With his husky voice and deeply felt covers of classic soul and Motown songs, adult contemporary singer Michael Bolton was an inescapable presence in the late 1980s and early ’90s.
• Bolton got started in the mid-’70s as a hard rocker, releasing a pair of albums with his band Blackjack and touring as an opening act for Ozzy Osbourne.
• His transition to pop began as a songwriter, when he co-wrote Laura Branigan’s 1983 hit “How Am I Supposed to Live Without You,” which reached the top of the Adult Contemporary singles chart. Bolton recorded a version for his 1989 album Soul Provider that was a No. 1 hit and won a Grammy.
• Bolton also co-wrote “I Found Someone” for Branigan in 1985, but the song was a bigger hit for Cher when she recorded it in 1987.
• His breakthrough as a performer came on his 1987 album The Hunger, which included a version of Otis Redding’s “(Sittin’ On) the Dock of the Bay” that reached No. 11 on the Billboard Hot 100.
• Bolton’s 1991 LP Time, Love & Tenderness was his biggest commercial success, reaching the top of the Billboard 200 and launching four Top 40 singles, including his signature cover of the Percy Sledge tune When a Man Loves a Woman.
• In the 2000s, Bolton recorded albums paying tribute to Frank Sinatra, classic rock and soul songs, and Motown.
• He appears occasionally on TV and in movies, often playing a version of himself. He made one memorable appearance on Saturday Night Live with the music comedy trio The Lonely Island in their video for “Jack Sparrow.”