THE RISE TO STARDOM RECOUNTED BY MICHAEL BUBLÉ’S STEADFAST AND LOYAL MANAGER

“So proud of the years I’ve known Beverly and, of course, Michael Bublé whom I met with the author of this true, honest, and sincere piece of work.  She has had important participation in the career of Michael Bublé who will be a talent to reckon with for many years to come. Much, I’m sure, due to the proud author of this book.”
– Paul Anka

We are all familiar with American Idol, the Voice, X-Factor and countless other local and national talent shows and how difficult it is to truly “rise above the crowd”.  Nobody knows this better than Beverly Delich, entrepreneur, tenacious, endearing music talent agent and author of the just released, Come Fly With Me…Michael Bublé’s Rise to Stardom (A Memoir),  published by Douglas & McIntyre.

Delich is certainly not the traditional talent agent/manager…and there is nothing traditional about her career in the industry or her!  After many years of varied professions, in 1990 at the age of 50, she decided to start her own talent agency in Vancouver in search of local talent. Little did she know at the time that three years later in 1993, she would “discover” a super star – an 18 year- old teenager that she knew almost instantly had that very special “star-quality” and begin forging a decade long journey with him to stardom – Michael Bublé.

Beverly partnered with Ray Carroll, (formerly of The Platters) and held talent contests around town in Vancouver, BC and, one of them was at Big Bamboo nightclub on Broadway in Vancouver. One of the other judges she had asked to join them for a particular weeknight contest, held in the club’s upstairs tiki-style room, was Hugh Pickett, by then a well-known local impresario who had made a name for himself by bringing big acts like Mitzi Gaynor and Bette Midler to Vancouver.

One of the contestants who had signed up that night in 1993 at the Big Bamboo was a good-looking young man wearing a white T-shirt and blue jeans. He had signed up to sing It Had To Be You, a 1924 standard, but as we were busy preparing to start the evening, he was becoming more and more impatient and kept coming over to the judges’ table, leaning over Hugh and me, and bugging us about when the show would start. It was starting to annoy Hugh, who kept turning to Beverly, through the pursed lips he was so well known for, and saying “Who is that?”: “It’s Michael Bublé,” Beverly told him. “He’s one of the contestants.”

There were about 10 performers that night and they used recorded music–the contestants had to come with background tapes–and when Michael got up on the stage and sang, everybody in the club just went crazy. He took the microphone off the stand and was moving all over the stage and had such a beautiful smooth voice and strong presence. He was slim, with high pompadour-style hair and just so full of energy, and when he crooned It Had To Be You, his voice somewhere between Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra, the room stood still.
Over the course of the next decade, Delich would guide Bublé’s early career as his manager, seldom leaving his side as they struggled to get a foothold in the tough music industry.  With Beverly’s unwillingness to accept “no” or a roadblock, she spent her days and nights relentlessly picking up the phone to make yet another key call. With each performance booking and introduction, they came closer and closer to the “big one.” Meetings in New York City with Mike Cutino and in Toronto with Michael McSweeney, helped lay the groundwork for his imminent rise, but it was the performance for the former Canadian Prime Minister’s daughter’s wedding where music mogul David Foster was in attendance that really turned the tides.

After spending the full year of 2002 in Los Angeles, in 2003, as Bublé’s self-titled CD was about to become an international hit, Delich stepped aside, handing the managerial reins of her talented charge to Bruce Allen.

More about Beverly and her heartfelt, true riveting story about Michael Bublé can be found in Come Fly with Me –  purchased at www.amazon.com. 

Website: www.silverliningmanagement.com

Beverly Delich has long been a fixture on Vancouver’s cultural scene, from her years as a cantorial soloist, and entertainment coordinator at the Pacific National Exhibition to her personal and business partnership with the late Ray Carroll of the Platters, to her current ownership of the Silver Lining Management talent agency.  Hers is a storied life. She was born in Montana, moved to Vancouver after a divorce, remarried, converted to Judaism, raised two children and survived breast cancer.