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Madonna's a fan, and Hollywood stars are queuing up to attend his shows, but Canadian singer Michael Bublé is doing it his way

Uh-oh. I just said the F-word, and Michael Bublé is sighing. Don't worry, though, no swear words were involved — the F-word is Frank, as in Sinatra. You see, Michael has long been making headlines as 'the new Sinatra' in Canada, the USA, New Zealand, South Africa and the Far East. The trouble is, the constant comparison is getting a little tiring.

'It's flattering,' he admits, somewhat grudgingly, 'People categorise — that's human nature. And it could be worse — they could call me the next Ozzy Osbourne.'

For those who haven't yet caught on, Michael's style of music encompasses the old and the new. His major label debut, called simply Michael Bublé, contains his own gloriously jazzy interpretation of pop tunes, as well as smooth renditions of timeless classics.

For Michael, 26, the album is the culmination of many years' hard work, which began when he first raided his grandfather's record collection as a young boy growing up in Vancouver, Canada. He fell in love with the songs, and wanted to perform them. Unfortunately, no one would take a chance on him. Enter his grandfather, who encouraged him. Michael says, 'He always believed in me — even during the times when I didn't believe in me.'

Michael's grandfather, a plumber by trade, had a unique way of getting his grandson some much needed exposure. 'He'd ask local musicians if they'd let me sing with them, and they'd say no, so he'd persuade them by saying, "Well, I'll put in a toilet for you if you let my grandson go on stage with you."'

His family was behind him, but others were not so sympathetic to the teenagers's fascination with what was, at the time, an unfashionable form of music. So he kept his passions to himself. 'When you're a teenager, you have to be cool and say that everything sucks,' he says.

When his classmates were heading off to college, Michael sang in shopping centres, determined that the music industry would one day come round to his way of thinking.

In fact, when a record company offered him a $100,000 deal to make a pop album, the then teenager said no. 'Even my family thought I was insane,' he admits. 'But not my grandpa, of course.'

Still he realised that if he didn't get a break soon, a change of career might be in order. But before he got the chance to do it, he agreed to sing at the wedding of former Canadian prime minister Brian Mulroney's daughter. One of the guests was a music executive, who subsequently gave Michael his big break. But it still wasn't plain sailing. 'They wanted me to change my surname,' Michael says. 'But that would have broken my dad's heart.'

Michael is unlikely to have too many problems with his name now. His most recent shows in the US have been packed with celebrities. And the queen of pop, Madonna, has even come calling. 'I recently hung out with her a little bit,' says Michael coyly. 'I like her very much. She's a very sexy woman.'

With many other stars embracing the classics, people are finally coming round to Michael's way of thinking. Trouble is, in the UK at least, Robbie Williams got there first with his Swing When You're Winning album. Not that Michael minds. 'I'm glad he's opening people's eyes up to it, but I've studied this music my whole life, so it's hard for me to accept a pop singer singing the music I love.'

Michael has long dreamt of success, and now it seems at last to be falling into place. He recently played to more than 15,000 people in South Africa, and his campaign to win us over is just the beginning.

And, if he gets his way, the long shadow of the F-word will fade away. 'I'm not trying to be the next Sinatra.' Michael insists. 'I'm trying to be the best Michael Bublé I can be.'

By Vicky Coulthard, from Showbiz Extra (?), November 2003.

When Michael Bublé sings, he seduces with vocals so sexy smooth, you're completely won over. Just who is this Canadian crooner who breathes new life into classics from a bygone era? LIME investigates.

LIME: At 25, you're rather mature for a newcomer. Why did it take you this long to become famous?

MICHAEL BUBLÉ: Because the music I chose wasn't accepted in the music industry. Consumers of this music were left out of the loop. To be honest, I think record companies were saying to themselves, "You know what, the young people have the money. The older crowd? Who cares about them? We'll just leave them out." But what's happened here is that the young people have come to like theses songs. And now there's a call for it, so record companies, music stations and MTV have no other choice now. The consumers have spoken.

You've achieved huge success with an album of covers. Will you be nervous putting out an album of your own material in future?
I'm not going to put out an album of my own material — I'm absolutely fine with being an interpreter of great songs. That's my strenght. My idols like Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley never wrote their own songs. They interpreted great songs. This is who I am and as the years go by, I will continue to bring this music to people who enjoy good songs. My popularity will increase and decrease but at the end of the day, I will stay true to myself. And if I have a long career, that will be why.

What is your fascination with old songs?
It's not just old songs, it's good songs. I have a fascination with the style. It's sweet, smooth, sincere and melodic. Through the years, pop singers have stopped singing that way. It's not about words anymore.

Do you think the standard of music has dropped through the years?
Absolutely. I feel that in a lot of places, it's playing to the lowest common denominator.

In your opinion, who is the voice of the '90s?
That's a good question, George Michael was a pretty big voice of the '90s. Steven Tyler (of Aerosmith) was ripping along at that point, too. God, that fella from INXS was doing well... That was the '90s, too, wasn't it? Michael Hutchence, that's right. I've always enjoyed Sting's music very much. For females, there's Madonna, Janet Jackson and Mariah Carey, of course.

You came out of nowhere to become megastar producer David Foster's protégé. Exactly how does he pick 'em?
he doesn't pick them. David's not looking. He doesn't have to. There are people who send him stuff everyday. I think what happens is, you find each other. I'd worked so hard for many years, perfecting who I was and paying my dues playing in smoky bars, cruise ships and lounges. I'd also made a buzz for myself in Canada and had become a local celibrity. So this was about taking another step. David believed I had what it took, and we just said, "Let's go for it."

Before becoming a full-fledge recording artist, you were a wedding singer...
(Shaking his head) I sang at just one wedding my whole life.

And that was the one that got you discovered by David Foster?
(Laughs) Yeah, I refused to sing at weddings because I didn't want to be known as a wedding singer. And of course, I sing at one wedding, get discovered and forever on, I'm known as the wedding singer who got discovered!

What's so bad about being a wedding singer?
I didn't want to have to do the chicken dance every night and sing covers. You know what I mean? It was just too much for me.

You depend on your voice for a living. Is that a scary thought?
Not anymore because this has become just as much about my personality and who I am. Obviously, the voice is a big part of it. I mean, people are not buying the album for my personality. It thrills me because I love doing what I'm doing. I have a blast each time I go out. It's not work 'cos I get to go out, make music, have fun and show off. It's all good.

You guest-starred in karaoke movie Duets with Gwyneth Paltrow as well as several X-Files episodes. How come you didn't become Michael Bublé the actor?
I'm not interested in being a movie star. I'm a singer, a vocalist and an entertainer. I want to be able to do all of these things well. I do think it's a very natural extension for an entertainer to be an actor but for now, my concentration lies on being a singer.

Which musical would you like to star in: Chicago, Cats or Fame?
I do dance but I don't think I will do any of that. I'm not into those kinds of musical theatre. You have to understand that my voice sounds a certain way... like a crooner. I'm not like Justin Timberlake, I don't have a very poppy voice. I think he would sound better doing a Broadway than I would.

You've been touted a "new brand of performer" to the music industry. How does it feel to lead a revival of musical tradition?
It would feel great if I was leading it, but I don't think I am. I'm holding hands with people like Norah Jones, Josh Groban and Harry Connick Jr. We're all keeping it alive and we're all marching the same way. We're just in love with good songs. I love jazz. God, I love it.

We heard you rapped at your Singapore gig. Would you ever collaborate with, say, 50 Cent?
I was thinking it would be really cool to be able to sample something of mine in one of his songs. That would be a really cool marriage of musical styles. That's taking the music and moving it forward. It's great.

What do you think of Robbie Williams' Swing While You're Winning album?
Great record. He's grat. I'm a big fan of Rod Stewart, too. They're hitting a group of people once again that may not have given this kind of music a chance. And now they've open their eyes to it and they've fallen in love just like people do everywhere when they listen to this music.

You love the music of old. Does that extend to the ladies, too?
I love women. I have a real weakness for women but that doesn't make me any different from any heterosexual man in the world. I think we all love women. Although when I say older women, I don't mean I'm interested in having a 75-year-old girlfriend but there's nothing wrong with a really good-looking 45-year-old. It's kind of sexy. God knows, that's not a problem for me.

Have you ever been with an older woman?
Yes.

And how was it?
How was it which time? (Chuckles) I've enjoyed myself. Like I said, I'm willing to be generous and give myself. Oh, God, they're going to think I'm this pig sleeping with older women. I do prefer younger women by the way. Of course I prefer younger women. (Pauses) I just love women.

By Ki'ern Tan, from LIME magazine, November 2003.

Bubbling Over: Michael Buble's old songs win young fans

Hot crooner Michael Buble was making his second North America-to-London trip in five days to appear on the National Music Awards show with Eminem, Kylie Minogue and Black Eyed Peas. But none of the British paparazzi seemed to recognize him as he walked down the red carpet last weekend.

"I'm so brand-new there, they had no clue who I was," said Buble, who makes his second Minneapolis appearance tonight.

But after performing on three British TV shows, his self-titled CD has vaulted into the country's top 10.

"In two weeks, I think we did 140,000 records," the jet-lagged singer said Tuesday. That brings the worldwide sales of "Michael Buble" to 850,000, a staggering stat for a singer whose music gets minimal radio airplay.

His label, Warner Bros., hoped for total sales of 50,000. "It's gone beyond all expectations," Buble said.

The 28-year-old Canadian has used TV talk shows and concerts to sell old songs to new, young audiences. His album mixes such standards as "Summer Wind" and "Come Fly With Me" with swinging covers of Queen's "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and Barry White's "You'll Never Find Another Love."

"My ego would love to tell you it's about me," Buble said, trying to explain his popularity, "but I think it's about these good songs. They mean something to people. Young people were looking for something that had substance.

"It's not the genre. The criteria is melodic beauty, lyrical genius and a great groove. Whether it was written in 1930 by George Gershwin or 1991 by George Michael, I think it's timeless."

Trading plumbing for play
Like another Canadian star, Diana Krall, he grew up listening to standards in British Columbia.

Buble - which is pronounced Boo-blay and is Italian, not French - said he got hooked at age 6 or 7 after hearing Bing Crosby's "White Christmas." But it would be another 10 years before he realized he could sing that kind of music. Having never sung in a school choir, he discovered his voice in the family car on a Christmas Eve.

"Me and my two little sisters were in the back of the car and we were singing 'I'll Be Home for Christmas' and I just opened up my mouth, and I think my parents turned around and looked at me and said, 'What the hell was that?' "
His jazz-loving grandfather, who was a plumber, started taking Buble to clubs and bartering with the band to let the teen sing.
"He would put in a free toilet for them," he said with a chuckle, "and that's how I got started."

Buble won a few talent contests in Vancouver, performed on cruise ships, in shopping malls and hotel lounges and did singing telegrams. But he struggled until a corporate gig in Toronto at which he met a top aide to Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. That led to a four-song cameo performance at the wedding of Mulroney's daughter - essentially a prime minister-orchestrated audition in front of hitmaking producer David Foster, who has worked with Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and Josh Groban.

Paul Anka, the veteran Canadian singer/songwriter, offered to bankroll a Buble record, but Foster landed the newcomer a deal with Warner Bros. Coproducing the disc with Humberto Gatica, he struck a balance between standards and contemporary tunes by Van Morrison, the Bee Gees and George Michael.

Mike the Knife
"I never wanted to be stuck in another time. I don't ever wish I was part of the Rat Pack. I'm quite happy with my Game Boy and my 67 (TV) channels and my sports package," said the fast-talking, sports-loving Buble, who gave props to the Minnesota Wild for beating his Vancouver Canucks in the NHL playoffs last year. "I'm happy living today."

But his music is connected to yesterday. Buble has a bit of Frank Sinatra's tone and phrasing, but mostly he brings Bobby Darin to mind.

In concert, he does a killer version of Darin's signature "Mack the Knife." But he's also likely to break into AC/DC, Michael Jackson or the Village People if the mood moves him.

Live performance is what Buble is all about. Since his album was released in February, he has traveled the world, enjoying success in South Africa, the Philippines and England.

Having some of his songs in the Renee Zellweger romantic comedy "Down With Love" helped him abroad, though not in the States, where the movie bombed.

He has had small roles in the films "Duets," "Totally Blonde" and "The Snow Walker," and has appeared on TV's "Days of Our Lives."

But acting is not a priority. "I'm a singer. I want to concentrate on that," he said. "I'm absolutely cool with the fact that I'll never be Ricky Martin.

I don't want to be a pop star. I want to be around in 20 years, 30 years, still singing the music that I love."

By Jon Bream, from the Star Tribune, Minneapolis, November 2, 2003.

Prince of swing raises RM100,000

KUALA LUMPUR: Canada’s newly crowned “Prince of Swing” Michael Buble did his bit for Malaysian charity when he performed at an exclusive, closed-door concert for 300 guests recently and raised RM100,000 for three charities.

The charities are Yayasan Budi Penyayang, Child Care Centre for Cancer (General Hospital, Kuala Lumpur) and Putrajaya Hospital (Breast Cancer Unit) under the patronage of the Prime Minister’s wife, Datin Paduka Seri Endon Mahmood.

Buble (pronounced Boo-blay), who hails from Vancouver, has been featured on soundtracks for the big screen including 2003’s Down With Love starring Renee Zellweger and Ewen McGregor.

Buble, 25, captivated his Malaysian audience with songs spanning six decades, mostly material drawn from his critically praised self-titled debut album. Some of his repertoire included The Way You Look Tonight, Put Your Head On My Shoulder, Sway and Crazy Little Thing Called Love.

Of the total raised from the concert sponsored by Nescafe Gold, RM50,000 was donated to the Yayasan Budi Penyayang building fund while the Putrajaya Hospital and the Child Care Centre for Cancer got RM25,000 each.

From Thestar.com, November 6, 2003.

Success Awes Young Canuck Crooner

Michael Buble points out that becoming an overnight sensation took 10 long years.

CALGARY - Michael Buble is staying at a hotel/ casino just outside of New York City called the Mohegan Sun.

I call at the scheduled time and the line is busy. Two, three, four more calls are made and no luck.

Finally, the publicist arranges for the young buck from Burnaby, B.C., who's being hyped as a modern-day Frank Sinatra, to call me.

"I'm sorry about the phone problems," says Buble. "There've been people calling me from all over the world. I guess they find out I'm staying here on the Internet, and they just keep calling at all hours. I had to call down to the lobby the other day and say: 'Look. Stop putting people through.' So now nobody can get through."

That's one sign of the stunning success Buble has experienced this year.

Other signs include the million units he will have sold of his self-titled major label debut disc by the end of the year. Buble's record has gone platinum in Canada and Australia and it's fast approaching that status in the U.K., where the singer will be headed in a few weeks to record a Christmas song with one of his heroes, Tony Bennett.

In the United States, he's nearing gold sales -- 500,000 units sold -- and his upcoming appearances on Dateline and The Tonight Show With Jay Leno will undoubtedly fuel the fire.

But it was a recent tour in Singapore and the Philippines that really shocked the baby-faced Canuck. "I couldn't go outside," Buble says. "I had two security guards and police escorts everywhere I went. ... It's crazy. Last year at this time, I was sitting in a Los Angeles studio with (Grammy Award-winning producer) David Foster, and I was getting him his coffee, man!"

Buble tries to play it as cool as Ol' Blue Eyes himself, but his sense of awe is apparent. You can't blame him. In the seven months since he released his album, his life has changed drastically.

It was Buble's grandfather who turned him on to the swingin' sounds of Sinatra -- as well as Bennett, Dean Martin, Bobby Darrin, Mel Torme and Ella Fitzgerald -- when he was just a boy. The influences were so profound that, by the time Buble was 17, he was already working nightclubs, singing on cruise ships and releasing his own CDs.

His big break came when one of those recordings fell into the hands of Brian Mulroney. The former prime minister hired the crooner to sing at his daughter Caroline's wedding, where Buble's smouldering delivery caught the ear of Foster, known for his glossy production with the likes of Barbra Streisand and fellow Canadian Celine Dion.

By the spring of 2001, Foster had signed Buble to a deal with Reprise Records, and they began recording.

Buble bristles at the idea that he's an overnight success.

"Yeah, a 10-year overnight success," he says. "I had my struggles. I played a lot of crappy gigs. I got lucky because I know people that have struggled a lot longer than me, and they're still struggling. But I worked hard, and I think you reap what you sow."

Michael Buble makes an appearance at a private function Tuesday marking the 100th anniversary of the Edmonton Journal

By Heath McCoy, from Edmonton Journal, November 9, 2003.

Buble Burst into Fame

No matter how big he gets, no matter how many albums he sells, Michael Buble will always be just a good ol' Canadian kid.

Well, the first clue is the number of phone calls he has to field during our interview, to accept deserved congratulations from family members, including Grandma, for being on the cusp of selling one million copies of his self-titled CD (he's expected to hit the mark in the next day or two), a disc that has earned him comparisons to Frank Sinatra and Harry Connick Jr.

The second clue is the number of "ehs" that pepper his speech.

But more telling is the 26-year-old's answer to the question of whom he's met during his rise that left him a little star-struck.

"I've met a million of those people and the only one so far that blew me away was (Wayne) Gretzky," says Buble, who plays the Jack Singer Concert Hall this evening.

"I'm pretty good friends with him ... and Janet, and for me that's the coolest thing."

For the Vancouver native to choose that as a highlight out of a story that includes so many celebrities shows where his heart lies.

Which is fitting, really, because although he's become an international success, selling out shows all over the world, Buble's monster career very much has its roots in Canada.

After years of crooning in clubs and on cruise ships, he was taken under the wing of producer and composer David Foster after the elder heard Buble sing at the wedding of Brian Mulroney's daughter.

Foster produced Buble's debut -- featuring covers of such songs as Fever, Come Fly With Me and Van Morrison's Moondance -- and another Canadian, Paul Anka acted as executive producer for the disc, which was then released worldwide on Reprise Records.

The rest was up to Buble, and with his smooth, velvet vocals, good looks, showmanship, charm, and strong work ethic, a million copies was almost a certainty.

"I hope it's a little of everything," he says of his appeal, noting he and the honest connection he has with the material makes for a formidable duo. I hope it's my voice and I hope people can tell that I'm sincere .

"(And) this music never went anywhere -- it's not in or out. It's just the record companies and the radio stations didn't give people the choice of having this. Because of people like Norah Jones and Josh Groban it opened things up."

His audience he breaks down to "60% young women, 20% gay men and then 20% husbands and wives and older folks."

But don't forget the celebrities, which must also make up a large chunk.

Other than the Gretzkys, Buble also recollects several other brushes with great ones during the interview, including one with Sean Connery and another with Tony Bennet, whom he now calls a friend.

"I think we became friends because I looked at him and I said, 'God, I've stolen so much from you,' " Buble laughs.

"He laughed and he came to my show ... and I finished my show and he said, 'You sonuvabitch, you did steal a lot of stuff from me!'

"But he said 'That's OK, because I stole from everybody, too ... You steal from one and you're a thief, but if you steal from all you can call it research.' And then he laughed his head off." All the way to the bank.

By Mike Bell, from the Calgary Sun, November 12, 2003.

Cool Crooner's Going Places

Michael Buble performed Wednesday at Jack Singer Concert Hall. Attendance: about 1,450.

The jazz-pop thing isn't supposed to be this much fun, is it?

Not like this anyway.

Burnaby, B.C., crooner Michael Buble's Wednesday night show at Jack Singer Concert Hall was a ball -- the sort of infectious good-time gig that one just doesn't expect anymore in the reserved adult-contemporary world of prim, proper artists like Diana Krall and Norah Jones.

Buble, 26, told dirty jokes, flirted with the audience, made fun of David Foster and Paul Anka, two of his high-profile record producers, and he injected a sense of youthful energy and confident swagger into the evening that was irresistible.

Maybe there is something to all those Rat Pack comparisons the kid's been getting.

Oh, and he can really swing, too. Much moreso than is apparent on his self-titled major label debut disc, which suffers at times.

That's due to the glossy overproduction of Foster and company.

Backed up by a sizzling eight-piece band, Buble hit the stage with a punchy version of Come Fly Me, his crooning smooth and strong as his drummer snapped, crackled and popped away and his horn section blared. A jazzy twist on Queen's Crazy Little Thing Called Love and Buble's version of Sway were equally invigorating.

Other highlights, as of press time, included romantic stabs at That's All and My Funny Valentine -- with Buble playing up his considerable powers as a heartthrob -- and a hopped-up version of Van Morrison's Moondance. Meanwhile, the finger-snapping, bass-pulsing Fever could've been a smoking show-stopper.

Does Buble live up to the hype? The hype that suggests he's the new Frank Sinatra? The hype perpetuated by the media grasping for the next big thing? The hype generated by the mega-powers of the music industry -- including Madonna's publicist and Bryan Adams' manager -- who've sent the kid on his star-bound way with a considerable rocket boost?

C'mon. He could never live up to hype like that, short of singing a live duet with Sinatra's ghost.

But keep your eye on this cocky, cool Michael Buble lad, whose album is zeroing in on a million copies sold worldwide. Not only is he going places, but it looks like he'll be fun to watch as he goes.

By Heath McCoy, from Calgary Herald, November 12, 2003.

Cool Crooner Red Hot

He's not complaining about his meteoric rise, but for 28-year-old Michael Bublé the fast-track life has come at a price. There have been casualties on the fast lane to fame.

Listening to singer Michael Bublé talk about his life since the release of his debut CD in February, it's hard not to think of that grainy 1956 interview with Elvis Presley, which often runs in documentaries on the King - the one where a shell-shocked Presley runs his hand nervously through his hair, struggles to stay focused, sighs heavily and says "Everything has happened to me so fast during the last year and a half - I'm all mixed up, you know? I can't keep up with everything that's happened."

Bublé is not mixed up. In fact, he's grown adept at multitasking - signing CDs and posters while doing telephone interviews, for example. But he just has to identify with Elvis: the life-changing gig at Caroline Mulroney's wedding, where he was introduced to megahit-producer David Foster, was only three years ago. Since then, the Vancouver native's self-titled disc, overseen by Foster, has sold a million copies worldwide. He now lives in Los Angeles, is represented by high-powered publicist Liz Rosenberg and shmoozes with the rich and famous. He's pretty much red hot.

While he takes great pains to emphasize that he's not complaining about his fame, it's hard to miss the catch in his throat when he talks about the parents, sisters and grandparents he's barely seen during the past seven months. "I'm going to start flying them around with me, just for a couple of weeks at a time, and let them come and hang out and enjoy this with me. I don't even think my family's seen me do a show for maybe two years. I just got a brand-new baby nephew. I'm a first-time uncle and I'm missing out on that," he said.

A non-stop treadmill of promotion leaves Bublé little time to himself, he said. After rattling off the details of his current touring schedule - Edmonton, Toronto, Montreal, Hull, a side trip to England for an awards show in London, then a charity gig in Vancouver and a flight right back to London - he matter-of-factly brought up one of the casualties of his fast-track life.

"I had a wonderful girlfriend. For five years, we lived together, but then I had to make a decision about the career or the relationship - and, of course, I couldn't choose anything else but the career, because I would kick myself forever if I didn't try," he said.

Whether it's helped by the music-biz muscle behind him, his looks, or a renewed interest in his type of big-ballad and cool-pop music, the hard work is clearly paying off for the 28-year-old singer: he's hanging with Tony Bennett now. And as he talked about that, excitement trumped exhaustion and he sounded like a Vegas vet.

"He had come to see me at the Roxy, and so I went to see him at the Hollywood Bowl," Bublé said.

"We just hung out for about 40 minutes and he was just so cool. He said 'Kid, how did this happen to you?' I said 'Well, I stole from people like you.' He said 'You know what? I did it too, kid. If you borrow from one artist, it's considered stealing, but when you steal from them all, you can call it research,' and he just started to laugh his head off."

Plenty of career-slumped pop stars have dropped the ball on that research, making embarrassing and uninspired trips into the standards catalogue, but doing the umpteenth version of The Way You Look Tonight is not a slumming side project for Bublé. Big songs are what he does. They're what he's always done.

Even in high school, they mattered to him.

"I remember sitting in a classroom with a pair of headphones on, pretending to bop my head so I'd look like I was listening to rap, when I was really listening to Sinatra singing Stormy Weather," Bublé said, laughing. "I was kind of in the closet about it all."

Bublé is so far out of the crooner closet now that he has already knocked off a genre staple: his Christmas collection. Let It Snow, a five-song EP, is available both separately and as a limited-edition bonus disc with his debut album.

"I always thought I was built for doing Christmas songs - ballads and the swing ones," he said.

Not surprisingly, the roots of Bublé's Yuletide obsession go back to Bing Crosby's 1955 Merry Christmas album. Bublé needs no encouragement to start singing some of his favourite snippets from the LP, either. "To this day, I can listen to that record and I can sing you every single horn line, every little improv, every little clarinet and flute part. That record swung so hard, and it was just so beautiful."

Bublé said he plans to start working on a new full-length disc next year. And don't bet on a radical style change.

"There are three things that make a great song for me: melody, lyric and groove," he said. "Once a song has those three things, I think it becomes timeless."

By Bernard Perusse, from Montreal Gazette, November 15, 2003.

A fresh and marvelous pop voice

A performer can't always live up to his hype.

Michael Buble, the 28-year-old Vancouver singer who has tongues wagging in the U.S. with his romantic-style crooning and slick renditions of beloved pop standards, is the real McCoy. He is a fresh and welcome voice in the fragmented world of pop music, where singers with unpronounceable names belt out indecipherable lyrics amid a clash of noise and sweat.

Buble proved Sunday night at the theatre du Casino du Lac Leamy that he's no fluke, nor a hokey interpreter of familiar pop standards from the '50s and '60s. Just don't call him a lounge singer: he's much more than that. His persona may lie in the past, but he's a modern-day crooner with plenty to offer.

Bouncing onto the stage with the swagger of a Bobby Darin, the self-assurance of a Frank Sinatra and the silky pipes of a Dean Martin, Buble dazzled a sellout audience with a repertoire that covered everything from Peggy Lee to Queen. This kid's got it, alright: he swings, he rocks and he does wonderful singing impersonations, such as Michael Jackson's Billie Jean.

He opened the show with Come Fly With Me and the evening just soared from there, a combination of Las Vegas slickness and a powerful stage presence.

The snappy 75-minute show -- with an encore -- zipped by nicely.

Buble is a smooth, confident and bright singer with a finger-snapping coolness that is sincere. Sure, there are traces of the swinging sounds of Sinatra, Martin and others, but he makes every song his own.

He can easily switch from fast-tempo numbers such as Sway to the romantic ballad That's All. He even made that old Peggy Lee chestnut, Fever, sound fresh, new and yes, sexy with his luscious phrasing and caressing of the lyrics.

Dressed in a black suit and open white shirt, Buble seems to attract female fans who are wowed by his boyish charm and rogue appeal. He is a man's man, but displays a charming and endearing vulnerability

The marvelous thing about Buble is that he seems to be having fun on stage. He's funny, personable and engaging, and he has a singing voice that is a marvel to hear. At Sunday's show he dedicated a song to a woman celebrating her birthday, getting plenty of chuckles over her unusual first name. He also kidded the audience, adding that his job was not only to perform on stage, but to make sure the men in the audience got "lucky" that night.

Buble wowed the audience with a strong show and came back for an encore with a snappy version of Van Morrison's Moondance, and then sent everyone home smiling after a glorious rendition of My Funny Valentine.

By Tony Lofaro, from The Ottawa Citizen, November 18, 2003.

Bublé is the real swinging deal

2 nights, sold out. More slick, sizzling than on album

There's no shortage of painfully dull and derivative lounge lizards out there, but Michael Bublé stands out as the real deal.

On Monday night, he showed why as the atmosphere in Metropolis suddenly turned electric a few bars into show-opener Come Fly With Me: Bublé is crazy about what he calls the in-the-pocket swing, and his love of the big songs and standards screams from the stage. Hell, the most jaded punk-rocker couldn't argue with that.

The story can be told by body language alone: leg-shaking moves reminiscent of the young Elvis Presley, large but smooth gestures to punctuate the downbeat when his eight-piece band flexes its muscle and a wide-eyed delight at the noise from the squealing female contingent in the audience.

Vegas-styled banter inevitably carries connotations of gladhanding insincerity - and there were, in fact, plenty of carefully-timed punchlines, rehearsed chit-chat with the band, sexual references and double entendres in Bublé's first of two sold-out shows. The second was last night. Even with the shtick, he rarely crossed the line into excess, staying largely with the business at hand: the music. Live, Bublé and his eight-piece band were slick but sizzling in a way his debut album did not convey.

So if his monologue about Montreal's beautiful women and the aphrodisiacal powers of his big ballads was part of the fun for the more vocal tables in the front, it was the four-piece horn section slamming down hard with drummer Bill Wysaske on the Frank Sinatra classic Summer Wind that resonated long

after the last gin and tonic was guzzled. Similarly, if good-natured lampoons of George Michael and Michael Jackson were played strictly for laughs, Fever swung like a son of a gun, with Bublé expertly playing off bassist Craig Polasko. That's what endures.

Perhaps the most revealing moment came with a song that wasn't even on the planned set list for the show: the Bee Gees' How Can You Mend a Broken Heart. Recorded before Maurice Gibb died in January, it almost didn't make it on Bublé's album, either: he considered leaving it off for fear of seeming like an opportunist, he told The Gazette in an interview last week. Producer David Foster convinced him otherwise. "Now when we do it live, I get goosebumps," Bublé said.

On Monday night, only the mean-spirited could have fought off a similar reaction. The song became a spontaneous audience sing-along, Bublé moved into the crowd to press the flesh and - who could have ever predicted this? - it all seemed warm, heartfelt and truthful. If anyone was faking that moment, Oscars are in order.

As the dying notes of My Funny Valentine closed the door on a compact 75-minute set, it seemed odd to leave the Metropolis not feeling battered, only three days after the exhilarating but punishing physical crunch of the White Stripes show at the same venue. The credit goes largely to a well-behaved, heavily middle-aged crowd that actually remained seated and obeyed the no-smoking law.

It could be a last gasp. Bublé's days of playing relatively intimate shows like this can't go on much longer.

By Bernard Perusse, from the Montreal Gazette, November 19, 2003.

Sparkling Bublé

Michael Bublé a new Sinatra? Maybe, but with a big shot of Ozzy Osbourne!

Life has taken a surreal twist for Canadian singer Michael Bublé since charting at number six with his eponymously titled debut album.

He recently found himself sitting next to film legend Sean Connery on Michael Parkinson's chat show. "I had gone to the Chelsea game, so I came in my football sweater, and Sean said [adopts thick Scottish drawl]: 'Boy, I like your music, but get that damn sweater off! You should be wearing a Rangers jersey.' It was a cool thing, James Bond telling me to get my sweater off," laughs the 28 year old, who is adjusting to being in the spotlight.

"There is a rumour going around that I'm engaged," he laughs, incredulously. "I'm supposed to be engaged to the Prime Minister of Canada's daughter and an FHM model."

He admits he's been dating the model, but is taking things slowly by his last long-term girlfriend. "She cheated on me while I was away on tour," he says, ruefully. "A friend saw her in a club with another guy. The worst thing was that I was out looking for wedding rings."

A firm believer in fate, Michael is now convinced he was meant to focus on his music, which harks back to the glory days of classic crooners such as Tony Bennett, but Michael has had enough of being lazily compared, along with UK jazz singer Jamie Cullum, to the king of swing, Frank Sinatra. "Jamie's not even close and neither am I. There is never going to be another Sinatra," he bristles, before admitting, "If you took Sinatra and Ozzy Osbourne, put them in a bottle and shook them, you might find me!"

By Marie Keating, from Hot Stars (UK), November 21, 2003.

Michael Bublé Hitting Up the American Small Screen

Canada’s newest crooner will make his mark on the American small screen this holiday season. ChartAttack favourite Michael Buble will make a total of four TV appearances starting this Sunday (November 30) and will continue up until his performance on Larry King’s Christmas Special, for which a date has not been announced.

On Sunday, a profile on Michael Buble is set to air on NBC’s Dateline. The program will permit his fans to witness how this overnight celebrity spent his summer promoting his wildly successful debut album.

And if you still want to see more of the 25-year-old swingin’ Canadian, then be sure to check out NBC’s Today Show, as he’s set to perform two tracks from his platinum release. The show is set to air on December 4. Buble is also set to perform on Kurt Browning’s Gotta Skate III. This appearance will air in Canada on CBC on December 3 while American viewers can catch the performance on December 21.

Finally, Michael is scheduled to appear on the aforementioned Larry King Christmas Special. Although a date hasn’t been confirmed, there’s a little something you can get your paws on before the special airs. Larry King’s forthcoming album, Gotta Love The Holidays, includes a track from the Vancouver native himself as well as Celine Dion, Elton John, Natalie Cole and many others. The album is set to hit the shelves on December 9. All the proceeds from the album will be donated to the Larry King Cardiac Foundation.

By Jennifer Velagic, from chartattack.com, November 28, 2003.

Michael Bublé on Dateline NBC

Young singer brings Sinatra and classics back to fans

Nov. 30 — Not many singers get their start with the help of a plumber, but you’re about to meet one who did. You may not have heard of Michael Buble yet, but his style and growing legion of fans have people talking of a new Frank Sinatra.

THERE IS A MOMENT, if you catch people on the way up, so sweet, so pregnant with possibility, bursting with talent and confidence, and yet still like frat boys on spring break.
And there in the middle of it is a fisherman’s kid, with a voice like the sun after rain, named Michael Buble. You can’t not know about the music he’s singing — it’s been around for a very long time — but Buble? Who knew this would be new again? Or, that a young singing sensation with a funny name would be poised at the brink of international fame.

Michael Buble: “I really didn’t expect this. I just didn’t expect this.”

Buble: “We’re jazz nerds.”
Keith Morrison: “Jazz nerds?”
Buble: “Jazz nerds. We’re guys that we went, you know, in high school, when everyone else was out and they were cool and partying, we were practicing.”

Buble: “There’s times when I’ll look back and the guys will just have this grin on their face. And you can see them just thinking, ‘How great is our life?’”

Buble: “I really didn’t know that I could do this. I mean I sang like everyone else does, in the shower. But it wasn’t really until right at Christmas, actually. And my grandpa had this little — bought these tracks from Los Angeles, ‘You Sing the Hits of Frank Sinatra.’”
Morrison: “Like a karaoke machine.”
Buble: “A karaoke machine. Yeah.”

Grandpa Mitch: “And I said, my gosh, what the heck? Is this guy for real? I mean, where you been hiding that, you know?”

Buble: “Grandpa always thought I had it; even when I really didn’t have it, he thought I had it. And even when Dateline called and said, ‘You know, we’re going to do a story on you’ and I called him and said, ‘Grandpa, Dateline is going to do a story, he said, ‘what took them so long?’” [Laughter]
Grandpa Mitch: “I always used to say he’s going to be the one to bring this music back.”

Buble: “He said, ‘Listen, I know you have this show coming up with this hotel.’ He said, ‘If you let my grandson up there... we’ll do a little business’, he said. And I think he gave him a new toilet or something like that.”
Morrison: “You mean he was doing plumbing in exchange for giving you a chance?”
Buble: “He did plumbing in exchange for him to give me a chance.”
Still, it didn’t amount to much, beyond supper clubs, buzzing with the sound of nobody listening.
Morrison: “You went through a period I’m sure where it just looked like, well, that was a nice fantasy but nothing’s going to happen’.”
Buble: “Yeah, absolutely. All people would say to me was you know, ‘Michael, you have a nice voice. But, you know, do something else, sing pop or something because you know that you’ll never get a record deal.’”

Buble: “I said, I think it’s time for us to cut our losses. We just didn’t get our break. She said, ‘Sweetheart’, she said, ‘give me one more year. This is going to be the year. It’s going to be the year.’”

Morrison: “You didn’t expect this kind of audience for your music, huh?”
Buble: “No. I mean —”
Morrison: “I mean here you are, 27 years old. You’re singing the songs of dead white guys, you know.”
Buble: “Dead white guys, yeah. Dead white guys and dead black guys, yeah.”
Morrison: “Okay, dead white and black guys.”
Buble: “That’s OK.”
Morrison: “And the stuff is 50 years old and more.”
Buble: “Exactly. You know for a long time, Keith, I thought that I was crazy. I remember thinking, am I the only one my age that loves this stuff? Maybe there’s just a wire that isn’t quite connecting in my brain but it comes down to the basics, that this is good music.”

Buble: “Yeah, I’m feeling a little nervous right now. You know, I just have to go out there and do my very best. You know, I sound...”
Morrison: “You know, you’re so nervous your hair is standing up.” [Laughter]
Buble: “Do you know how much stuff it takes to do this, too?”
Jason Goldman (Sax Player): “Lemme tell you, you can pretty much do anything to Michael except touch his hair. You could say anything on earth, offend him any way possible, but don’t touch a piece of his hair.”
Buble: “Oh, you guys.”

Buble: “That was scary. you go out there and your knees are shaking and you try to hold onto the microphone and not look like your hands are shaking. And at some point I just settle in and think to myself, how wonderful is this?”

Buble: “The greatest part of the whole thing is that it’s not about me, it’s about my family and my friends and people that came to see me at the crappy hotels and the smoky bars that believed in me the whole time. Sometimes when I didn’t believe in myself.”

By Keith Morisson, NBC Dateline, November 30, 2003.

In a taxi with... Michael Bublé

We take a ride stateside with the cute Canadian crooner who puts his success down to unconditional love

The sexiest swing singer since Sinatra was Young Blue Eyes is preparing to escape from his record company minders on a sunny winter afternoon in midtown Manhattan. That's what you do when you've sold a million CDs worldwide and you're on a grueling six-month tour, but you're also a 25-year-old guy who just wants to have fun.

'Let's go see my best friend Liz — I just want to give her a kiss,' says Michael Bublé, winking at me as we leap into a yellow cab driven by a grumpy old Greek. We are picked up at the Paramount, a boutique hotel, where the staff are more beautiful than the guests — except for the Canadian-Italian stallion sitting next to me.

I'm squashed so close to Michael that I don't need a seat belt. Just as well, since Mr Grumpy is driving with a maximum attitude through the heart of the theatre district. We're heading uptown to meet Liz, the motherly publicist he shares with Madonna.

Michael looks bemusedly at a sheaf of promo photos of himself, asking me which ones he should sign for the fans. He likes the one of him lying down, looking vulnerable and ready for love; I like that one, too. Unselfconscious, unguarded and tactile, he keeps reaching over with his pen and tapping my knee for emphasis as he chats. Please, God, don't let stardom spoil him.

'When I met Madonna, she spent the whole time looking at me.' he marvels. 'She didn't have to do that, but she gave a lot of her energy to me.' Why wouldn't Madge keep staring at those feathery eyelashes, that soulful mouth?

Discovered in a talent contest, Bublé is the son of a Vancouver fisherman — and fiercely proud of it. 'My parents Amber and Lewis are very hip and young,' he says. 'They gave me unconditional love that made me what I am; I don't think there's enough unconditional love in the world. I'm not from a pretty-boy background, I'm blue collar. I've been in street fights,' he says. But it was hockey that have the classical nose its kink. 'I can't breathe too well through it — I could'a been a professional player,' he explains.

We hurtle through Time Square, which, he points out, is where Sinatra's On the Town was shot. The story of three girl-chasing sailors who go awol is his kind of movie. My Grumpy upfront starts to mellow after overhearing that on his debut album, Michael sings Francis Albert, as well as more modern classics by George Michael and Van Morisson.

Grudgingly, he agrees to wait outside the Rockefeller Center on Fifth Avenue, where Bublé shows his gift for instant intimacy with a girl on the front desk, then he heads for Liz's crowded office. He tries to drag her downtown with us, but this is one woman who knows how to say no to him. As we drive past the surreal sight of a naked cowboy being photographed in the street with a strategically placed stetson, Mr Grumpy moans that he can't get through the gridlock. 'Let's walk,' decides Bublé.

He pays the driver and leads me through Chinatown to the Italian restaurant Vincent's of Mott Street, an old Mafia hang-out favoured by Robert De Niro. It's also the area where the first Jewish immigrants settled. 'I have a big thing about Jewish girls,' confides Bublé — adding that one girl's father threatened to break his legs!

You can tell he likes women, as well as loves them. He talks tenderly about his sisters, 23-year-old artist Brandee, and 21-year-old actress Crystal. He shows me a picture of his little nephew and says he wants to become a father himself. 'I have about 150 girls in mind,' he grins.

At Vincent's he tells jokes, gossips about Whitney Houston and says he would love to be the first guest star to sleep with all four heroines in Sex and the City. Suddenly, his hazel eyes widen with horror. Yikes! He's left his mobile phone — with the numbers of 70 girls on it — in the taxi.

He is enjoying his freedom after getting his heart broken. 'Her name is [...]. She cheated on me. I'd been away too long. I guess I didn't make her feel secure.' He shrugs and slips on a defensive layer of machismo: 'Still, it was no excuse.'

The owner waives out lunch bill; he can spot an up-and-coming star when he sees one. Michael grabs us another cab and we hurtle back to the Paramount as I ring ahead to ask about the missing mobile. Mr Grumpy must be a fan, as the mobile has been handed in. After my afternoon escort has caught some jazz at the Blue Note, some lucky girl is going to discover what unconditional love feels like tonight.