Michael Bublé

Michael Bublé (singer, songwriter) was born in the city of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada to Lewis Bublé, a salmon fisherman, and Amber (née Santagà). He has two younger sisters, Crystal (an actress) and Brandee. He attended Seaforth Elementary School and Cariboo Hill Secondary School. According to an Oprah interview on 9 October 2009, Bublé dreamed of becoming a famous singer since age two. When he was a teenager, he slept with his Bible and prayed to become a singer. Bublé’s interest in jazz music began around age five when his family played Bing Crosby’s White Christmas album at Christmas time.The first time that his family noticed his singing talent was at Christmas time when Bublé was 13 years old, and they heard him powerfully sing the phrase “May your days be merry and bright” when the family was singing to the song “White Christmas” in a car ride.

Bublé had a strong passion for ice hockey and wanted to become a professional ice hockey player for the Vancouver Canucks growing up, but believed he was not good at it, stating: “I wanted so bad to be a hockey player… If I was any good at hockey, I probably wouldn’t be singing right now.” Bublé often played hockey in his youth, watched Vancouver Canucks games with his father, and said that he “went to every single home game as a kid.”.

From age 14 Bublé spent six years working during the summer as a commercial fisherman with his father and crewmates.Bublé described his work experience as “The most deadly physical work I’ll ever know in my lifetime. We’d be gone for two, sometimes three months at a time and the experience of living and working among guys over twice my age taught me a lot about responsibility and what it means to be a man.”

His first singing engagements were in nightclubs at the age of 16 and were facilitated by his Italian grandfather Demetrio Santagà,a plumber originally from the small town of Preganziol, in the district of Treviso, who offered his plumbing services in exchange for stage time for his grandson. Bublé’s grandfather also paid for his singing lessons. One of his vocal instructors was Joseph Shore, the opera baritone. Bublé grew up listening to his grandfather’s collection of jazz records and credits his grandfather in encouraging his love for jazz music. “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 ‘n’ 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.” Bublé never stopped believing that he would become a star but admitted he was probably the only one who believed in his dream, stating that even his maternal grandfather thought Bublé was going to be “an opening act for somebody in Las Vegas”. Bublé’s maternal grandmother Iolanda Mosconewas also Italian, from Carrufo, Villa Santa Lucia degli Abruzzi, Italy. Bublé has stated he never learned to read and write music, using only emotion to drive his songwriting ability.

At the age of 18, Bublé entered a local talent contest and won. But after winning, he was disqualified by organizer Bev Delich because he was underage. After that, Delich entered Bublé in the Canadian Youth Talent Search, which he won. Following that win, Bublé asked Delich to be his manager. Delich signed on and represented Bublé for the next seven not-so-fruitful years. According to Delich, Bublé would do every gig imaginable, including talent shows, conventions, cruise ships, malls, hotel lounges, bars, clubs, corporate gigs, musical revues, singing telegrams, and even the occasional singing Santa Claus gig.

In 1996, Bublé appeared in TV’s “Death Game” (aka Mortal Challenge) as a Drome Groupie. Also in 1996, he appeared (uncredited) in two episodes of The X-Files as a Submarine Sailor.

Bublé’s first national TV performance was on a 1997 award-winning Bravo! documentary titled Big Band Boom!, directed by Mark Glover Masterson.

Beginning in 1997, Bublé also became a frequent guest on Vicki Gabereau’s national talk show on the CTV network. During its first season the Vancouver-based program aired live, which ultimately worked in Bublé’s favour. When a scheduled guest was forced to cancel, the show’s music producer (Mark Fuller) often asked Bublé to fill in at the last minute. On one occasion, Bublé shared guest duties with fellow British Columbian Diana Krall, who was already a Grammy-nominated jazz musician. According to Fuller, Krall was suitably impressed with Bublé’s performance. The Gabereau appearances provided Bublé with great exposure, but they also helped the singer hone his television skills as a performer and as an interview guest. In a mutual show of gratitude, Bublé appeared on the final Gabereau show in 2005, along with Jann Arden and Elvis Costello.

Bublé received two Genie Award-nominations in 2000 for two songs he wrote for the film Here’s to Life! (“I’ve Never Been in Love Before”, “Dumb ol’ Heart”).He recorded three independent albums (First Dance, 1996; Babalu, 2001; Dream, 2002).But by 25 years of age, Bublé moved from British Columbia to Toronto, Ontario and was ready to give up the dream of professional musicianship to move back to Vancouver, British Columbia to pursue a career in journalism, when his lucky break came in 2000.

 

Video Clips

 

Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame (2007)
(arranged and conducted by Lou Pomanti)

“How Are You”

 

“The Way You Look Tonight”