Bret Michaels

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Bret Michael Sychak, also known as Bret Michaels (born March 15, 1963 in Butler, Pennsylvania) is best known as the lead vocalist of the glam metal band Poison.

1 Youth and Early Career
2 Success with Poison
3 Other Ventures
4 Solo Projects
5 Personal life
6 Discography
- 6.1 Solo
- 6.2 Poison
7 External links

[edit] Youth and Early Career

Michaels has suffered from Juvenile diabetes since the age of six (as Michaels later attested in the Behind the Music special, backstage photos of the singer injecting insulin led many to think that he was a heroin addict). He was born in the Pittsburgh subrurb of Butler, PA. As a child his family relocated to the Harrisburgh suburb of Mechanicsburg, PA. He attended Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School. He was interested in music from an early age, and his love of heavy rock was undoubtedly influenced by bands such as Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Thin Lizzy, KISS, Sweet, AC/DC, and Aerosmith. Michaels formed the band Paris in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1984. The band, which later became Poison, moved to Los Angeles in 1984 to begin touring the clubs there.

[edit] Success with Poison

Michaels had a highly successful career with Poison in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During that time, he co-wrote ten Top 40 singles including the hit, "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", which held the number one spot for three weeks in Billboard’s Top Pop Singles chart, and Poison videos were in heavy rotation on MTV. Michaels, who is famous for his good looks and for his voice, was featured constantly on the covers and pull-out posters of music mags sans shirt, which cost him and the band some credibility.

Poison has seven studio albums, all featuring Michaels on lead vocals.

[edit] Other Ventures

Michaels and actor Charlie Sheen established a film production company Sheen/Michaels Entertainment which produced the movie A Letter From Death Row (1998) which Michaels wrote, directed and starred in, as well as No Code Of Conduct the same year. Their company also produced the feature film Free Money, starring Marlon Brando and Mira Sorvino.

Michaels appeared in an episode of the CBS sitcom Yes, Dear. He also served as a judge during the 2005 season of reality television singing competition Nashville Star.

Bret Michaels will step in front of the cameras later this year (06) in a film based on his wild life. The movie, which is tentatively entitled Between a Rose and a Thorn, will begin production after the band wraps up their tour this year (06).

Presidents' Day Weekend 15-19 Feburary 2007 Michaels is to attend Rock 'n Roll Fantasy Camp (RRFC) giving campers a once in a lifetime opportunity to learn rock from the masters. Over five days and guided by a Who's Who of rock legends campers of all musical abilities and backgrounds will form bands, hone their skills, jam with their idols and become "rock stars." The camp culminates in a Battle of the Bands blowout at the House Of Blues on Sunset. The camp's professors of rock along with Bret Michaels include: Paul Stanley (KISS), Brian Wilson (Co-founder, The Beach Boys), Mickey Hart (The Grateful Dead), Dickey Betts (Allman Bros), Scott Ian (Anthrax), legendary guitar player Steve Vai, Simon Kirke (Bad Company/Free), Spike Edney (Queen), Kelly Keagy (Night Ranger), Bruce Kulick (KISS), Jane Wiedlin (Go-Go's), Artimus Pyle (Lynyrd Skynyrd), Sully Erna (Godsmack), Spencer Davis, Mark Slaughter (Slaughter) and Clem Burke (Blondie).

On February 14, 2007, it was released by VH1 that Bret Michaels is going to have his own reality show called "Rock of Love With Bret Michaels" where women will have to compete for his love and prove they can keep up with his rock star life.[1][2]

[edit] Solo Projects

Michaels released his second solo album Songs Of Life in May 2003. The album featured cameos by C.C. DeVille and Rikki Rockett of Poison. The first single, Raine was named after Michaels’ daughter, Raine Elizabeth Michaels.

Michaels recently completed work on his third solo album, Freedom of Sound, which is being released by his own record company BMB Records.

Michaels has produced and written for numerous artists, including Stevie Nicks, for whom Michaels wrote and produced the song, “Loves A Hard Game To Play.” The song was written for the “Timespace - The Best of Stevie Nicks’ album”, which was certified platinum.

[edit] Personal life

Michaels had a short relationship with Pamela Anderson. A video of the couple having sex appeared on the Internet and it was released as a DVD on September 7, 2005 by Metro Studios. Having always retained all of his publishing rights, Michaels has never been afraid to fight for what is his, even setting a legal precedent when he was able to stop the sexually explicit tape with then girlfriend Pamela Anderson from being distributed.

Currently, Michaels has two daughters with Kristi Lynn Gibson. Raine Elizabeth Sychak, was born on May 20, 2000, and Jorja Bleu Sychak, born May 5, 2005.

Michaels has mentioned that he is a die-hard Pittsburgh Steelers fan. He has a personalized guitar bearing the team's logo, and played the national anthem at Three Rivers Stadium Michaels has stated also that his favorite player was Jack Lambert and he was a member of his fan club called "Lambert's Lunatics".

[edit] Discography

[edit] Solo

A Letter From Death Row (1998)	Show Me Your Hits A Tribute to Poison (2000)	Country Demos (2000)	Ballads, Blues, and Stories (2001)
Songs Of Life (2003)	Freedom Of Sound (2005)

[edit] Poison

Look What the Cat Dragged In (1986)	Open Up and Say...Ahh! (1988)	Flesh & Blood (1990)	Swallow This Live (1991)
Native Tongue (1993)	Poison's Greatest Hits: 1986-1996 (1996)	Crack a Smile...and More! (2000)	Power to the People (2000)
Hollyweird (2002)	Best of Ballads & Blues (2003)	The Best Of Poison: 20 Years Of Rock (2006)	Tentatively Titled:- The Poison Covers Album (Summer 2007)