Biography
Michael's father owned a small music store in New York when he was a young boy. This gave him an early opportunity to be around talented performing and studio musicians all of his life. Michael began taking drum lessons when he was seven and guitar lessons when he was eight. Many guitars and drum sets later, Michael began playing both instruments professionally when he was 12. He received his first union card and hit the club scene performing.
Michael performed in his middle school Jazz band as well as Orchestral and Marching bands. He continued playing in these organizations through high school and had the opportunity to perform with world renowned Jazz bassist Slam Stewart. Michael was also chosen to perform in the 1975 Macy's Day parade, and his drum section won numerous awards during competitions along the East coast.
During the 1970's, Michael continued to perform five to six times a week in cover and original bands. He appeared on live radio shows and his band "Tucson" was featured in the newspaper as "The band to experience." During the early 80's, he continued performing with various band genres such as Jazz, Rock, Country, Blues, Pop, Folk, Funk/Disco and Original.
During the early 1990's, Michael started up a professional recording studio to provide his audio engineering skills to his fellow musicians. After extensive research and skill development he started providing analog recording services in 1992. He recently opened his 800 square foot digital recording studio in 2001 in the Annapolis, MD area. He also had the opportunity to meet with an A&R Executive at EMI Publishing on Music Row in Nashville. Michael composes Latin, Folk, Country, Blues, Instrumental, Jazz, Rock, and Pop music in his recording studio. Michael has released numerous personal CD/DVD projects over the years. He has had major success in selling his original acoustic guitar CDs to our National Parks and State Parks, Spas, and Yoga Centers around the country. Michael’s music has been featured on PBS Film Specials and can be heard worldwide through MUZAK. His music can be purchased at ATPEACE.com, Amazon.com, iTunes, Rhapsody, cdBaby.com, etc. and is available for licensing in films, commercials, and DVD projects. He has won numerous song writing contests at The John Lennon Songwriting contest as well as the Songwriters Association of Washington songwriting contest.
Michael celebrated his first self produced and written CD release entitled “No Boundaries” in May of 2003. This CD demonstrates his ability to write Rock, Pop, Reggae, Country, Blues and Instrumental songs. In 2004 he released his second CD that is more of a Latin and Folk based genre called “The Son Always Rises.” In 2005 Michael wrote an hour-long sound track for a relaxation DVD called “Cape Cod – Reflections of Beauty”. This DVD is being used in the healing arts by large clients like Harvard’s Medical University. This particular client uses this DVD for their “Mind and Body Healing Program” for the terminally ill. Michael has released a series of personal CDs that are comprised of instrumental acoustic guitar, piano, flute, and strings called “Reflections of Beauty” based on his years of hiking and mountain climbing in North America. Recently several of Michael’s guitar instrumentals have appeared on Maryland and Virginia Public Television as commercial buffers between programs. His music has also been used in TV shows, and commercials world-wide. In the USA you can hear his music on The Weather Channel, National Ford commercials, US Coast Guard, The Red Cross, and CBS Sunday Morning News Hour.
Michael's Chesapeake CD music was recently used as the sound track on a Nation wide PBS documentary film called "Chesapeake Gold" produced by Ted Roach. This film won Best Documentary, and the narrated version of "Chesapeake Gold" won best Broadcast Journalism award.
Michael has met several key and influential musicians in his life, namely; Earl Klugh, Al Dimeola, Tony MacAlpine, Peter White, Nando Lauria, Rosa Passos, Steely Dan, Train, The Eagles, Boston, Journey, Santana, Charlie Byrd, James Taylor, Kenny Rankin, Neal Schon, Jimmy Messina, Teri Clark, Chely Wright, Julie Gold, Stanley Jordan, Oscar Peterson (Late), Acoustic Alchemy, Artie Traum (Late), Livingston Taylor, Spyro Gyra, Kansas, Kenny Loggins, Torcuato Mariano, and Joe Satriani.
Michael has been teaching guitar, drums, bass, percussion, steel drums, basic vocals, and songwriting since 1991.
EDUCATIONAL BACKGROUND
A.A.S. in Business Marketing, Management & Sales (1979 NY)
A.A.S. in Chemical Engineering (1984 NY)
B.S. in Computer Science (1988 VA)