In an interview with American Songwriter, Michael Bolton recalled his financial troubles and how he kept them a secret from his kids. The singer had struggled with financial hardship before his music career started, but his family wasn’t aware of it. He explained:
“I didn’t want my kids to know how bad it really was. We didn’t have the term ‘homeless’ back then, but we still had eviction notices. And we were facing those.”
Bolton then explained the reason why he wasn’t in a financially good state back then, which eventually seemed to get better:
“They weren’t hungry for solo careers as recording artists. They just were crazy talented songwriters who loved showing up to write a good song. I watched them and I learned from working with them. I got better, working with better writers.”
The singer gained thousands of dollars with only one song, ‘How Am I Supposed To Live Without You,’ originally sung by Laura Branigan. Bolton’s version of the song gained more popularity than Branigan’s and topped the charts, lasting 23 weeks.
Bolton stated in an earlier interview that he never expected to have more than $78.000 for that one song, and when he did, the first thing he did was to call his accountant to see whether he could buy a car.
He appears to be financially in a better state now, and according to the singer, his first priority is his family, and ‘there is nothing funny about the starving artist when you have kids.’
The singer is currently on tour, which is planned to end towards the middle of next year. See the dates here.
