pocketbook (commercial radio shies away from covers) -- there are two original compositions: the current single, Everything, and Lost, an end-of-the-dance ballad penned with Arden and Alan Chang, his musical director. A similar song on his last album, Home, gave Bublé his first No. 1 hit in the U.S. Lost is perhaps an even more perfect Fosterian confection. By Christmas, it should be unavoidable.

With all this talk of growth and new directions, it's natural enough to wonder if Bublé might be getting ready to make a real leap of faith, and part ways with the man who made him a star. David Foster, after all, is something of a golden curse -- a man with almost unerring easy-listening instincts (Céline Dion, the Corrs, Josh Groban) -- and a cool factor of absolute zero. In the shorthand version of Michael's story, Foster gets almost all of the credit, "discovering" the singer when he performed at the 2000 wedding of Caroline Mulroney, daughter of the former prime minister. The reality, Bublé concedes, was more complex. Foster was kind, letting him hang out in Malibu, steering corporate gigs his way, but was reluctant to take Michael on as a project (Foster is also a Warner vice-president). "I drove him nuts," says Bublé. "I'd constantly drive out to his home and ask, 'When are you gonna sign me?' " A recent article in Britain's Guardian newspaper suggested Foster agreed to produce the demos only after Michael raised US$450,000 to cover the studio costs. Bublé gives that version a lukewarm confirmation, but goes on to say that the "real" story of his big break -- which he can't tell right now -- is even stranger. (A horse head in a bed? Midgets?)

Beverly Delich, Bublé's former manager, says that they did start looking around for a private investor in the summer of 2001. Paul Anka, who went on to executive-produce the first album, even had a mysterious benefactor lined up. But the "real story" Bublé alludes to seems to be a last-minute change of heart by Foster, who ended up paying for the demos himself, leaving it up to other Warner executives whether to sign his protegé.

In other words, the debt is both real and figurative. So for all the talk of "creative differences" and battles in the studio, don't expect a Michael Bublé rock opera any time in the near future. "I like to make fun of him too -- say things like 'How do you hear your music? You don't ride elevators,' " allows the singer. "But there's a reason why millions and millions of people bought all those albums." And as long as the fruits of their partnership have integrity, Bublé says he's content to let the hipsters and the critics sneer. The part of his story that people often overlook is the 10 years Michael spent plying his trade in lounges and clubs to crowds that were more interested in the price of the drinks than the guy up on stage. Street cred is overrated. "I'm not in the record business," Bublé shrugs. "I'm building a career."

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It's a half-hour before a sold-out show at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, and 7,500 bums are settling into the seats, but Bublé seems more hyperactive than nervous. Backstage, he's still dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, and vigorously stroking a room full of corporate sponsors. The crew from Kettle One Vodka appear to have been sampling the wares, so the point-and-shoot digital cameras are proving a bit harder than usual to operate. But through it all, Michael is the very model of broadly grinning patience; his professionalism underlined by the way he rises up on tiptoe just before the shutter is depressed. (Bublé says it's to stop him from leaning into the lens, and the fact that it adds an extra couple of inches in height is purely coincidental.) It's the record company VIPs that get the better lines, however. "Did you get the money I sent to you," Bublé asks conspiratorially when introduced to the program director from "Hot AC" FM in Phoenix. All the colour instantly drains from the face of a nearby Warner rep.

Bublé is becoming big business. Starbucks used Come Fly with Me in a commercial. ESPN promotes its poker coverage with his version of Feeling Good. There's already an endorsement deal with Rolex watches, and talks are under way with American Express. (Bruce Allen, seeking to further broaden his appeal, has him recording a song with rap-rockers Linkin Park.) And there's no end of official Michael products -- $20 teddy bears, $60 hoodies, limited-edition signed lithographs for $200.

The most lucrative deal he's clinched lately, however, was undoubtedly his June gig as the featured entertainment at the $6-million French Riviera nuptials of Australian media tycoon James Packer. Bublé won't say how much he got, but Elton John reportedly received $800,000 for playing at Packer's first wedding. Besides, the cash was not the only consideration. A friend asked him to play as a favour, he says, and with a guest list that included luminaries like Rupert Murdoch and Tom Cruise it seemed like a no-brainer. "It was good for my career."

Bublé's kind of funny about money. He hasn't really bought much with his earnings, choosing to stay in his Vancouver pad, and drive a plum-coloured Vespa around town. He gave Lewis and Amber, his dad and mom, a million dollars this past Christmas, and his two younger sisters $50,000 each. In past years, he's bought them cars, or antique watches. He was kind of hoping that his dad, a commercial salmon fisher, might retire. The suggestion didn't go over well. And that sort of generosity isn't limited to family. At the conclusion of his last tour, Bublé treated 45 members of his band, crew, and even the secretaries from the management office in Vancouver, to a five-day Hawaiian vacation.

But what does seem slightly odd is that Bublé's press clippings contain those types of intimate details, along with the kind of dirty laundry that most people -- famous or unknown -- choose to keep hidden. Like how Michael was unfaithful to his former fiancée, the Vancouver actress Debbie Tismuss, or how she "bawled" when he played her his new track about their failed romance, Lost. (Home was also written for her. Everything is about Emily.) Or the Q&A in the July issue of the music magazine Blender, where he talks about how much pot he smokes, and how he first got drunk -- with his parents -- at age 11.

It's all refreshingly honest. But it does provide ample ammunition for those websites and supermarket rags that trade in rumour. For example, when Michael appeared on American Idol in April as a last-minute fill-in for an ailing Tony Bennett, and delivered an uncharacteristically flat performance, there were suggestions he was drunk or high. (Bublé says he was just nervous. And that his loud sniffling during a post-song interview was the result of his oft-broken nose -- an old hockey injury.) Others read unkind things into his joyful celebration when Blunt won a Golden Globe this past winter, labelling him a "camera hog." Glimpses of the "real" Michael, crow the cynics, firm in their belief that no celebrity can possibly be as nice and forthcoming as this guy appears to be.

Bublé seems genuinely taken aback that some people think it might all be an act. "I'd have to be the most brilliant ..." he trails off. "That I would almost on purpose begin or end a relationship within the cycle of making a record? That would be scary." The real truth, he says, is that he just doesn't have a filter. Something he vows, almost daily, to change, but somehow never succeeds at.

The first night we meet, Bublé sees me talking to Blunt backstage, standing with a dozen or so other people in a chow line. "You're not writing about her?" he asks in a loud voice. "No, no, I'm serious." There's a long pause. "Because it's hard to get laid if people know that I have a girlfriend." Michael being Michael. Blessed with a sense of humour that's way more dangerous than his music. And a guy that -- for better or for worse -- seems destined to stay the same, no matter how famous he gets.

Sorry, Mrs. Bublé. And please, please -- put down that knife.

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Michael Bublé's conductor got his start in San Jose

By Yoshi Kato Special to the Mercury News San Jose Mercury News

Article Launched:08/22/2007 04:25:15 PM PDT

During his show at the Berkeley Community Theatre last March, Michael Bublé made a point to introduce Alan Chang as not only a his musical director but as a San Jose native, as well. "That's the hometown boy," Bublé said in a phone interview on Monday. An Almaden native, an alumnus of Castillero Middle School and a member of Pioneer High School's class of 1998, pianist Chang has been the leader of Bublé's touring band for five years. Just after graduating with a degree in jazz studies from USC, he was referred to an audition for the musical director position after someone at Bublé's record label had heard him perform a student recital. Chang landed the job, even though he wasn't Bublés first choice. The two have enjoyed a close working relationship ever since. "I think Alan's a great, quiet leader," said Bublé. "He gained the respect of all of us without having to raise his voice, ever." We caught up with Chang at his home in Southern California shortly before the latest leg of Bublé's tour at the nearby Greek Theatre in Los Angeles. It touches down Aug. 25 at the Oracle Arena in Oakland. Q Did you have the opportunity to gig much while you were living in the San Jose? A I never played a whole lot of jazz gigs when I was in San Jose. I was just never the guy who went out and self-promoted. I never tried to get my number in people's hands, and I never tried to get numbers in my hands. That's just never really been me, though I'm not saying that's the reason why I didn't play more. I did do a lot of musical theater when I was in San Jose. I played for my high school musicals. And then I played for Children's Musical Theatre of San Jose. I did five or six shows with them. Children's Musical Theatre was really great. When I first started playing with them, that's kind of when I knew that I wanted to be a professional musician. Everyone was so dedicated and so talented. Q What are you duties as musical director? A I've been trying to figure that out for five years! I do everything from hiring and firing to running sound checks. Another one of my responsibilities is trying to rein in people if I feel they're taking too many liberties when they're soloing. We're basically there to make Michael comfortable and then sound good. Q How do you and Michael write songs together? A It's funny. We don't actually sit down and write very often together. The first time we wrote something, he basically had the melody to part of "Home" in his head, and we were in Italy somewhere. And he came up to me and said, "Hey, listen to this." And I tried to put something to it. I think next, we wrote the verse to "Home" during a break, when we were doing the TV show "Las Vegas." That song came together very randomly. Q Michael joked that you wouldn't be making any money playing the show in Oakland, as you've already "bought out most of the theater." A Yeah, I bought 60 tickets! These shows are selling out so quickly that I know my friends and family weren't necessarily going to figure out what day these tickets go on sale. So three months ago, I said, "Oh, yeah. Put me down for 60 tickets. Here's my credit card number." And then I got my statement. I was, like, "Whoa!" We do get comp tickets. But I didn't want to have to say no to any of my friends that wanted to go.

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Michael Buble, A crooner who curses and charms                        

Sunday, August 19, 2007 - 12:00 AM

By Jon Bream
Minneapolis) Star Tribune

Michael Buble was stumped. He could not name the last Canada-based male singer to land at No. 1 on the U.S. album chart before he accomplished it last month.

Bryan Adams with "Reckless" in 1984.

"You're [bleeping] me," blurted Buble. "I'll be bragging to my family in about three hours."

Buble, 32, croons like Sinatra, curses like Eddie Murphy and charms like Bill Clinton. Those traits may help explain why he has joined Nickelback, the Vancouver, B.C., rock band, and Celine Dion, the Montreal pop diva, at the top of the U.S. charts.

Crossing over

But why is it hard out there for a Canadian-based vocalist trying to score in the States?

"There are to things to jump over — become a success here, and then it is a jump to the U.S.," said Larry LeBlanc, Canadian bureau chief of Billboard. "The barrier is there. We can't go back and forth across your border like you can with ours."

Why did Buble's third album, "Call Me Irresponsible," debut at No. 1 in May? Buble (boo-BLAY; it's Italian, not French) will tell you it's because of career momentum. Adams told us in an e-mail it's because Buble is a good singer. Music marketing experts will tell you it's because of a one-two punch: appearing on "American Idol" and "Oprah."

"I was so [bleep-y] on 'Idol' that I think it would be the opposite," Buble said with a hearty laugh. "There were probably 80,000 people about to buy the record who went 'Oh, he's really not that good.' I don't know how much that helped. Maybe it put you in the consciousness of some of the American public."

"Oprah," however, was another story. "They say she's good for 35,000 or 40,000 records for that week and the next couple of weeks," he said this month from his Vancouver home. "That kind of power is pretty amazing. It was quite shocking to me to see that kind of impact."

The "Oprah" appearance effectively captured this modern-day lounge singer, who is one of those artists who must be seen live to be fully appreciated. Plus, he's a charming talker.

Rolling "loose and dirty"

Onstage, he's ham and cheese, slathered with lots of romantic dressing on two slices of dark and handsome. He sings and swings. He does shtick and turns on the charisma. As a London writer put it: He's like Bill Clinton — he'll come on to whomever is in front of him.

"Call Me Irresponsible" presents Buble's personality and stage essence more successfully than his first two discs, which were slickly produced by David Foster, the L.A.-based Canadian who has worked with Barbra Streisand, Josh Groban and Dion.

Buble attributes the improvement to his singing live instead of recording multiple takes and slicing them together for a pristine version. "David and I sometimes go to war over our sense of style," said the singer, who again worked with Foster on this album. "I like things to be a little more loose and dirty, and he likes things to be perfect."

Cue the girlfriend!

Once again, Buble takes on standards, including "The Best Is Yet to Come" and "That's Life." He also reimagines contemporary pop hits, including Eric Clapton's "Wonderful Tonight" (as a bossa nova duet with a man) and Billy Paul's "Me and Mrs. Jones" (as a duet with a woman).

At dinner one night, Foster pitched "Me and Mrs. Jones," a 1972 soul hit, to Buble. He didn't even know the song, but his girlfriend, actress Emily Blunt of "The Devil Wears Prada" fame, proclaimed: "Oh, my God, this is wonderful!"

They went home, put "Me and Mrs. Jones" — about a man's affair with a married woman — on an iPod and Buble concluded: "It sucks." But after six or seven more listenings, he started to appreciate the melody and later the lyrics in a "sexy yet kitschy" way.

While recording it, Foster suggested adding a dark, moody female voice. Buble recommended Blunt, a cellist who can sing. So the producer auditioned her and she got the part.

But now when the recording comes on in front of unfamiliar listeners, right when it gets to Blunt's vocals, she always turns down the volume. "I don't usually say anything," her boyfriend said. "She cringes easily."

He's got pipes

While his salmon-fishing parents were out to sea, young Michael, the oldest of three children, got hooked on the standards in Grandpa's record collection. When the family realized the youngster could sing, Grandpa, a plumber, would go to bars and offer to fix toilets in exchange for letting the kid sing on the bandstand.

After years in Canadian clubs, Buble got his break in 2000 when he sang at the wedding of the Canadian prime minister's daughter. Producer Foster was there, and the assertive Buble asked for a recording opportunity. Foster said the singer would need $500,000 to have a shot at making it in the business.

Buble found investors and eventually released his first U.S. album in 2003 through Reprise, the label that Frank Sinatra founded. With heavy touring and many TV appearances, the Canadian built his career to the point where his second CD, 2005's "It's Time," stayed at No. 1 on Billboard's traditional jazz chart for a record 80 weeks. In addition to receiving two Grammy nominations, he has sung on Tony Bennett's 2006 duets disc and on a new Ella Fitzgerald tribute CD, on which he's the only male vocalist.

Too sexy for his song?

For his own new project, the retro popster co-wrote two songs in a more contemporary vein. "Everything," his current single, is the bubbliest thing Buble has recorded.

"I love pop music, and I was hoping I could do what I do and delve a little closer to acoustic pop without being called schizophrenic," he said. "I wrote a melody with a nice '70s summer feel, and I sat with a lyricist to write about being newly in love."

Then to add a pop-rock edge, he enlisted Canadian producer Bob Rock, who has helmed hits for Metallica, Bon Jovi and Mötley Crüe.

The album also includes a cover of "I'm Your Man" by Leonard Cohen, who rivals Joni Mitchell as the greatest Canadian songwriter to not hit No. 1 in the States. Buble had a conversation about the song with its composer.

"I said: 'OK, Leonard. I'm a bit afraid of how this is going to come off live.' He said: 'Why?' I said: 'Because I'm afraid it's just too sexy. I don't know what's going to happen when men start throwing their underwear at me.'

"He didn't laugh. He just said [imitating Cohen's deep whisper]: 'I don't think that will be a problem.' "

Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company

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Michael Bublé: The Real Deal                                                           

Monday, August 13, 2007; Page C05

Gentlemen, your attention, please: You won't want to hear this, but it's okay if you don't hate Michael Bublé. We know: Your wife/girlfriend has had at least one of his CDs on repeat since 2003. Your mother calls every time he's on the "Today" show. But on the evidence of his stylish revue at the Patriot Center Saturday night, he wants your vote, too. And thanks to his self-deprecating, Rat Packy stage persona, he deserves it.

Greeting "Virgin-yah," the 31-year-old Canadian said he knew the correct pronunciation, but would stick with his own because it suggests "a mystical fantasy country I want to go to." After a feverish rendition of "Fever," he expressed his "sincere appreciation for you, my fans -- you should see the house I just bought!" Bada-bing!

Bublé's standards-heavy set was mostly a series of valentines to the ladies who squealed every time he narrowed his eyes. He may more resemble "Footloose"-era Chris Penn than "Footloose"-era Kevin Bacon, but in the presence of his charisma -- not to mention those silky pipes -- the ladies would melt even if he looked like Tom Petty. It's rare in this era of "American Idol" bathos to hear a vocalist with the chops to pull off the flourishes Bublé deployed throughout the 95-minute concert. He made it look easy, and made it sound spectacular.

Not that the ladies in the house necessarily noticed. Based on their frequent interruptions of "We love you, Michael!" it seems they came more to gawk than to listen. He didn't discourage them, even leaping into the audience for a fan photo session.

An ace 13-piece big band backed the star. Feigning jealousy at the rapturous response to their hot-jazz instrumental number, Bublé sulked offstage. Trombonist Nick Vagenas leapt up to say what an insecure diva his boss is, even mocking Bublé's jerky dances. Only when Vagenas tried to sing did Bublé return. The only lull came when Bublé interrupted the parade of lounge favorites for some original tunes, "Home" and "Everything." Both No. 1 adult contemporary hits, they sounded ersatz amid all the warhorses.

"That's Life" featured a gospel choir. After an encore of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," Bublé repeated his thanks and said good night with "A Song for You."

It was a classy finish to a supremely entertaining evening. The only tacky note was the "MB" logo on the video screens and music st ands. No need to splash your name all over the stage, Mikey. You already proved who owns it.

TanyaB (Michael_Buble) все записи автора

TanyaB (Michael_Buble) все записи автора

TanyaB (Michael_Buble) все записи автора

TanyaB (Michael_Buble) все записи автора Майкл у "служебного входа" с поклонниками! Ууууу, скольких я так накараулила звезд    А такую звездулю грех "не покараулить" :))))))) Эээээээх! Старые-былые... Ничё, и на моей улице будет такой праздник :) его-то я не упущу! 

TanyaB (Michael_Buble) все записи автора

TanyaB (Michael_Buble) все записи автора хе-хе  

TanyaB (Michael_Buble) все записи автора Смотрите эксклюзивное выступление Майкла с песней 'I've got the world on a string'  для rehearsals.com!

WATCH HERE

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His sexy, melting voice and come-to-bed eyes have millions of women saying “yes, please”! Michael Bublé, 31, talks to Karla Napoleon about love, his family and eating tacos at the Golden Globes

Michael on his quest for success
I would have gone on TV's Pop Idol. I would have done anything to make it. I was on the club circuit for ten years and on the verge of giving up, but I learnt my craft. On shows like that, you take these kids from high school and, all of a sudden, they're stars. I failed for ten years and learnt from my mistakes. I really feel for the kids on those shows sometimes because they have such high expectations.

Michael on his lifestyle
I don't live a celebrity lifestyle. If I have to go to a party or event, I do. It can be fun, but I would rather have a bite to eat, a couple of glasses of nice wine and go home and play a game or two of Scrabble. I never want to make the mistake of confusing who I am with what I do. In this business, it's so easy to believe in your own hype; I don't want that.

Michael on his song's appeal
The songs I sing are universally loved and transcend all borders. The cool thing about my fans is they're young and old, gay and straight, black and white. At my shows, I see a group of bikers and then groups of women on a girls' night out and everyone's just singing along. I think that's a testament more to the music than it is to me.

Michael on meeting girls
One of the reasons I started singing was so I could meet girls. I wasn't a dork at school, but I was just as insecure as any other boy. Obviously I loved music, but it was a factor. I think that's why men hunger for power, as with it comes better odds of meeting the person you love. I now know the only thing that fame does for you is it keeps you from standing alone like a lemon at a party.

I've got two younger sisters, but I don't have a huge number of female friends. It's hard to be friends with a woman if you find her attractive.

What do I look for in a woman?
I like them to be kind and it's a bonus if they have the ability to love me unconditionally as I'm not the easiest guy to live with.

What makes me difficult to live with?
I'm a man – everything.

What don't I like?
Neediness. Too much insecurity. Or even too much security.

My perfect date
You'll be disappointed. It would be waking up and having a hamburger, then going out to play hockey, coming back and watching some hockey, then playing some video games. I said you'd be disappointed!

I'm not extravagant. I like good food, but I'm not into luxuries. I lose everything. Don't buy me a nice watch because it'll be gone in two days. I don't have a car; I rent a truck when I go home for $25 a day. And when it's a nice day, I also love buzzing around on my Vespa.

What's on my iPod?
The best of 85, 86, 87… I love '80s pop music. When I first heard Michael Jackson's Off the Wall and Thriller albums, I thought they were the greatest things that ever happened. I love all music. Of course, I like Sinatra and Tony Bennett, but I also love Coldplay, Oasis, Linkin Park and Jamie Cullen and I think Mika's great.

Michael on clothes
I'm a jeans, T-shirt and baseball cap sorta guy, but I like to make an effort for my shows. I've been to so many concerts where the acts show up looking like they just woke up. It reeks of insecurity. I think to myself, “Wow, you tried hard to look cool”. What's wrong with looking nice?

Michael on his high points
Two of the high points of my life were when I won four Junos, the Canadian music awards, in 2006 and when Emily [Blunt] won a Golden Globe. It was funny, because when I won, I was so overwhelmed and Emily was jumping around me in excitement. And when she won the Globe, we reversed roles. I was going crazy. I managed to completely and utterly enjoy the moment because it was about her.

To celebrate, we bought 20 tacos from a taco place in LA and just sat there, in all our finery, eating $11 worth of food. And at Taco Time that's a whole lot of money to spend.

One day, I know I'll look back and wish I'd enjoyed it a bit more. That I'd smelt the roses. But it's not part of my character. I'm driven. When I've got a number one song, I'm thinking, what can I do to make the next one better?


Michael's new single Lost is out in September. His UK tour starts 23 November. Visit Michael's website for tickets, details of his new album and news about the man himself.

Find out more about Michael in the full interview published in the September issue of woman&home. He talks about the women in his life, how he spends his money and introducing his girlfriend, Emily Blunt to his family!

TanyaB (Michael_Buble) все записи автора

TanyaB (Michael_Buble) все записи автора