MICHAEL BOLTON International superstar Michael Bolton performs "Go the Distance," the first single from the Walt Disney Records soundtrack to Hercules. The multiple Grammy Award-winner recorded the end-credit song for Disney's 35th full-length animated feature film at the close of his global Greatest Hits tour.
Bolton is continually crossing all barriers--musical and otherwise. Since 1995, he has written two stories for the screen, authored his first children's book, released his long-awaited This Is The Time-The Christmas Album, participated in a serious study of opera and recorded "Go the Distance" for Hercules. He's currently working on a new album of pop songs as well as a collection of classical arias, which are both due out in 1997.
In 1993, he established the Michael Bolton Foundation to assist children and women at risk from the scourge of poverty, as well as from emotional, physical and sexual abuse. He's the honorary chairman of the National Committee To Prevent Child Abuse and National Chairman for This Close For Cancer Research. In 1994, he received the prestigious Lewis Hine Award from the National Child Labor Committee. Named a Hendon Fellow at Yale University in 1995, Bolton became the recipient of the Martin Luther King, Jr./C.O.R.E. Award the following year.
Bolton began hitting radio playlists in 1983 with "Fool's Game" from his self-titled Columbia Records debut. After the release of The Hunger in 1987, fans and critics began to take notice of this fast-emerging talent. But it was 1989's multiplatinum Soul Provider that catapulted Bolton to the upper echelon of pop music with hit singles like the title track and the Grammy Award-winning "How Am I Supposed To Live Without You," which has been played more than four million times on the radio.
With the release of the #1 Time, Love & Tenderness in 1991, Bolton became an international superstar. The album sold more than 11 million copies worldwide and earned him a second Grammy for Best Pop Vocal for the #1 pop/AC smash "When A Man Loves A Woman." He also earned two American Music Awards, including Favorite Male Artist and Favorite Male Album, and was named Best Pop Male Vocalist at the New York Music Awards. Bolton followed Time, Love & Tenderness with the #1 Timeless (The Classics), a collection of the singer's best-loved R&B and pop standards. In 1993, he released the multiplatinum album The One Thing, which included the multiplatinum single, "Said I Loved You...But I Lied."
Bolton has written songs for Barbra Streisand ("We're Not Making Love Anymore"), KISS ("Forever"), Joe Cocker ("Living Without Your Love"), Kenny Rogers ("Just The Thought Of Losing You"), Cher ("I Found Someone"), Kenny G & Peabo Bryson (the 1993 BMI Pop Award-winning "By The Time This Night Is Over") and others. He is among a scant handful of songwriters to have collaborated with Bob Dylan-their song "Steel Bars" is a highlight of both Time, Love & Tenderness and his Greatest Hits album.
From 1991 through 1995, Bolton embarked on a series of international marathon concert tours including the 1991-92 Time, Love & Tenderness tour and the 1994-95 The One Thing tour. He's appeared at hundreds of concerts and performed in front of million of fans, including a memorable visit to the White House at the invitation of President Bill and Hillary Clinton.
