Hilly Michaels | |
---|---|
Born | New Haven, Connecticut, US |
Genres | Rock |
Occupation(s) | Producer |
Instruments | vocals, guitar, drums, percussion |
Years active | 1970s-present |
Labels | Warner Bros. |
Associated acts | Sparks |
Hilly Michaels, also known as Hilly Boy Michaels, is an American drummer and musician who is best known for playing drums with Sparks in the 1970s. [1] He was a New York-based session drummer, who performed on Sparks' 1976 album Big Beat , which was produced by Rupert Holmes. Michaels was the only session musician to go on the North American tour with Ron Mael and Russell Mael of the Sparks. [2] Michaels released two solo albums in the early 1980s, Calling All Girls (1980) and Lumia (1981).
His first music experience came with playing in a band called Joy, featuring a young Michael Bolton. Later, Michaels played with artists such as The Cherry Vanilla Band, Peach & Lee, Sparks, Ellen Foley, The Hunter/Ronson Band, Dan Hartman, John Mellencamp, Marianne Faithfull, and Ronnie Wood.
In 1979, Jake Hooker worked with Michaels to capture a million dollar deal with Warner Bros. Records and a music video to promote Calling All Girls in 1980 with Roy Thomas Baker as the producer. [3]
Michaels was in a relationship with Marianne Faithfull during the mid-1980s; they lived together in New York City. [4]
Michaels' songs can be heard in the movies Caddyshack and Die Laughing . In the movie Rollercoaster , he appeared with Sparks, performing the songs "Big Boy" and "Fill'er Up".
He has since worked as a producer and manager of marketing and development. He currently resides in Connecticut, and continues to record.
Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. She achieved popularity in the 1960s with the release of her hit single "As Tears Go By" and became one of the lead female artists during the British Invasion in the United States.
Russell Craig Mael is an American singer, songwriter and record producer best known as the lead singer and occasional songwriter for the band Sparks which he formed in 1971 with his elder brother, keyboardist and main songwriter Ron Mael. Mael is known for his wide vocal range, in particular his far-reaching falsetto. He has a flamboyant and hyperactive stage presence which contrasts sharply with Ron Mael's deadpan scowling. The band released an album with British rock band Franz Ferdinand, as the supergroup FFS, titled FFS, released in 2015. The Mael brothers are the founders of Lil' Beethoven Records.
Sparks is an American pop and rock duo formed in 1967 by brothers Ron (keyboards) and Russell Mael (vocals). Known for their quirky approach to songwriting, Sparks' music is often accompanied by sophisticated and acerbic lyrics, often about women or Shakespearean literature references, and an idiosyncratic, theatrical stage presence, typified in the contrast between Russell's animated, hyperactive frontman antics and Ron's deadpan scowling. They are also noted for Russell Mael's distinctive wide-ranging voice and Ron Mael's intricate and rhythmic keyboard playing style. They were much more successful in Europe compared to their native US, though they maintain a loyal cult following there.
Kimono My House is the third album by rock band Sparks. The record was released in May 1974 and is considered to be their commercial breakthrough.
Melvyn Desmond Collins is a British saxophonist, flautist and session musician.
Martin Gordon is an English musician, who plays bass guitar, double bass and piano. After a long period as band member and session musician, he embarked on a solo career in 2004. His most recent album release was in early 2020.
Broken English is the seventh studio album by English singer Marianne Faithfull. It was released on 2 November 1979 by Island Records. The album marked a major comeback for Faithfull after years of drug abuse, homelessness, and suffering from anorexia. It is often regarded as her "definitive recording" and Faithfull herself described it as her "masterpiece".
Michael A. Levine is an American composer, music producer and screenwriter born in Japan and currently based in Los Angeles. He is best known for his work in film and television.
Sparks, originally titled Halfnelson, is the debut album by the Los Angeles rock band Sparks. The album was first released as Halfnelson, the band's original name, and reissued a year later as an eponymous album by Sparks.
Big Beat is the sixth album by American rock band Sparks, released in 1976.
Introducing Sparks is the seventh album by the American rock band Sparks, released in 1977 by Columbia Records.
Nº 1 in Heaven is the eighth album by Sparks. Recorded with Italian disco producer Giorgio Moroder, it marked a change of musical direction for the group and became influential on later synth-pop bands.
Music That You Can Dance To is the fourteenth studio album by American pop band Sparks. It was originally released in September 1986, on the label MCA in the US and Consolidated Allied in the UK, two years after their previous album, Pulling Rabbits Out of a Hat.
Mark–Almond was a jazz-influenced English pop group of the 1970s and early 1980s, sometimes also called The Mark-Almond Band. The core members were Jon Mark, who sang lead and played guitar, percussion, and harmonica and Johnny Almond who played saxophone, flute and bass flute and sang back-up. Various other musicians recorded and toured with the duo at various times, notably including drummer Dannie Richmond, a long-time associate of jazz bassist Charles Mingus.
Waliou Jacques Daniel Isheola "Wally" Badarou is a French musician. Born in France with ancestry from Benin, West Africa, Badarou is known for his close association with the English group Level 42, and for his prolific work as a session musician with a wide variety of performers from around the world.
Dangerous Acquaintances is the eighth studio album by English singer Marianne Faithfull. It was released on 1 September 1981 by Island Records. The album was seen by reviewers as a disappointing follow-up to Faithfull's Broken English, as the album trades the angry and controversial alternative new wave arrangements of the previous one for a more mainstream rock texture, using over a dozen session musicians and, for some, giving a certain anonymous feel to the songs. The title is a reference to the Pierre Choderlos de Laclos 1782 novel Les Liaisons dangereuses.
James Stroud is an American musician and record producer who works in pop, rock, R&B, soul, disco, and country music. He played with the Malaco Rhythm Section for Malaco Records. In the 1990s, he was the president of Giant Records and held several credits as a session drummer. He later worked for DreamWorks Records Nashville and in 2008 founded his own label, Stroudavarious Records.
Jon Mark (born John Michael Burchell was an English singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for his recordings with Marianne Faithfull, Sweet Thursday, John Mayall and Mark-Almond. Mark, who received a Grammy in 2004, lived in Rotorua, New Zealand.
Norman Victor "Dinky" Diamond was a British drummer who played with the rock band Sparks at the height of their fame in the UK in the early 1970s, playing on the albums Kimono My House (1974), Propaganda (1974) and Indiscreet (1975). In 1975 Diamond was voted Drummer of the Year in a poll held by Premier Drums. He committed suicide by hanging in 2004 after a long-running dispute with noisy neighbours.
David Kendrick is an American rock drummer who is a former member of Gleaming Spires and Devo, and has recorded and toured with Sparks. He is based in Los Angeles, California.