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| Michael Buble |
Michael Bublé was born in the City of Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada to Lewis Bublé, a salmon fisherman, and Amber (née Santagà). He has two younger sisters, Crystal (an actress) and Brandee. He attended Seaforth Elementary School and Cariboo Hill Secondary School. According to an Oprah interview on 9 October 2009, Bublé dreamed of becoming a famous singer since age two. When he was a teenager, he slept with his Bible and prayed to become a singer. Bublé's interest in jazz music began around age five when his family played Bing Crosby's White Christmas album at Christmas time. The first time that his family noticed his singing talent was at Christmas time when Bublé was 13 years old, and they heard him powerfully sing the phrase "May your days be merry and bright" when the family was singing to the song "White Christmas" in a car ride.
Michael Buble had a strong passion for ice hockey and wanted to become a professional ice hockey player for the Vancouver Canucks growing up, but believed he was not good at it, stating: "I wanted so bad to be a hockey player... If I was any good at hockey, I probably wouldn't be singing right now." Bublé often played hockey in his youth, watched Vancouver Canucks games with his father, and said that he "went to every single home game as a kid. . . I remember I wanted to be Gary Lupul, I wanted to be Patrik Sundstrom and Ivan Hlinka. I used to think that being named Michael Bublé was pretty cool because I was close to being called Jiri Bubla." Michael Buble also shared his hockey interest with his grandfather.
From age 14, Michael Buble spent six years working during the summer as a commercial fisherman with his father and crewmates. Bublé described his work experience as "The most deadly physical work I’ll ever know in my lifetime. We’d be gone for two, sometimes three months at a time and the experience of living and working among guys over twice my age taught me a lot about responsibility and what it means to be a man."
His first singing engagements were in nightclubs at the age of 16 and were facilitated by his Italian grandfather Demetrio Santagà, a plumber originally from the small town of Preganziol, in the district of Treviso, who offered his plumbing services in exchange for stage time for his grandson. Bublé's grandfather also paid for his singing lessons. One of his vocal instructors was Joseph Shore, the opera baritone. Michael Buble grew up listening to his grandfather's collection of jazz records and credits his grandfather in encouraging his love for jazz music. "My grandfather was really my best friend growing up. He was the one who opened me up to a whole world of music that seemed to have been passed over by my generation. Although I like rock 'n' roll and modern music, the first time my granddad played me the Mills Brothers, something magical happened. The lyrics were so romantic, so real, the way a song should be for me. It was like seeing my future flash before me. I wanted to be a singer and I knew that this was the music that I wanted to sing." Bublé never stopped believing that he would become a star but admitted he was probably the only one who believed in his dream, stating that even his maternal grandfather thought Bublé was going to be "an opening act for somebody in Las Vegas". Bublé's maternal grandmother Iolanda Moscone was also Italian, from Carrufo, Villa Santa Lucia degli Abruzzi, Italy. Michael Buble has stated he never learned to read and write music, using only emotion to drive his songwriting ability.
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| Michael Buble |
In 1996, Michael Buble appeared in TV's "Death Game" (aka Mortal Challenge) as a Drome Groupie. Also in 1996, he appeared (uncredited) in 2 episodes of The X-Files as a Submarine Sailor.
Michael Buble's first national TV performance was on a 1997 award-winning Bravo! documentary titled Big Band Boom!, directed by Mark Glover Masterson.
Beginning in 1997, Michael Buble also became a frequent guest on Vicki Gabereau's national talk show on the CTV network. During its first season the Vancouver-based program aired live, which ultimately worked in Bublé's favor. When a scheduled guest was forced to cancel, the show's music producer (Mark Fuller) often asked Bublé to fill in at the last minute. On one occasion, Bublé shared guest duties with fellow British Columbian Diana Krall, who was already a Grammy-nominated jazz musician. According to Fuller, Krall was suitably impressed with Bublé's performance. The Gabereau appearances provided Bublé with great exposure, but they also helped the singer hone his television skills as a performer and as an interview guest. In a mutual show of gratitude, Michael Buble appeared on the final Gabereau show in 2005, along with Jann Arden and Elvis Costello.
Michael Buble received two Genie Award-nominations in 2000 for two songs he wrote for the film Here's to Life! ("I've Never Been in Love Before", "Dumb ol' Heart"). He recorded three independent albums (First Dance, 1996; Babalu, 2001; Dream, 2002). But by 25 years of age, Bublé moved from British Columbia to Toronto, Ontario and was ready to give up the dream of professional musicianship to move back to Vancouver, British Columbia to pursue a career in journalism, when his lucky break came in 2000.
Personal life
Michael Bublé was engaged to long-time girlfriend Debbie Timuss, a stage actress, dancer, and singer. Both were in the musicals Red Rock Diner in 1996 and Dean Regan's Forever Swing in 1998. Timuss was listed as one of the dedicatees in Bublé's self-titled album Michael Bublé and It's Time, and as background vocalist on It's Time. While away in Italy, Michael Buble co-wrote the hit single "Home" for Timuss. Timuss was also featured in the music video for "Home". Their engagement ended in November 2005. Their breakup inspired Bublé to co-write the hit original song "Lost".
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| Michael Buble |
Michael Buble became engaged in Argentina to girlfriend Luisana Lopilato in November 2009. She is an Argentine actress and model. Bublé co-wrote the hit single "Haven't Met You Yet" for Lopilato, and she appeared in the song's music video. They reportedly met in November 2008 at a party thrown by Bublé's record company after one of his concerts in Buenos Aires. The couple wed on 31 March 2011 in Buenos Aires.
Since 2005, Michael Buble has had dual Italian-Canadian citizenship. A big hockey fan since childhood, Bublé requires "one local team hockey puck" in his dressing room as part of his rider contract to concert promoters in every city. Since December 2008 he has been co-owner of the Vancouver Giants.
On 12 February 2009 Michael Buble pledged a donation of A$50,000 to the victims of the Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria, Australia.
