Come Fly With Me by Beverly Delich, Douglas & McIntyre, 240 pages, $32.95.
Long before the shows like The X-Factor or The Voice became vehicles for musical success stories local talent contests were the start of many careers. In a small Vancouver nightclub in 1993 an unknown singer caught the attention of the contest organizer, Beverly Delich. Unfortunately for Michael Bublé although he was the judges' favourite that night at the Big Bamboo Club he was only 18 and shouldn't even have been allowed in the nightclub and was disqualified.
It was some time before their paths crossed again but in 1995 Delich was organizing the PNE talent show and remembered the impressive young singer and contacted Bublé to encourage him to enter. That connection was the beginning of a partnership that would see Bublé go from the PNE to the Grammy awards.
Delich chronicles the roller coaster ride to success with entertaining detail. For the next decade of her life she would be focused on helping Bublé achieve his dream of stardom. The many small steps that led to him getting the attention of David Foster and Paul Anka, who in 2002 began producing Bublé's CD, are chronicled in an open and accessible account that offers a fascinating look at what it took to bring Buble's talent to the world.
Delich acknowledges the bumps in the journey but her loyalty to Buble is never in doubt. From the beginning she knew there would come a day when she had done all she could and it would be up to others in the business to take over guiding Bublé's career but there was a lot of pain that went with that transition.
As a look inside the music industry Delich provides an interesting account of Buble's rise but it is her openness and personal reflections that make it such an enjoyable story.
