Yes. That Michael Bolton. One-time king of soft rock and MOR radio by virtue of, among other things, his – um – impassioned covers of Otis Redding and Percy Sledge classics.

I’m sure a lot of you have already jumped to the conclusion that Bolton is just trying tap into Gaga’s high-wattage fame, but the singer told U.K. newspaper Metro that Lady G actually approached him and she did it before her star ascended.

“I was taking a break from production when my manager and the label tag-teamed me on the phone about writing with a young artist named Lady Gaga who I had never heard of – but that they were raving about,” Bolton explained. “They said that she was a huge fan of mine and wanted to write with me. No one I knew had heard of her … but less than a minute into ‘Just Dance,’ I thought, ‘This CD is gonna be huge!”

As Metro points out, Bolton’s previous collaborations have been with music titans like Luciano Pavarotti and Bob Dylan, but the singer said he soon realized he was working with another one.

“When I met her in the studio later that night, I realized she was not only about to have a big hit record but Gaga was a superstar about to launch – her energy was so high and her focus excited me. She reminded me of a young Madonna – with more exuberance and emphasis on the art rather than the marketing.”

High praise indeed, although I’m guessing the backhanded swipe at the Material Girl means we won’t be hearing a Madonna/Bolton duet anytime soon.

You know, if you think about it, this is actually a pretty smart move on Lady Gaga’s part. There doesn’t seem to be any middle ground when it comes to being a fan or not. People either love her or hate her, with the biggest criticism from the hater camp falling into the she’s-all-image-and-couldn’t-write-a-good-song-to-save-her-life category.

If she can help conjure up a hit for Bolton, who would probably be the first to admit that his biggest days are behind him, she takes that arrow out of her critics’ quiver.

Speaking of Gaga hating, the other big accusation from non-fans is that she can’t sing/lip-synchs. If you’ve seen her live, you were probably blown away when she sat down at the piano to fly solo on a stripped down, acoustic version of “Poker Face.”

And if you watch her TV appearances like an April performance on BBC’s “Friday Night with Jonathan Ross,” it’s obvious that she’s going out of her way to make it clear she’s not faking it, adding growls and screams into her vocals and even switching up the melody occasionally.

While she was on Ross’ show, Gaga also took the opportunity to address one of the other rumors about her making its way around the Internet – in her own inimitable way.

The first single from Michael Bolton’s upcoming album One World One Love (due Sept. 21) is actually the track “Just One Love,” but one of his collaborations with Lady Gaga was leaked to the Web last weekend.

And now, here’s the piano driven, R&B flavored “Murder My Heart.” What do you think? Clever move or wrong turn?