Eric St.Michaels

Music:

Member Since: 20/06/2006
Band Website: www.eric-st-michaels.com / www.chinamusic.ch
Band Members:
Influences: Hi! My name is Eric St.Michaels and I’m a 47 year old rock singer from the state of New Jersey in the USA. How I got to Switzerland is probably the way I should start the story......... Years ago in the early 80’s I was a young singer living in NYC. I joined a band called Rakkett being produced and managed by Paul Stanley from the band Kiss. The band split up after 2 years and went in different directions. However we did have a chance to play for all the top major labels in the United States and the experience was wonderful. Around that time I was living in a rehearsal space I was sharing with Lenny Kravitz in Jersey City. I was trying hard to find a project. I auditioned for Skid Row, Foreigner, Steve Stevens and lots more. I started singing on national commercial jingles and that plus painting apartments kept me going financially. One day I got a call from Paul Marshall's office saying that Bobby Rondinelli the drummer who just finished playing for Aerosmith, Black Sabbath and Doro was getting a band together and looking for a singer. I got the gig. We went to upstate NY and recorded a three song Demo that got us signed to Modern Atlantic Records. We tried real hard but the band fell apart. I was feeling like a loser until I got a call from Alan Reif who was a security guard for Paul Stanley and now worked as the tour manager for a European Metal band called China which at that time was signed to Phonogram Records Germany. We flew over to Switzerland where the band was based. We got along great! After years and years of playing bars and trying to get noticed in the states....I was now walking out on stage in Europe with a great band that had an Album in the charts. We toured and did records together for 3 years or so until Nirvana changed the music bizz and AOR Melodic Rock bands like us were just getting dropped left and right. I started many projects on my return to the states and I ended up in Nashville recording my first solo record with borrowed money. In 1997 the only label that would distribute me was BMG Ariola Records Switzerland. They wanted me to move to Zurich and work on promoting the record. So, that was when I came here to live. A few years earlier I had done a few other records for BMG. I was lead singer on 2 albums with the Swiss band Southern Comfort. I did 90% of the voices on Metal Marathon with Fernando Von Arb of Krokus fame. My song “The Feeling Of Christmas” was released year after year on BMG Christmas compilations. I am currently back together with the band China and we are having a great time touring and supporting our “Very Best Of CD” available from Universal. A highlight from the tour was an appearance on the Swiss TV program “Die grössten Schweizer Hits”. These days with the China reunion, my own acoustic concerts and shows I play with The Windfields I manage to average about 80 shows a year. I am also a vocal coach working with other artists who come to me mainly for help with the American English dialect. I am proud to say that I’ve had the good fortune to work with some amazing Swiss talent. For example I’ve coached Pegasus, Anshelle, Corrine Gfeller (Singer for Gölä), Toni Vescoli, Mia Aegerter, Carmen Fink and many many more. I also teach private lessons one day a week at a school in Wetzikon ZH called Musik Burkhalter and I enjoy it very much. My wife’s name is Seline and she comes from Schüpfheim LU. She is also a singer and we’ve played 100’s of concerts together over the years. We slowed the duo down a bit to make time for our son Levin who is now 13 months old. He is truly the main joy and focus of both our lives. We all live together in Wolhusen LU where Seline has her podiatrist practice (Medizinisch Podologin). To sum up my experiences I could say I followed my American dream to Switzerland. In any case I feel very fortunate to do what I do and make a life from it. And that’s really in the end all a rock & roll man can ask for!Best regardsEric
Record Label: Universal, K-Tel, Turicaphone