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Michael Buble)
Michael Buble (born 9 September 1975) is a Canadian crooner and pop jazz 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. A 2004 live album and video Come Fly With Me (2004) was listed on the Billboard music video charts and reached the top 40 album charts in Australia. He reached commercial success in the U.S. with It's Time. He can also be found on Starbucks commercials singing his songs.
Early years
Buble was born in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada. He grew up listening to his grandfather's collection of jazz records. On his website, Buble 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 & 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."
Buble'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 17.
For the next few years, Buble pursued a musical career without great success. He appeared as Elvis in a Red Rock Diner road show and sung as a star of a musical revue called Forever Swing. He also appeared in an episode of Death Game in 1996. He recorded a couple of independent albums, one as a present to his grandfather. Buble received two Genie Awards in 2000 for songs he wrote for the film Here's To Life starring Eric McCormack.
The Wedding Singer: career breakthrough
Buble's career breakthrough came when he sang Kurt Weill's "Mack the Knife" at the wedding of Brian Mulroney's daughter Caroline in 2000. Mulroney introduced Buble to David Foster, a multi-Grammy awarding producer and a Warner Brothers record executive who had worked with Josh Groban previously. Foster signed Buble to his '143' record label and he started recording a self-titled album 2001 with Foster as producer. 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 Buble's version of the group's "How Can You Mend A Broken Heart".
Michael Buble was released in early 2003 and soon entered the Canadian album charts. Chart success in the UK, US, 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. 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 adult contemporary 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.
Buble won the "Best New Talent" award at the Juno Awards of 2004 and his self-titled album was nominated for "Album of the Year" losing out to Sam Roberts.
Buble released a Christmas EP Let It Snow in late 2003. The title track reached the Australian top 40 in the singles charts, 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 Australian top 50 of the album charts as at the end of April and the Billboard 200 album charts.
Buble 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 Buble's debut album ("For Once in My Life," "Kissing a Fool") were released on the soundtrack for the Ewan McGregor/Renˆ©e 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 Buble'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: Buble goes mainstream
Buble's second studio album, It's Time, debuted as a hugely successful sophomore performance. The album reached No. 7 on the Billboard Album Charts and No. 2 on the ARIA Album Charts in Australia. It's Time also debuted at No. 4 on the UK Album Charts. The album features covers of Beatles and Ray Charles songs, as well as a collaboration with Stevie Wonder and the hit single "Home".
Buble 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.
Discography
Singles
- 2005 "Home" #1 Canada, #72 US, #4 Australia, #63 UK (double-A-side with Song for You in the UK)
Filmography
External links
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