Which band was Michael Bolton the lead singer of before starting his successful solo career?

Blackjack was an American rock band, active from 1979–1980, featuring Michael Bolton (who was performing under his real name, Michael Bolotin), Bruce Kulick, Sandy Gennaro and Jimmy Haslip. The band was short-lived, released two albums, the self-titled "Blackjack" in 1979 and "Worlds Apart" in 1980, and embarked on a small US nationwide tour.

Blackjack was formed in late 1978 after Bruce Kulick had come off the road touring with Meat Loaf behind the "Bat Out of Hell" album. Kulick and his older brother Bob had done a show backing up Michael Bolton, then a solo artist with two albums, at a club show in Connecticut. Afterwards both Kulick brothers were invited to join Bolotin in a proper band. While Bob declined, Bruce accepted. The band's manager Steve Weiss, also an attorney for Led Zeppelin, brought drummer Sandy Gennaro and bassist Jimmy Haslip into the fold to complete the line-up.

Michael Bolotin (born February 26, 1953), known professionally as Michael Bolton, is an American singer and songwriter. Bolton originally performed in the hard rock and heavy metal genres from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s, both on his early solo albums and those he recorded as the frontman of the band Blackjack. He became better known for his series of pop rock ballads, recorded after a stylistic change in the late 1980s.