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Canadian crooner relies on American songbook to woo fans with sound that's so old it's new
Published on Wednesday, Apr 16, 2008
By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal music writer
In today's song-of-the-month pop world, there wouldn't appear to be much room for an old-style crooner whose name is not Tony Bennett. Though the large collection of songs commonly known as the great American songbook are not being ignored by singers, the average aspiring young pop singer (and their record company) is more likely to seek out the latest hot producer to get the latest hot sound than try to build a career with the songbook as his or her foundation.
Then there's Michael Buble.
The 32-year-old Canadian singer, who will perform at Cleveland State University's Wolstein Center on Saturday, has filled his six-album, one-Christmas-EP catalog with a mix of classic tunes as well as adroit covers of more recent pop fair. His recordings include songs by Eric Clapton, Leon Russell, the Beatles, Ray Charles and a few of his own original compositions. Definitely a throwback, Buble sings classic tunes in a style that has a strong, late-1960s-Frank-Sinatra influence in his phrasing and timing.
But as many modern pop singers' influences seem to go back only as far as Eddie Vedder (who Buble says as a teenager he thought was the ''second coming of Elvis'') or R. Kelly or Michael Jackson, Buble's generational skip has helped him crossover to a younger (largely female) audience for whom he is unique and its older counterpart, who enjoy the familiarity and songs.
Buble's latest album, Call Me Irresponsible, which he has called his ''remark on the state of love,'' continues the formula he's used to sell more than 15 million albums around the globe, plus garner him the 2008 Grammy for best traditional pop vocal, with punchy big-band arrangements courtesy of legendary arranger/producer David Foster. It contains a mix of well-worn standards including the Sinatra-associated title track, That's Life, a slinky take on Leonard Cohen's I'm Your Man, Clapton's Wonderful Tonight done with a light Latin groove and featuring Brazilian singer/writer Ivan Lins. There's also a reverent jazzy version of the classic '70s R&B ballad Me and Mrs. Jones, which Buble had never heard before Foster introduced it to him.
Just as Diana Krall, another relatively young standards interpreter who has taken to writing tunes of her own to grow as an artist, Buble's originals — the slightly treacly ballad Lost and the up-tempo acoustic guitar-driven love tune and first single Everything — have a more contemporary sound that is only slightly out of step with the rest of the album. This shows Buble is interested in being more than just another singer of great old songs.
Buble's rise to stardom began in his native Vancouver, British Columbia, where as a preteen the fisherman's son listened to the same pop music his peers did. He
developed a love for the great American songbook from his plumber grandfather, who enjoyed versatile classic singer/crooners/entertainers such as Bobby Darin, Ray Charles, the Rat Pack and Elvis Presley.
''I really started to fall in love with this music,'' Buble recalled recently in an article in the Memphis Commercial Appeal.
''What was really wonderful for me, though, was we got this wonderful bond going between grandfather and grandson,'' he continued. That bond grew even stronger when the teenaged Buble, already sure of his future as a singer, began playing gigs acquired by his grandfather, who would exchange his plumbing services to get the young Buble gigs.
Shortly after, the young singer began paying his proverbial dues with gigs in any place that would have him — from shopping malls to strip clubs and hotel lounges — where he learned how to entertain a crowd.
''As I look back now, I wouldn't give that up for the world,'' Buble told the Commercial Appeal.
''I think the most beautiful thing is I got the chance to fail over and over again and to learn my craft. I played for audiences that didn't necessarily come to see me. They came to get drunk and get laid, and I happened to be there. At some point when I was confident enough to take an audience like that and put them in my hand, I knew I was going to be good enough to have success at the next level.''
By 2000, he had won the Canadian Youth Talent Search, released a few independent albums and was making a name for himself. His chance to make it to the next level came when, after a gig at a business gathering, Buble's CD made it into the hands of Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, who contacted the singer to perform at his daughter's wedding. There, Buble was introduced to 14-time Grammy winning Canadian producer Foster, who signed him to his boutique record label 143, and produced his self-titled mainstream debut released in 2003, which sold more than 1 million copies in the States alone.
His second album, It's Time, skipped the sophomore slump, reaching No. 7 on the Billboard charts. It featured the usual standards and contemporary tunes such as Leon Russell's A Song for You and the Beatles' Can't Buy Me Love.
Now Buble is riding high having won a Canadian Smooth Jazz Award and touring the States with a show that — similar to his Rat Pack forbearers' 1960s Vegas revues — contains a large amount of hammy shtick. On stage backed by a 13-piece band, Buble delivers lines such as ''tonight you love me, tomorrow it's, 'I love you, Josh Groban!' '' (also produced by Foster). He apologizes to the men in the audience for the romantic nature of his show, promising them that it will pay dividends for them later in the evening as if the words just popped into his head.
He flirts with and eventually walks into the audience, allowing his many young female fans a chance to grope him, get autographs and take photos.
Though only in his early 30s, Buble has the countenance and confidence of a performer well beyond his years. But if he continues to successfully traverse the fine line between the lounge-act flavor of his stage show and his solid and occasionally inventive recorded interpretations of classics and grow as a singer-songwriter, Buble should be able to carve out his own little space in pop music where classic meets contemporary and both are better for it.
Malcolm X Abram can be reached at mabram@thebeaconjournal.com or 330-996-3758.
By Malcolm X Abram
Beacon Journal music writer
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