♪ >> Welcome to Canada Files .

I'm Valerie Pringle.

My guest today is Michael Bublé who has been credited with reviving the Great American Songbook.

He has sold over 75 million records of the old classics.

In addition to the songs he has written that have become classics themselves.

Despite his obvious talent and beautiful voice, his vastly successful career came anything but easily to him.

I spoke to him in Vancouver.

>> Valerie: Michael Bublé, hello.

>> Michael: Hi.

>> We are in Vancouver where you live.

>> We are in Vancouver.

>> In your old neighbourhood.

Your kids go to the school you went to.

Why?

>> Yup.

I'm about 5 minutes away from where I used to sing at all the nightclubs and bars.

>> But obviously this is important to you to live your life, or your kind of childhood.

Give that to your kids.

>> This morning, my manager said to me, "What you say to going and living in LA?"

I said no, never going to happen.

Everybody leaves... goes to New York or LA.

It's as much as me being fiercely proud of being Canadian and loving my city of Vancouver and Burnaby.

As it is being protective of myself.

One of the things I gain from staying and never leaving is an anchor in my life.

A real way of truly protecting the person that came before Michael Bublé became a thing.

I think that being able to take my kids to the same elementary school that I went.

Have the same friends that I grew up with.

Living four minutes from my mom and dad.

Having the same bakery.

There's something that keeps me grounded.

Then there are the people.

And it isn't LA, I'm sorry.

>> So you weren't kidding when you said you wanted to go home.

Forget Paris and Rome.

I just want to go home.

>>...it's funny--this discussion we actually had this morning was the negative impact that it probably had on my career.

And for me, yeah, I probably lost opportunities to do other or different things.

Um...but it also allowed me to stay on a path where I didn't ever worry about losing myself to the industry.

>> That idea of keeping those values is obviously hugely important to you.

As I think of you in your same-old neighbourhood ...are the legendary stories of you at two, things you'd sing.

Or in the back of your parents' car singing Christmas carols.

And they're going, "Wow, he has pipes!"

And your sweet grandfather doing so much to promote your career.

Anything.

>> This was a family affair.

I'm 14 years old saying to them, "I want to be a singer".

My grandfather, of course, was my best friend.

We just loved talking hockey and music.

We would sit down cross-legged on this beautiful green-- ugly but beautiful to me, green carpet in the family room.

...it was a lesson every day, a lesson I wanted to learn.

I was fascinated!

Today, we're going through the discography of the Mills Brothers.

He'd tell me the stories, "You know the Mills Brothers, Sunshine".

Cause he never called me anything else but Sunshine.

"Sunshine, the Mills Brothers-- they came first.

Dean Martin was a big fan of the Mills Brothers.

So tomorrow, we'll go onto Dean Martin.

Dean was a big fan and then after Dean, who had a big inspiration was Elvis Presley Who loved listening to Dean and the way he sounded."

>> But you heard this stuff in your head.

You didn't study music.. you had this innate... >> I did study it.

>> Oh you did?

>> I studied music more than anyone who has gone to a college or university who will ever study music.

We just didn't call it studying.

We called it listening to a Walkman.

It was me.

I downloaded and processed that information.

I loved it so much that I couldn't get enough.

I could not eat enough, not drink, sleep, breathe.

It came through every pore.

My grandfather was a plumber for 50 years.

And he loved music the way I love music.

He loved it!

So I...parents ask me many times.

They say, "My son, or my daughter.

What can they do?"

"They want to be a singer."

I'll say the same thing, "Just get as much music as you can and just listen to it over and over again.

And steal all of it."

>> Because you could mimic, do everyone.

>> Yeah, I did.

That's what I would do...

I loved all these different parts of all these different artists.

I loved it, still love it!

Still do it.

>> You listen to music all the time.

How do they breathe, sound.

>> I'm disappointed with music a lot now.

I really am.

...a lot of it is-- I understand why people like it.

I love music so much that I feel like I went through so much of the 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s.

Now once in awhile, a song comes out.

I go, "That's a great song!"

And I get so excited!

>> But not so often.

>> Bruno Mars puts out Leave the Door Open .

I go...this is a great song!

Or Sheeran puts out a song and I go, "Well, this is a well-crafted beautiful song lyrically."

>> How do you explain the belief you had in yourself even with the help of your family for those 10 years.

You think of the nightclubs, cruise ships, singing telegrams.

>> Those beautiful shopping malls.

BTW: it was helpful that I was playing....

Everywhere I played, no-one was paying to see me.

They just happened to be there.

To get drunk, meet somebody or get a nice sweater at The Gap.

I knew, you put me in... all these different environments.

I have been blessed that I'm so sensitive, perhaps even empathetic that when I stand on stage, something happens for me.

I am able to make a deep connection to an audience of 5, 50, 5,000, 50,000.

I knew that.

I knew I could sing...and because of all that studying that we were talking about.

Because of all of those thousands and thousands of hours of downloading, singing, practicing and emulating, I knew I was as good, or better, than anyone else alive.

There's no false humility here.

...my thing was, it may never happen but it won't be because it shouldn't have happened.

It'll be because... the dominoes just didn't fall.

And I didn't get the break.

Even when I got signed and I ended up getting that first record deal which I never thought I'd get.

Even then, the actual math of the deal was if you don't sell 100,000 of this first record, there will be no second record.

There's a woman named Jo Faloona who has worked with me and my management company for 16 years.

Her job was to guesstimate the number of products that I would see in my lifetime.

I believe her guesstimation was I would do from 50-100 thousand records in the lifetime of the project.

So I remember when I went back years later, after we'd got to 50 million copies or some crazy thing.

I said, "Jo, what was that?

You didn't see that coming?"

"50,000 copies!"

She said, "Chicken, your first single was Spiderman.

What the hell?"

Again, she's right.

It's so against all odds.

>> Do you still feel that now that it was against all odds?

>> Are you kidding... >> But you still believed in yourself.

Working that hard to get through.

>> To quote my grandfather, as I walked into Madison Square Garden, to play to a sold-out audience the first time, I said,"Grandpa".

I think it's on film too.

"Did you think we'd get here?"

He said, "No, Sunshine, I thought you'd be in Vegas at clubs."

There was a belief something would happen I just don't think they saw-- >> It that big.

Who would have seen it that big?

>> Again, I stupidly had this ambition.

I sat with my musical director.

His name was Alan Chang.

It was 21 years ago.

We sat in a little café in Montreal.

He had been hired about 4 days before.

We sat down, I bought him a beer and said, "So here's the plan."

He said, "What?"

We'll start in clubs.

Start doing these showcases in these restaurants.

And we'll get the little theatres, maybe little bigger clubs.

Then get the soft-seaters .

From those soft seaters, we'll get to these small arenas.

Without having to cut down.

Once we get to those arenas, we'll play full arenas.

Then we'll play multiple nights at arenas, then get stadiums.

He looked at me and-- now years later of course.

But he just looked at me like you idiot.

What do you think?

But I figured I could do it.

I love people, dude.

I don't know how else to tell you.

BTW: I'm singing music that I would pay to sing.

Now I get to do that and to create all this love and joy.

And this gorgeous energy.

That's my happiness.

>> You are a rare soul, as a traditional showbiz entertainer.

>> It's my favourite part.

I feel like--I say this often.

But my favourite part of those shows is just getting through the song so I can talk to you again.

When I say talk to you, not at you, with you.

To hear what you have to say.

Find those moments in Philadelphia, Dubai or Calgary.

Where something happens.

It's always different every single night.

Where you touch someone, or they touch you.

Or a crowd of 15,000 people see something that they know isn't schtick .

Isn't that thing that, you know...I don't know.

...I wish everyone could experience it, you know.

Beautiful for me now with my kids.

They get to watch their poppy.

>> And your grandfather saw you succeed.

>> He did.

>> Even better.

>> He saw me.

What was cool was I would go every Tuesday and Thursday to McDonalds on Gamma.

I would sit with him and his buddies.

They were all about 80 something.

We'd bitch about the Canucks.

Talk about music and life.

People would be at the restaurant.

They would look over at me and go, "No."

It was cute too.

I remember early on, people would ask for pictures.

I would say, "Oh okay, take a picture."

My grandpa would say, "Sunshine, one day they ain't gonna want the pictures."

He would say, "Enjoy it".

>> How do you interpret songs?

From Vera Lynn to the Bee Gees.

Everybody's songs you've done.

Barry White.

When you hear it, you go like I'm gonna do it.

Then you start and go like how do I sing this?

>> I put myself into the song.

It sounds so corny to say it.

I literally put myself inside the song.

Really almost a narcissistic way, I guess, of doing it.

You mention Barry White, you know.

The Barry White song was one of those songs where-- My First, My Last, My Everything.

When I talked about wanting to do it, right away the people that love me in my life said, "mmmm..nobody.." >> Don't touch Barry White.

>> Nobody covers Barry White.

But what they didn't know was that I would play that song, and my wife would be cooking in the kitchen.

I would be grabbing her butt and trying to dance with her.

That was like the most romantic song.

I would look at her and sing it to her.

Because she's my everything.

It's interesting.

The producer's name was Greg Wells.

Wonderful, he's one of the great Canadian producers of all time.

You might not know Greg Wells but trust me when I tell you, you know the music that Greg Wells has written and produced.

When I came to him with the song, he was really trepiditious about it.

He said..mmm, Barry White.

So I started talking to him and telling the story.

I was really sinking into the song.

I walked in with this group of guys in the band and said, "Listen, I want this vibe to be celebratory."

I said because this song is pure joy and love.

Long story short, we got into the studio, got through the first two takes.

We were sitting there working on the mix, his eyes were so wide.

He came to me and said, "Mike, I understand.

It is pure bliss...this is just a love letter to your wife.

Dude, you are deep.

I can't help myself.

It's catchy.

That feeling that you're creating here, it is impossible.

I understand it Mike--it works.

It shouldn't have worked.

It couldn't worked but somehow this is unbelievable."

>> Barry White was the one.

Beach Boys.... think of the people you've worked with.

From Barbra Streisand to Willy Nelson.

Even Paul McCartney on the last record.

>> Sir Paul produced, yeah.

>> Sir Paul.

>> It's good that I live in Vancouver.

>> Because otherwise... your head.

>> My head would be so big.

>> Hello, Barbara.

My friend, Sir Paul.

>> It's so funny, you know.

The best thing about all those people you mentionned, literally every single one?

Cher, she just recorded Home with me.

All of them are so cool .

None of them have a thing to prove.

They're exactly who you hope they are.

There's this air of confidence yet humility that each one of them hold.

You mention Barbara Streisand.

You and I've heard all of the things they say about her.

Let me tell you about Barbara Streisand.

She is funny, self-deprecating, so highly intelligent.

If there's anything people would say this is wrong about her, was that she understands so distinctly what she wants to do.

She can articulate it.

And she knows how to execute.

And BTW: so does Céline Dion.

Nice woman.

Great woman.

But she doesn't mess around either.

...you're on stage with Celine and she'll literally say those words.

I watched her say the words.

We were doing a special together and somebody said to her, "Well, maybe try this".

She looked the man in the eye and said, "Tell me exactly what you want me to do and I will execute for you."

>> It was so... >> Professional.

>> And BTW: then she did exactly what he asked her to do.

And it was nails .

>> I loved the story about you writing Home .

That it came so quickly to you, you thought you'd stolen it.

>> Oh yeah.

There are many songs when I've done that.

I was in the shower in some little city in Italy.

Basically tried to open up my mind to the universe, good God or whatever you want to call it.

And in dropped ♪ "Another summer day has come and gone away"♪ And I has most of it then.

Then what was really fun was David Foster's daughter, Amy Foster, who is hugely talented person.

Has massive success in her own right.

There was a lyric that she wrote and I remember she said, "I want it to be [I'm keeping all the letters I wrote to you]" I said to her, "Yeah but Amy,who writes--nobody writes letters."

She kept saying to me, "Yes, but I want there to be something so tactile .

I want the listener to be able to have an image of something that they can feel and touch."

We argued about it for awhile.

But as usual, Amy was right.

BTW: I ended up saying that many times in my life.

Because we had many songs that we wrote together and many arguments where I'd say bmmftt..mmmm.

Then it would come to me calling her, "Ok, you did it again.

You're right, Amy."

>> Tell me about your family.

>> OMG, what do you want me to tell you?

>> Four kids.

Fabulous wife.

>> Unbelievable wife who's my hero.

They're the best of the best.

She's given me the greatest gift that anyone could give.

And that is bringing me back to having a strong faith.

And not being afraid to say it out loud.

Because it's so corny and weird now.

And weird people have made faith so weird.

With their weird thoughts about it.

I just love she's brought me back to a place where you know, I'm cosy in my skin.

>> You are.

>> I hope you like me but if you don't, that's really your loss.

She's teaching me how to be a better father, I think.

To be a happier guy.

To not take it to heart when something fails.

She's supported me and told me it's okay for me to be so ambitious.

But at the same time, she's always helped me to see how to see the clairity of what's really important.

>> You sang at Tony Bennett's 90th birthday.

>> Yes.

>> What did you sing ?

>> I sang him, ♪ "I want to be around to pick up the pieces when somebody breaks your heart."

♪ >> When you look at his career, and he was a friend, mentor, can you imagine having a career that long?

96!

>> Yeah, I hope so.

There's no way I'm gonna-- maybe I will, I don't know!

It's funny...

When I was talking to the team this morning about the future, and someone said to me, "What do you want?"

I said, "I want to tour because I want to, not because I have to."

>> You look at that and you wonder what is the lesson of your career?

Is it just talent, persistence, dreams equals success.

>> Listen, I can probably back up my stuff.

But the truth is I'm here 20 years later because I have built a family of people who love me.

Who have put me on the right track when I've got off.

Helped me to plan and persevere.

Picked me up when I was down.

You know Paul Anka?

I just talked to Paul right before I got here.

I'm happy to tell you this story.

Because I told Paul I'd talk about it.

Years ago, I was feeling sort of that insecurity.

I was feeling like I was on the road where things might not be ascending.

He didn't know that, at least I don't think he knew that.

He called me.

I was in Argentina outside of a sandwich shop, buying sandwiches for my-- then I think I had two kids.

He said, "Hey, Mike.

It's Paul".

He talks like that.

He said, "Hey, how you doing?"

I said good.

He said, "I just want to tell you something."

I said okay.

He said, "You know, you are the best in the world at what you do-- there's no-one like you.

So other things are going up or down, people are panicking around you, promise me something, Kid.

I said ok.

He said, "Promise me you will never ever panic.

Don't you ever panic.

You stay true to who you are.

Keep your head down and keep going forward.

You do what's right.

Keep that integrity.

Keep doing what your gut tells you to do.

And one day, it's going to be you.

You'll be Tony Bennett.

Remember it and do it for somebody else.

Because that's all that matters.

If this business is about anything, it's about giving back."

He said, "And that's our legacy."

>> What a story.

>> Yeah.

>> The final question we always ask for this is what does being Canadian mean to you?

>> ...honestly I think it is just... Am I the most Canadian Canadian?

I am, aren't I?

It literally is, if not the biggest, one of the biggest parts of my identity.

I'm fiercely proud...too much.

I think I'm way too patriotic.

I had the most amazing thing that ever happened.

It was sitting on Zoom, watching my wife, this gorgeous, proud Argentinean woman give her oath and become Canadian.

I cried so hard... And she was cool too!

She was doing the thing-- waving the little Canadian flag.

I carry it with me.

I always think about my country.

I think about my people-- my countrymen and women.

I try to think about how I represent them when I'm going off to 50 other countries.

I try not to but I end up bragging about other Canadians.

Know what I mean?

I can't even be in a theatre.

I can be in a theatre with people I don't know.

I'll say things like "Ryan Reynolds is from Canada, ya know."

Also Gosling and Seth.

Anyway, it's so... >> I know.

>> Do you do it too?

>> Yes!

>> I'm really bad-- I love it so much!

I love when Michael J.

Fox had the best when he said, "I'm as Canadian as possible under the circumstances."

>> I thought that was genius.

>> It's perfect.

And thank you so much.

>> Thank you.

>> We'll be back next week with another episode of Canada Files .

♪ ♪