New York Post
December 23, 1998

NEW PAD FOR BAND-AID HEIR

THE vivacious Libbet Ross Johnson - heir to some $1 billion in Band-Aid stock - can pretty well do as she pleases. I hear that means a fabulous new apartment and a famous new boyfriend. Real-estate sources say Libbet is close to signing a $20 million deal to buy three park-view apartments high atop Trump International Tower. She'll combine them into a stunning, eight-bedroom, 10,000-square-foot duplex. She'd planned to do something similar for $26 million at 820 Fifth Ave. a year ago, but she and the co-op board couldn't see eye to eye. The new guy, according to the buzz in upper circles, is pop star Michael Bolton. I understand the socialite and the singer, who has been seen on the arm of everyone from Marla Trump to Fergie, have been an item since being introduced by their mutual friend Ashley Judd. Libbet has often dated handsome Broadway star Michael Nouri. We should know if this budding romance has legs by the time Marty Richards' annual Red Ball comes around Feb. 8. Bolton is one of the charity night's honorees, along with Ashley's mother, Naomi. Al and Tipper Gore will be present as co-chairs. Michael and Naomi have been chosen for their work for kids and health issues. The St. Valentine-themed night at The Plaza, coincidentally, is a memorial to Marty's late wife, Mary Lea, Libbet's cousin and another heiress to the Johnson & Johnson fortune. Getting back to her new abode, I understand Libbet first moved into an apartment in the tower while her huge spread at River House was being redecorated. She was going to stay only about a year in the $70,000-a-month pad, but fell so in love with the ambience of the building, its trendy hotel floors and Jean Georges restaurant that she doesn't want to return to the plush but conservative River House. I believe that place soon will be listed at $18 million.

New York Post
December 10, 1998

Pop star Michael Bolton had a special engagement Monday night at the Sheraton New York, singing "Lean on Me" with the Boys Choir of Harlem during the group's 30th-anniversary dinner. Bolton's own foundation has given more than $100,000 to the cash-strapped choir over the past few years, and during the dinner, he was presented with their Vanguard Award. Harlem Rep. Charles Rangel was among the crowd saluting Bolton.

The Connecticut Post
December 2, 1998

WESTPORT — Changing his tune, singer Michael Bolton has revised his plans to demolish a house next door to make way for gardens. Bolton now proposes in a new application filed this week to only "partially" demolish the turn-of-the-century farmhouse he purchased last summer. The singer last September filed an application calling for the two-story house to be demolished, which the Historic District Commission subsequently denied. In the original application, Bolton said he wanted to plant a formal garden on the property adjacent to his main residence. He also cited a desire to provide more security and privacy for his family. In the new application, the singer proposes to preserve the main part of the house and its front porch, while removing three bays of the structure added after the house was built in approximately 1905. The garage was built in 1993. On Nov. 18, Bolton filed a lawsuit against the Historic District Commission for rejecting his application. In denying the proposal, the commission said the farmhouse, in the Kings Highway Historic District, "is significant to the context and integrity of the district and important to the streetscape." Robert Fuller of Wilton, the lawyer representing the singer, said Tuesday his client is going forward with the lawsuit despite filing the revised application. "We are just doing it. We are just going ahead with the application and the lawsuit will proceed," Fuller said. He declined comment. In his lawsuit, Bolton claimed that last August when he applied for a demolition permit, the house’s fuel tank was removed and the sewer and water lines were disconnected. This was done, according to the document, with "reliance upon and with the approval of authorized officials of the town of Westport." After this work was done, Bolton’s representative, Laura D’Aiuto, met with town officials and learned that the house could not be demolished without the approval of the Historic District Commission since it is within a historic district.

The Connecticut Post
December 1, 1998

WESTPORT — Singer Michael Bolton has filed a lawsuit challenging the Historic District Commission’s recent denial of his request to demolish a house. The singer’s representatives, trustees of the Michael Bolotin Qualified Personal Residence Trust, filed the lawsuit after the panel’s unanimous decision to deny the "certificate of appropriateness" required for any demolition in the historic district. Bolotin is the entertainer’s legal last name. The structure, a 1905 farmhouse Bolton owns, is in the Kings Highway North Historic District, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. During public hearings before the Historic Commission in September and November, Bolton’s representative, Laura D’Aiuto, and attorney, Robert Fuller of Wilton, said the singer wanted to demolish the house in order to make way for formal gardens. In the lawsuit, the singer claims:

-the panel’s denial was not issued within the required 65 days from the date the application was filed and, therefore, approval is granted by default.

-the house has no historic or architectural significance and is on the historic district’s boundary line.

-some commission members prejudged the application, which proposed an appropriate alternative use of the site.

-the panel was influenced by public pressure and the celebrity status of the owner.

The lawsuit, filed Nov. 18 in Stamford Superior Court, seeks approval of the "certificate of approval." Historic District Commission Chairwoman Susan Gunn could not be reached for comment. Richard Leonard, the lawsuit notes, did not attend the September public hearing, but voted against the application. He declined comment.

The Sunday Times
(South Africa)
November 29, 1998
(from a '97 interview)

It took Michael Bolton years of struggling to reach superstardom and now he's unashamedly enjoying the fruits of success. The trademark rock star locks have gone and the famous balladeer has cemented his image change with a move into the world of opera, but what does Michael Bolton do when he's home alone? In that distinctively low, husky voice, Bolton gestures to his bedroom, grins and says: "A sad commentary on the single life - a bed full of books." Wrapping a black silk dressing gown around his lightly tanned, six-foot frame, the newly shorn superstar pushes a pile of reading matter out of the way so he can stretch out.It's seven in the evening, but despite the cosy atmosphere Bolton's not really going to bed. He's got to fly to Philadelphia later tonight for some breakfast TV shows, tomorrow lunchtime he'll be flying on to Detroit and then its Miami.Still, he's just had a shower and is in an amiable enough mood to show us what he'd be up to if this was an evening when he was going to be at home. "I guess it would be another exciting night of going through work tapes for the next album and trying to get this right," he says wryly, indicating the sheets of music spread out on the bed. His latest album has only just hit the shops but he's already close to finishing the next - operatic arias, inspired by the benefit concert for Bosnia at which he sang with Pavarotti. He's having to learn the Italian lyrics phonetically. Like most of the other rooms in this sprawling house, which stands on the bank of a wooded lake in rural Connecticut, his bedroom has pale walls and is decorated with a mix of modern pieces and antiques, many of which he's found while on tour. There's a big, highly polished darkwood bed, a swing mirror and a mantelpiece in the same wood, a fireplace with logs ready to be lit, an antique Persian carpet, a tape and CD player within arm's reach of the bed, and books piled everywhere. In the adjoining bathroom, just visible through a half-open door, there's a deep bath and piles of white towels. According to his assistant, Bolton is forever moving the furniture around and bringing in new things, but, more than any other room, this one feels genuinely lived in. It seems to reflect its owner, too. Bolton may be rich and successful, it says, but he's still striving. Look more closely at those books, for instance, and you will see 10 volumes of The World's Best 100 Novels Condensed. "I was a high-school dropout," Bolton admits. "I'm still catching up with a lot of reading. When you come late to stuff, you appreciate it more." Which is probably the key to Bolton. It's exactly 10 years since he became seriously successful. It was on 1987's The Hunger that he finally took the advice of his management company's secretaries and forsook the heavy rock sound that had never gone anywhere in favour of the ballads he'd been churning out for other singers. Despite the record contract that prompted him to leave his New Jersey school at 15, there were many times in his twenties and early thirties when his rent cheque would bounce and he'd have to borrow the money from friends to feed his wife and three small daughters. "That was such a hard, bleak time. It's still vivid, still embedded in everything thing I am. It was only in about 1991, 1992 that I understood I wouldn't be poor again," Bolton confides later when he is downstairs, dressed again in black Armani jeans and a T-shirt. "But I've seen people like Meatloaf, who's a good friend, go from tremendous success to a very dry spell when they've had to sell off property. I work hard at maintaining all this and do not take anything for granted. Bolton quickly demolishes some pasta and salad - he's been a vegetarian since his teens - and we move into the formal lounge-come-screening room. After he's pointed out the giant Scrabble set - "I love that game!" - and jumped up to demonstrate the film projector that drops down from the ceiling - "Isn't that neat? The record company gave it to me!" - Bolton settles down to answer some questions. First, the obvious one. What prompted him to cut off his long hair? Critics have been sniping at him about it for years, but he's always maintained he'd never cut it except for a film role."I had a photoshoot coming up, so I had to make a decision quickly, and I got it done in Los Angeles, by Chris Macmillan who cuts hair on movie sets," he says. "We made a home video of it. At first it looked shorter than I thought it was going to be but then I thought OK, I can get into this. And now it takes me two minutes to shower and shampoo, which is great." Still, that's not the only major change for Bolton now. His career is expanding in all directions, with a children's book coming out soon, the opera album next March, and concert dates worldwide. In his charity work, to which he devotes considerable time and money, he is planning a food project that will funnel income into his causes along the lines of the pasta sauce and popcorn business run by his "mentor", Paul Newman, who lives five minutes away. Most importantly, though, given the emphasis he puts on family, is that the youngest of his three daughters left home a few weeks ago to join her sisters at university. The girls, Isa, now 23, Holly, 21, and Taryn, 18, have lived with Bolton since he gained custody of them in 1991 after his 15-year marriage disintegrated. "It was strange. Suddenly they had all flown the nest. I felt as if I'd only just got them. But they come back at weekends," Bolton says. "But those were hard years, sometimes! In some ways a man is quite helpless dealing with teenage girls, because besides the fact you're outnumbered, and these girls know they own you, you're clueless about what goes on in their heads. But I look at them now and without wanting to brag I think I did a pretty damn good job with them. They've turned out so great." When he moved into the house in 1990 it was initially to be near his ex-wife and the girls. A few months after they'd moved in with him, Laura, the wife of the man who built the house, became the girls'nanny. She is now Bolton's right-hand person. To protect his privacy, and also simplify his life, Bolton has since bought the houses on either side. One is for his daughter Holly when she is at home. The other has become his recording studio and office, decorated with platinum records, awards and photographs. In the hall hangs one of Bolton with Bill Clinton which has a message from Hillary Clinton scrawled on it: "Bill wants to play with your band so badly!" And is there any chance he might marry? Over the years Bolton has been linked with a series of glamorous women. These days Bolton is often photographed with actress Ashley Judd, who's also in his new video. Is there any likelihood of that particular relationship becoming more permanent? Head on his forearm, Bolton gives a teasing smile and says: "We're very close, but that's all I'm going to say. I am trying to keep my private life private, however futile an attempt that is. The next serious relationship I have I want to be "The One". I can't afford to go down a long wrong road again. There are no guarantees, but I feel that the quality of the relationship is more important than the status of the relationship. I don't discount marriage, but I just want to have the ultimate relationship and partner to share my life with - I mean the chemistry, the deep powerful friendship, the romance." Although reticent about his love life Bolton is quite happy to discuss his family. His parents, who he describes as working-class strivers, have always been fully supportive of Bolton and his two older siblings. Bolton also happily reveals that he firmly believes in therapy - "it's helped me clarify a lot and I'd recommend it to anyone" - and that he enjoys nothing more than muffins and peanut butter for breakfast. By the time the interview is over it seems far too late for Bolton to be catching a plane to Philadelphia. What time is the flight? But the question is met with a raised eyebrow and a grin from Bolton. Of course. There's a private jet. As if he didn't have enough going for him.
- Scope Features

The National Enquirer
November 24, 1998

FERGIE FLIPS FOR MICHAEL BOLTON

Fergie's been caught making beautiful music with Michael Bolton! Could the dazzling Duchess have forgotten that she's involved in a romance with Italian Count Gaddo della Gherardesca? Fergie and the handsome crooner showed up arm in arm at a recent Big Apple birthday bash for hip-hop singer-producer Sean "Puffy" Combs - and stole the show. 'It was Puff Daddy's big night and there were dozens of other superstars in attendance, but jaws were dropping mostly because Fergie and Michael made such a handsome couple, disclosed an insider. They flirted, laughed and walked around holding hands with each other throughout the night. The delighted Duchess told the insider: Michael is not only a dish, he's a darling. "He has that ability to make you feel like you've the only woman in the room. I must confess I've got more than a little bit of a crush on Mr Bolton. Can you blame me?" Divulged the insider: "Fergie is currently doing an interview with Michael for a British magazine and has become intoxicated with him." "And Michael finds her incredibly appealing." "Before leaving for England after the party, Fergie made plans to rendezvous with Michael in New York It seemed like she'd forgotten about her Italian count." -Marc Cetner

New York Daily News,
November 17, 1998

Michael Bolton's dreams of roses have been uprooted by the Historic District Commission in Westport, Conn. The singer had asked permission to tear down a dilapidated 1873 farmhouse and replace the eyesore with gardens. Fearing the approval of such a request would set a precedent, the commission voted 5-0 against razing the structure.

Bolton intends to fight. "It's not going to end here," he told us yesterday. "I'm being deprived of my right to expand upon the first home I've ever owned. The last thing I wish to do is offend my neighbors. I spent my whole life being David and now all of a sudden I'm looking like Goliath."

Montreal Gazette
November 10, 1998

As the main man at Bad Boy Records, this gentleman is apparently one of the principal people responsible for this "hip-hop" music that everybody but me seems to like these days.

Arista Records, which distributes Puffy's product, is said to have spent $600,000 on the event. But Arista boss Clive Davis was apparently not pleased by the way the evening worked out: there were lots of celebs at the party but many more had to stay outside; evidently invitations were sent to 1,000 people - many of them household names - which was far more than the joint would hold. Davis himself had trouble getting in.

Celebs who managed to get past the fire marshalls at the door included Kevin Costner, Elle Macpherson, Muhammad Ali, Sarah Ferguson, Michael Bolton, Christy Brinkley, Denzel Washington, Martha Stewart(!), New York Yankees David Wells and Derek Jeter, Mariah Carey (these last two came with other people but chatted together for quite a while), Penny Marshall, Henry Winkler, Robin Leach, Lauren Hutton, Chris Rock and Donald Trump.

Among those unable to get in: Jon Bon Jovi, Lenny Kravitz, Donna Karan, Adam Sandler, Patricia Arquette, George Clinton, Minnie Driver, Mark Wahlberg, John Waters and Tyra Banks.

Inside, people were surprised to see Fergie holding hands with Bolton, but they are not dating - she was just interviewing him for some magazine. Or perhaps he was interviewing her.

PRNewswire
November 9, 1998

NEW YORK, Nov. 9 /PRNewswire/ -- Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Michael Bolton and one of today's foremost topical humorists, Paula Poundstone, will entertain American Cancer Society guests celebrating the Great American SmokeOut on November 19, 1998. The black-tie fundraiser, "A Night on Paradise," will be held aboard Carnival Cruise Lines' new Paradise, the world's first smokefree cruise ship. Presiding as ship godmother over the christening ceremony will be American Cancer Society's reigning "Mother of the Year" and CBS News anchor Paula Zahn. SmithKline Beecham, corporate sponsor for the nationwide Great American SmokeOut, is sponsor of "A Night on Paradise." Proceeds benefit cancer research and education programs. The gala culminates a day-long series of SmokeOut events aboard ship, beginning at 8:00 a.m., which encourage all smokers to quit, young people not to start, and work sites to go smokefree. "A Day & a Night on Paradise" is the inaugural event of the MS Paradise, which Carnival Cruise Lines donated to the American Cancer Society for the Great American SmokeOut. The ship will be docked at the Manhattan Passenger Terminal, Pier 88, for the duration of the event.
SOURCE American Cancer Society
Web Site: http://www.carnival.com

Newswire
October 31, 1998

MONTEREY - Michael Bolton, a Grammy award-winning singer / songwriter, will play in the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-Am for the first time in 1999.

The Feb. 4-7 tournament has already received commitments from singer / songwriter Glen Campbell and actors William Devane and Craig T. Nelson.

Scripps Howard News Service October 30, 1998

By ROGER ANDERSON
Scripps Howard News Service

CELEBRITY SIGHTINGS AND THEIR AFTERMATH: It wasn't terribly long ago that an enterprising photog who works for the New York Daily News was super-fortunate enough to spot songmeister Michael Bolton on a street in Manhattan enjoying a plein-air nosh with his ex, Nicolette Sheridan, and proceeded to snap some hot pix of the pair that were then published.

Now the other shoe hits the pavement as Michael himself rings up the Daily News to explain himself and, specifically, to forestall any speculation that Nicolette and he are bound for Reconciliationsville.

``We had not seen each other for a while,' he recalls. ``We had a whole two hours to catch up and have brunch. We were literally driving up and down the street looking for a place where we could eat outside, because it was such a beautiful day.'

At this juncture Michael draws back to take in what we in the trade call The Big Picture.

``I have nothing to hide,' he says, ``or anything terribly exciting to report. I'm single. I've been single for a while now.'

Fox News
October 10, 1998

"Doctors have advised him against performing for a period of weeks,' the shows' organizer, Big Concerts in Cape Town, said Friday.

He was to appear with Chris de Burgh, who will now appear alone.

Connecticut Post
October 5, 1998

The Branford-based Michael Bolton Foundation will protect all charities it has ever given to from downturns in giving that the foundation experiences. The foundation is setting aside $1 million in a restricted account from which money can only be spent on grants that directly benefit the programs and organizations it supports.

"Michael Bolton cares about all of the organizations that this [foundation] has given grants to over the years," said Jacqueline Smaga, a spokeswoman for the foundation. "This action shows that Mr. Bolton will continue to support these very worthwhile groups now and in the future."

Smaga said Bolton’s action would insulate the charities’ recipients from any economic changes or declines in giving to his foundation.

The singer established his foundation about seven years ago to benefit women and children at risk for domestic violence.

Bolton’s charity drew criticism this spring when it was revealed that only 15 percent of the $2.5 million it netted after expenses in 1995 went directly to the organizations it was set up to help. The bulk of the money that year was spent on fund-raising activities.

Bolton’s charity improved its standing with the public later this spring, when the state Attorney General’s Public Charities Unit disclosed that the foundation in 1996 dispersed 63 percent of what it netted after expenses to nonprofit groups.

Bolton’s overdue 1997 return, released last week, shows that the charity distributed 46 percent — or $349,745 of the $766,175 it netted after expenses — a decline from 1996 but three times the foundation’s rate of giving in 1995.

Management and general operating costs accounted for $163,327 or 21.1 percent of the money the Bolton foundation took in last year. Fund-raising expenses were listed at $7,755, or only 1 percent of revenue. However, an accounting change that lumps certain fund-raising expenses with special events may obscure exactly how much the organization spends on fund-raising.

According to Bolton’s 1997 return, filed with the state Attorney General’s Public Charities Unit, the organization raised $2.2 million from a variety of concerts and charity baseball and black-tie galas that year. Those events cost $1.7 million to produce, netting the charity $519,329. Other contributions to the foundation raised its net after expenses to $766,175.

"When you put on a special event, obviously you have certain expenses — such as renting a hotel [ballroom]. The previous accountant [for the foundation] listed these as fund-raising expenses," said Len Miller of Miller & Company, which specializes in auditing nonprofit groups and examined the Bolton foundation’s latest financial filing.

"Accepted accounting principles allow you to put these costs against special event expenses where they arise," Miller said. "It’s not that the previous accountant did something wrong, but that accounting [principles] permit them to be reclassified. That is the correct way or the better way to present them," he said. "Otherwise, it distorts things."

The Michael Bolton Foundation started 1997 with net assets of $1.87 million and ended the year with $2.07 million on hand.

On Saturday at Harbor Yard Stadium in Bridgeport, the first of the foundation’s weekend-long fund-raisers was held. Bolton and other celebrities squared off against a team called the All-Stars in the sixth-annual celebrity softball game.

The foundation hoped to raise about $250,000 between the proceeds from the game and a gala Sunday in Greenwich at the Hyatt Regency.

Bolton said during a break in the game Saturday that he was upset over criticism that too much of his foundation money was spent on overhead and administrative costs, and too little on actual giving.

"We had to put some expensive events on," he said, and admitted, "we were naive in not recognizing that despite the large amount of dollars given, the percentage of what was given against the total raised wouldn’t look good."

Although the foundation was doing a good job then, he says there should be no questions now. "Dick Blumenthal [state attorney general] said he’d like to see a 50 percent figure for contributions. Right now, I’d say we are going to be paying out 60 percent or above."

Correspondent Reg Johnson contributed to this report.

PRNewswire
September 30, 1998

NCPCA will honor First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, Senators John D. Rockefeller IV and John H. Chafee, and Representatives Barbara Kennelly and Dave Camp, for leading the effort to pass The Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997.

Also to be honored at the luncheon are a group of recording artists, producers, and songwriters, including Michael Bolton and Carnie and Wendy Wilson, for lending their talent and support to a new compact disc (CD) called "Love Shouldn't Hurt," which is being released by Qwest/Warner Bros. Records. All artist royalties from the sale of the CD will go directly to NCPCA. The artists and the World Children's Choir will sing the title song from the compact disc at the luncheon. Date: October 6, 1998 Time: 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m.

World Entertainment News Network
September 28, 1998

The entertainment package is part of an exclusive $8 million (=9C5 million) deal set up with the help of the Chinese Ministry of Culture.

Under the deal, one of the venues being opened to British artists for the first time will be the $160 million (=9C100 million) Shanghai Opera House.

British company MAG International Communications has been working on arrangements for the deal for the past two years. It is thought to be the first of its kind China has signed with a Western company.

Few Western artists have performed in China. WHAM! were the first to be invited there in 1985, where they played at the 10,000-seater Workers Gymnasium in Beijing, and Swedish pop stars ROXETTE are the only other artists to have performed there since. (WNE/VC)

Detroit Free Press
September 16, 1998