Michael Bublé Pulls Back the Curtain on His Music Idols: What Paul McCartney and Robbie Williams Are Really Like Behind the Fame — From Private Conversations to Unexpected Moments of Wisdom, the Grammy Winner Shares Never-Before-Heard Stories That Redefine the Legends We Thought We Knew. Are These Icons Just As Charismatic Off Stage? Or Are There Surprises That Even Their Biggest Fans Wouldn’t Believe? Dive Into Bublé’s Candid, Funny, and Touching Insights into the Real Personalities of Two of the World’s Most Beloved Performers — This Is Star Power, Unfiltered.

MICHAEL Buble has explained the price he has had to pay to make sure he has stayed at the top of his game while already two decades into his career.

In an exclusive interview to celebrate his upcoming UK tour, the Canadian crooner told me with a laugh: “I used to have so much fun partying. Then I realised I can’t do it any more.”

Michael Buble said: 'I used to have so much fun partying. Then I realised I can’t do it any more'
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Michael Buble said: ‘I used to have so much fun partying. Then I realised I can’t do it any more’

Michael added: 'It is a matter of not partying too hard'
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Michael added: ‘It is a matter of not partying too hard’
Michael has sold more than 75million records worldwide and has five UK No1 albums to his name, including Higher, which hit the top spot in April last year.

The superstar, who has four children with his Argentine model wife Luisana Lopilato, added: “It is a matter of not partying too hard.

“As I have gotten older I have become more disciplined. I am like an athlete out there. I want to stay healthy because I want to put on a show I think people deserve. I am bound by certain perimeters.”

Speaking from his home in Argentina on Zoom, Michael looks remarkably fresh-faced for a man who has spent most of the past two years on the road — and welcomed daughter Cielo just six months ago.

He said: “I just shaved for the first time in years and it is so weird. My kids kept saying, ‘Papi, can you shave because when we kiss you it is itchy?’

“So I shaved and then I looked at this face. I haven’t seen this face, I am not kidding you. I haven’t shaved for maybe 15 years. My kids saw me and said, ‘Put the beard back on Papi’. I look eight years younger and 15lbs fatter.”

Life on the road, no matter what he says, is clearly treating Michael well.

He will return to the UK this month for his first stadium tour here in four years, kicking off at London’s O2 Arena on March 26.

The live shows come off the back of a hugely successful start to the year which saw Michael pick up his fifth Grammy award for Higher, which saw hime beat Diana Ross, Norah Jones and Kelly Clarkson to Best Traditional Pop Album.

Michael, who will also play in cities including Leeds, Newcastle, Glasgow and Cardiff, said: “My favourite thing about winning . . . you are rewarded for something you did before and that is wonderful to be recognised.

“So the fact I won that while I was on stage in the middle of 15,000 (in Milan, Italy), being the most present I could possibly be, that made it completely sweet for me. I got to win something for the past, while in the present.

“It is the fourth or fifth time I have won when I haven’t been there. I don’t think I have won when I have been there. But I couldn’t not go to the Grammys (then) because I love meeting my heroes. I am willing to lose to meet the people I love.”

While Michael is a superstar in his own right, with hits including Home and I Just Haven’t Met You Yet, he keeps good company when it comes to fellow musicians.

And it seems a possible bromance with Harry Styles could be on the horizon.

Michael said: “I would love to see Harry’s show, I have heard it’s amazing. So many people I know or work with know him and they all say the same thing, ‘You guys would really get along, he comes and plays floor hockey and stuff’, I just hear he is an easy-going guy.

“I am so happy for my guy Niall (Horan), I have just been talking to him. He has a great new single, Heaven, I can’t get out of my head. It drives me crazy. That song is a banger.

“Sir Paul (McCartney). Any chance I can get to see Sir Paul, he is the producer on Higher. He is awesome, he is a beautiful dude. He is another guy who genuinely seems at ease and loves what he does and loves who he does it for. And you get that quickly.

“Robbie (Williams) is like that too. Robbie is a natural born entertainer. It is a God-given charisma. He gets up on stage and you go, ‘Wow, I love watching this guy’. He is fun to watch.”

‘I love meeting my heroes’

Like his peers, Michael’s success is hard-earned.

He dreamed of being a singer as a small child and started performing in clubs aged 16 before a gig at a wedding earned him his big break when a top producer agreed to work with him.

After self-funding his debut album in 2000, Michael was then signed at 25 and released the record three years later.

And while Michael is now an internationally renowned star, he reckons his achievements are all down to dogged determination and a work ethic that saw him trying to “break” 50 countries.

He says of his early days: “My manager said the key to success was leaving America and going to the UK, Australia, Asia, Africa . . .

“I remember early on, he said, ‘Kid, do you want to break the world?’ I said, ‘Yes’.”

Michael adds: “Even when I got good, I had sold millions of records and people knew who I was, he would say, ‘Do you want to break Germany?’ And I would say, ‘Yes’.

“We would have a showcase, there would be a few publications and a couple of TV bookers and I would do 30 minutes.

“I was ten years in and I had sold 40million records and they would say, ‘What do you think about Holland?’ And I’d end up in some little bar in Rotterdam.

“I was in China not that long ago and I went and did it there. You have to swallow your pride every time.”

I can think of a load of pampered pop stars who could learn from this maestro.