Michael Buble Talks ‘Higher’ Album, Working With Paul McCartney and His Hockey Rink

Michael Buble is living the Canadian dream. Hits, millions of albums sold, fans around the globe, a beautiful family, and his very own hockey rink.

During a chat on Australian commercial radio earlier this week, the veteran crooner became the envy of every Canuck by boasting about the rink at his home in Burnaby, a city in British Columbia.

When Nova host Fitzy put it out there that compatriot Chad Kroeger of Nickelback had an impressive home rink, Buble set the record straight.

“I have a bigger hockey rink. I do, I basically spent almost all my money, I’ve turned into the MC Hammer of hockey guys,” he quipped. “I have nothing left. But you know what? I just skate down there hungry. Yeah, I have an ice rink in the house. Isn’t that crazy?”

Pop music’s King of Christmas doesn’t put the skates on often, and the unseasonable weather doesn’t help. “There’s no ice in there,” he admits. “It’s just a big cement floor because the weather is so crappy here. But I wanted to take my kids and have something you know, we want to play and go outside. It’s cold and rainy. So I took out the ice so they can go and we can have their friends over and play footy and stuff like that. This is what I want. It’s coming back in the next couple weeks.”

Buble’s good fortune doesn’t end with a rink. He called in help from some famous friends for his 11th studio album, Higher, due out March 25. On it, Buble covers “My Valentine” by Paul McCartney, who is credited as a producer on the album, along with Greg Wells, Bob Rock, Alan Chang, and Jason ‘Spicy G’ Goldman.

“I put together this demo and send it to (McCartney’s reps),” Buble recounts. “I was driving down Sunset. And this +44 number came up and I said, ‘Hello.’ And this beautiful voice said, ‘Hi, it’s Paul Mac.’ And I said, ‘Hey, it’s Mike Bube.’ But it was so cool. And he’s so he’s everything that you hope, and you wish that he could be. (He’s) a genius, man,” he admits. “He’s a wonderful musician. It was he was just awesome working with him. You just learn a ton.”

The forthcoming LP features a duet with Willie Nelson on his song “Crazy”, versions of Bob Dylan’s “Make You Feel My Love” and Sam Cooke’s “Bring It On Home To Me”, plus three new original tracks.

Higher is Buble’s first album since 2018’s Love, which peaked at No. 1 on the Official U.K. Albums Chart and No. 2 on the Billboard 200.

Stream the interview here.

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