Michael Morales

Morales began his musical career in high school, fronting the popular Texan band THE MAX. After graduating and touring for a number of years with THE MAX, he was signed by Wing Records, home to Vanessa Williams, Tone, Tony, Toni, and a subsidiary to PolyGram, where he released two solo albums: Michael Morales (1989) and Thump (1991). His hits have appeared multiple times in the Top 20 section of Billboard Magazine’s prestigious HOT 100. They have crossed over from the US to Europe, Japan and Latin America and are still wildly popular today. His singles Who Do You Give Your Love To? (Billboard #14) and I Don’t Wanna See You are classic slices of radio friendly pop rock often compared, in sound, to Rick Springfield and Richard Marx.Even with his success, the state of the music industry in the early ‘90s changed for many artisit including Morales. "While my PolyGram deal was souring, a bunch of new tunes hit me," says Morales in our recent conversation. "I recorded them but decided to shelf them (at least until the grunge thing ended). The industry tends to follow trends and I didn’t want to waste those songs. MTM came along and asked what I had in the can." He then turned over what was packaged and titled That’s The Way.Reception to the newly released material has been outstanding. The pendulum in rock is starting to sway back towards harder rock music opening the door for the Morales sound. "My music will always be rock," he says. "Usually, a song dictates how it wants to be produced. I’ve listened to a lot of what Mutt (Lange) does. He and Def Leppard make great records and I think he’s the greatest producer of our time."Michael’s return to the spotlight as a singer and performer is an exciting comeback. His taste for catchy melodies backed by a contemporary rock format keeps him edgy and fluid. "I have a few songs that I am really excited about now," he says. With the popularity of That’s The Way and a white-hot live set Morales is once again center stage.