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The Soul Of It All: My Music, My Life (2013)

by Michael Bolton(Favorite Author)

3.59 of 5 Votes: 5

ISBN

1455523658 (ISBN13: 9781455523658)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Center Street

review 1: I confess, I've never considered myself a Michael Bolton fan. I found the whole "Fabio" look he sported for so many years a turn off, although I thought he sang well. What triggered my listening to his autobiography was that the Kindle version was on promotion and it prompted me to listen to a sample of the audio version.That said, I found "The Soul of It All" to be a very interesting listen. Mr. Bolton grew up in an upwardly mobile middle class home in New Haven, CT and left home as a teenager to seek out opportunities in the world of music. Since neither he nor his musician friends were affluent, this meant living in their van or other "creative" living situations to scrape by between gigs. He describes the financial struggles he experienced after marrying, trying to sup... moreport his family on a musician's salary and how he finally turned to penning & singing commercial jingles to pay the rent. After his solo career began to take off, he stopped singing jingles fearing he'd dilute his brand as a performer. As he became more and more successful, he met and befriend famous folks like Bill and Hillary Clinton, Alice Cooper, and numerous other celebrities. While some reviewers felt he was "name dropping," I thought his reaction was that of awe... meeting people beyond his wildest dreams, a variation on "New Haven kid does good." The aspect of his autobiography that I found most surprising was his philanthropy. He founded a charitable organization serving women and children at risk for poverty and abuse (the Michael Bolton Charities) as a channel to give back to his home state of Connecticut and nationally. The last quote I expected to hear in his biography? Gandhi's "Poverty is the worst form of violence." Bolton is strongly committed to alleviating homeless and hunger, and considers poverty a form of domestic terror. I started listening to this autography based on hearing Bolton describe (in the audiobook sample) his delight in performing as Captain Jack Sparrow in a Saturday Night Live parody video. I continued to listen to the end inspired by Bolton's work ethic and (as he puts it) "kindness, compassion, and awe." Along with this being a very interesting book, Bolton's narration makes it even better. I'm glad I took the time to hear Michael Bolton tell the story of his life.
review 2: I enjoyed the listen... listened to the digital version. Perseverance is his middle name. While most entertainers would have quit many times over, Michael kept moving forward. Michael is incredibly motivational, so if he gets tired of singing ... he can always do motivational speaking. I don't feel like he really revealed "his soul", most of the book was a chronological telling of his life. He did dig a little deeper when he was relating his love for his daughters and the charity he sponsors ... but as for his soul? Maybe in the next book. If you're a Michael fan (I am), you'll enjoy this book just because it's Michael. less

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