Provider

Provider may refer to:

Michael Bolton

Michael Bolotin (born February 26, 1953), known professionally as Michael Bolton, is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton originally performed in the hard rock and heavy metal genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, both on his early solo albums and those he recorded as the frontman of the band Blackjack. He became better known for his series of pop rock ballads, recorded after a stylistic change in the late 1980s.

Bolton's achievements include selling more than 75 million records, recording eight top 10 albums and two number-one singles on the Billboard charts, as well as winning multiple American Music Awards and Grammy Awards.

Early life

Bolton was born Michael Bolotin in New Haven, Connecticut, the son of Helen (née Gubin) (1919-2015) and George Bolotin (1912-1981). He has a brother, Orrin, and a sister, Sandra, both older. His family was Jewish, and all of his grandparents had been immigrants from Russia. His parents were divorced when he was very young.

Career

Music

The Ministry of Silly Walks

"The Ministry of Silly Walks" is a sketch from the Monty Python comedy troupe's television show Monty Python's Flying Circus, season 2, episode 14, which is entitled "Face the Press". The episode first aired in 1970. A shortened version of the sketch was performed for Monty Python Live at the Hollywood Bowl. This sketch involves John Cleese as a bowler hatted civil servant in a fictitious British government ministry responsible for developing silly walks through grants. Cleese, throughout the sketch, walks in a variety of silly ways. It is these various silly walks, more than the dialogue, that has earned the sketch its popularity. Cleese has cited the physical comedy of Max Wall, probably in character as Professor Wallofski, as important to its conception.

Sketch

The sketch as originally depicted in the series begins with John Cleese playing a nameless civil servant who, after purchasing The Times from the general store/newsagent in the previous sketch, walks through the streets of London (at the crossing of Thorpebank Road and Dunraven Road) in a very peculiar manner. He eventually arrives at his place of business: The Ministry of Silly Walks (on the northern end of Whitehall). In the hallway, he passes other employees all exhibiting their own silly walks before arriving at his office (the Hollywood Bowl performance omits this preamble). Once there, he finds a man waiting for him—one Mr Putey (Michael Palin)—and apologizes for the delay, explaining that his walk has become particularly silly of late and it takes longer for him to reach his destination.

Soul Provider

Soul Provider is the sixth studio album by American recording artist Michael Bolton. The album was released on June 19, 1989 by Columbia Records. This was the album that turned Bolton into a superstar.

Supported by five top 40 hits (including three that reached the top 10), Soul Provider achieved longevity on the charts. The album spent almost four years on the Billboard 200 and peaked at #3. It was awarded 6x Platinum in the U.S. and sold over 12,500,000 copies worldwide.

For the single version of "Georgia on My Mind" CBS edited out Michael Brecker's saxophone solo and replaced it with one by Kenny G.

Reception

Soul Provider has received generally mixed reviews from critics. AllMusic described it as "more of the same", but noted that due to this album, Bolton "was now stoking the romantic fires in bedrooms across America".Robert Christgau gave the album a negative review, declaring Bolton to be "indistinguishable from pop metal except in the wattage of his guitar parts and the shamelessness of his song doctors." The Rolling Stone Album Guide described the album as the beginning of Bolton's descent into overdone and disrespectful covers, though they added that some of the self-penned performances on the album showed potential.