Michael Bolton - 'LOVE IS the MOST IMPORTANT THING'

AT 70, THE SINGER HAS FOUND SWEET HARMONY WITH A FULFILLING FAMILY LIFE - AND AN INSPIRING NEW ROMANCE 

- RACHEL DESANTIS

Long before the Grammy Awards, the No. 1 hits and his stacked catalog of love songs, Michael Bolton was a hard-rocking club singer in Connecticut playing for small but attentive crowds. It was during one of those performances that he had a “life-altering moment,” an aha awakening that made him realize he was made for the spotlight. “Something happened for the first time onstage that allowed me to get a sense of how strong the music can be,” he says of his 1967 epiphany at the Exit, a now-defunct New Haven club. “I was aware that people were standing and rocking, trying to make sense of what they were looking at: a long-haired kid with wire-rim glasses and a very big voice.”

Over the years Bolton shed both those specs and his signature mane, but his powerful tenor—which moved listeners on classics like “How Can We Be Lovers” and “When a Man Loves a Woman”— remains strong. He’s sold more than 65 million records and recorded more than 20 studio albums. And with three daughters, six grandchildren and a new relationship with girlfriend Heather Kerzner, 54, Bolton, at 70, is more inspired than ever to record love songs. On July 14 he’ll release Spark of Light, his first album of all original material. “The people I love bring me a lot of happiness,” he says. “Being able to write melodies and lyrics that speak to you, that move you, is such a gift.”