Ahead of his huge outdoor concert in Hatfield next summer, Michael Bublé’s Christmas record has been named as one of the biggest selling albums of the decade.
The multiple Grammy Award-winning Canadian singer will bring his An Evening with Michael Bublé tour to Hatfield House on Sunday, July 26, 2020.
Bublé's 2011 Christmas album topped the charts in the UK and has now been confirmed as the fifth best-selling album of the decade, having sold nearly three million copies.
One of the decade's most popular artists, Bublé 2009 album Crazy Love also features at number 12 in the decade's biggest sellers.
A staple soundtrack of the festive season, Christmas features instantly recognisable hits such as a cover of Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas Is You, White Christmas, It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
While the Canadian crooner is unlikely to play any of those festive songs in Hatfield next July, Bublé will play tracks from his tenth studio album Love, which was released in 2018 and is up for a 2020 Grammy in the Best Traditional Pop Vocal Album category.
Featuring lead single When I Fall in Love, the album was released last year following a two-year break from public life to spend time with his family after his son Noah was diagnosed with cancer.
The Haven't Met You Yet singer-songwriter returned to the studio with a new perspective on life and a renewed commitment to honouring the music he has always loved.
"I didn't anticipate returning to recording or performing and I was fine with that," said Bublé when Love was released.
"My entire world view has changed completely these last few years.
"I wanted to spend all my time with my wife and kids. That was my focus.
"During that time, I also learned how much love and humanity is out in the world from the prayers and good wishes we received.
"But slowly, along with understanding what my priorities in life are, I began to feel a new commitment to express the emotions and lessons I've embraced.
"Whether I am the narrator, the observer, the main character, the dreamer, the broken-hearted guy at a bar or having the night of a lifetime, I have stories to tell on this record.
"It's all there in the songs. I have had so many blessings in life and one of them is that I hold the torch to keep these songs alive for generations to come.
"I take the responsibility very seriously.
"My end game for the new record was to create a series of short cinematic stories for each song I chose and have it stand on its own.
"I'm so proud of what we accomplished."
Bublé co-produced the chart-topping album and brings new love to several rich classics from The Great American Songbook.
The album opens with the idealistic and dreamy When I Fall In Love. It also includes a haunting take on another Rogers & Hart standard, My Funny Valentine.
Other standouts are an ebullient When You're Smiling, a swinging Such A Night, as well as Bublé's hand-picked favourites including Unforgettable, Kris Kristofferson's Help Me Make It Through The Night, and I Only Have Eyes For You.
There's also the achingly poignant La Vie En Rose - a Bublé duet featuring singer Cecile McLorin Salvant.
Love stands as a testament to the power of music and its healing power.
"The truth is I needed to make this album," says Bublé on his website.
"The truth is it was really therapeutic for me. I felt so comfortable. I mean, these songs, this genre, is the essence of me.
"It's where I live, it's where I've grown up... It fits me perfectly. It's so natural."
His return to the studio came with a purity of purpose and an even stronger sense of connection with his adoring fans, whose outpouring of support lifted him and his family through the darkest times.
"Going through what my family went through also gave me faith in people and humanity," he says.
"I just felt really blessed in a lot of different ways obviously with the outcome with my boy and I also felt like I had been blessed with this wonderful opportunity in my life to do something that I love that could maybe have the positive impact out in the world that the world had on us."
Michael Bublé has sold over 60 million records worldwide over the course of his extraordinary career, and won four Grammys.
Don't bet against him winning another.
Tickets for the open-air An Evening with Michael Bublé concert at Hatfield House are available from www.aegpresents.co.uk/events/detail/michael-buble
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