Lee Eugene Michaels (born Michael Olsen, November 24, 1945) is an American rock musician who sings and accompanies himself on organ,

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

, or

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

. He is best known for his powerful soulful voice and his energetic virtuosity on the

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

, peaking in 1971 with his Top 10 pop

hit single A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single or simply a hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record' ...

, "

Do You Know What I Mean "Do You Know What I Mean" is a song written and performed by Lee Michaels. It was produced by Michaels. It reached #6 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and #4 on the ''Cash Box'' Top 100 in the summer of 1971. The song was featured on his 19 ...

". In 1988 he founded the

Marina Del Rey Marina del Rey (Spanish language, Spanish for "Marina of the King") is an unincorporated area, unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, with an eponymous harbor that is a major boating and water recreation destination ...

-based restaurant chain Killer Shrimp which he and his family continue to operate to this day.

Career

Born in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, United States, Michaels began his career with

The Sentinals The Sentinals were a surf rock band from San Luis Obispo, California (1961–1965). The band is notable for a Latino influence in some works, such as "Latin'ia" (1962). Notable band members included Tommy Nuñes, drummer John Barbata (later of T ...

, a

San Luis Obispo, California San Luis Obispo (; Spanish for " St. Louis the Bishop", ; Chumash: ''tiłhini'') is a city and county seat of San Luis Obispo County, in the U.S. state of California. Located on the Central Coast of California, San Luis Obispo is roughly halfwa ...

-based surf group that included drummer Johny Barbata (later of

The Turtles ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

Jefferson Airplane Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to ac ...

and

Jefferson Starship Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum-selling studio albu ...

). Michaels joined Barbata in the Joel Scott Hill Trio, a group led by guitarist Joel Scott Hill. Michaels later moved to

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, where he joined an early version of The Family Tree, a band led by

Bob Segarini Robert Joseph "Bob" Segarini (born August 28, 1945 in Stockton, California) is a recording artist, singer, songwriter, composer and radio host. During a professional music career primarily developed between 1968 and the early 1980s, Segarini was ...

. In 1967, he signed a contract with

A&M Records A&M Records was an American record label founded as an independent company by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss in 1962. Due to the success of the discography A&M released, the label garnered interest and was acquired by PolyGram in 1989 and began distr ...

, releasing his debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, ''Carnival of Life,'' later that year with David Potter on drums. As a

session musician Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...

, he played with

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

, among others. Michaels' choice of the

as his primary instrument was unusual for the time, as was his bare-bones stage and

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

accompaniment: usually just a single

drummer A drummer is a percussionist who creates music using drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one mem ...

, most often a musician known as "Frosty," real name Bartholomew Eugene Smith-Frost, who was a member of Sweathog, and whose barehanded technique was an inspiration for John Bonham,Bartholomew Eugene Smith-Frost is based in Texas, where he continues to perform as Barry Smith or B.E. "Frosty" Smith
Experience Summary
; Soulhat.net

Frostysmith.tripod.com. or with

Joel Larson Joel Larson (born April 29, 1947) is an American rock drummer and percussionist who is known as a founding member of The Merry-Go-Round and for being associated with The Turtles and The Grass Roots. Early life He lived near Lincoln Park ...

The Grass Roots The Grass Roots are an American rock band that charted frequently between 1965 and 1975. The band was originally the creation of Lou Adler and songwriting duo P. F. Sloan and Steve Barri. In their career, they achieved two gold albums, two ...

. This unorthodox approach attracted a following in San Francisco, and some critical notice. (''

Sounds In physics, sound is a vibration that propagates as an acoustic wave, through a transmission medium such as a gas, liquid or solid. In human physiology and psychology, sound is the ''reception'' of such waves and their ''perception'' by the ...

Magazine,'' for one, reported of Michaels that he had been called "the ultimate power organist.") But Michaels did not achieve real commercial success until the release of his fifth album. That album, titled '' 5th'' and released in 1971, produced a surprise US Top 10 hit (No. 6 in late 1971), "Do You Know What I Mean." It was an autobiographical homage to the loss of a girlfriend. Michaels's Top 40 follow-up, a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

of the

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

standard, "

Can I Get a Witness "Can I Get a Witness" is a song composed by Brian Holland, Lamont Dozier, and Eddie Holland and produced by Brian Holland and Lamont Dozier as a non-album single for American recording vocalist Marvin Gaye, who issued the record on Motown's Tam ...

," peaked at No. 39 on Christmas Day 1971, eight years to the week after Marvin Gaye's version peaked at No. 22. ''Billboard'' ranked "Do You Know What I Mean" as the No. 19 song for 1971. Michaels recorded two more albums for A&M before signing a

recording contract A recording contract (commonly called a record contract or record deal) is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist (or group), where the artist makes a record (or series of records) for the label to sell and promote. Artists ...

with

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

in 1973. But his Columbia recordings failed to generate much interest, and Michaels had gone into semi-retirement from the

music industry The music industry consists of the individuals and organizations that earn money by writing songs and musical compositions, creating and selling recorded music and sheet music, presenting concerts, as well as the organizations that aid, train, ...

by the end of the decade. In 1991, Michaels obtained full rights to all of his A&M recordings in a settlement of disputes that had arisen from A&M granting licenses to

Delicious Vinyl Delicious Vinyl is an American independent record label founded by Matt Dike and Michael Ross in 1987 and based in Los Angeles, California. History Michael Ross was a student at the University of California, Los Angeles when he met Matt Dike, a ...

for the use of Michaels's recordings by means of digital sampling on several

Young MC Marvin Young (born May 10, 1967), better known by his stage name Young M.C., is a British-born American rapper, singer and actor. He is best known for his 1989 hit " Bust a Move". His debut album ''Stone Cold Rhymin found international accla ...

recordings. Once he had regained full ownership rights, Michaels granted licenses to

Rhino Records A rhinoceros (; ; ), commonly abbreviated to rhino, is a member of any of the five extant species (or numerous extinct species) of odd-toed ungulates in the family Rhinocerotidae. (It can also refer to a member of any of the extinct species o ...

and

Shout Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

to release several "best of" albums over the years. Starting in November 2015,

Manifesto Records Manifesto Records is an independent record label based in Los Angeles, California that has released records by Dead Kennedys, Tim Buckley, Cinerama, Concrete Blonde, Cranes, The Czars, Screamin' Jay Hawkins, Lilys, The Rugburns, Sing-Sing, ...

has been re-releasing his entire catalog of A&M and Columbia recordings on compact disc and vinyl through to February 2016.

Discography

Studio albums + live album

Singles

Compilation CDs

* ''The Lee Michaels Collection'' (Rhino, 1992) * ''The Best of Lee Michaels'' (One Way, 1997) * ''Hello: The Very Best of Lee Michaels'' (Shout Factory, 2004) * ''Heighty Hi: The Best of Lee Michaels'' (Manifesto, 2015) * ''The Complete A&M Albums Collection'' -CD set(Manifesto, 2015)

References

External links

Lee Michaels Biography on allmusic.com Lee may refer to: Name Given name * Lee (given name), a given name in English Surname * Chinese surnames romanized as Li or Lee: ** Li (surname 李) or Lee (Hanzi ), a common Chinese surname ** Li (surname 利) or Lee (Hanzi ), a Chinese s ...

Lee Michaels MySpace tribute page

{{DEFAULTSORT:Michaels, Lee 1945 births Living people American rock singers A&M Records artists Columbia Records artists ABC Records artists American singer-songwriters American rock keyboardists American male organists American rock pianists American male pianists American rock guitarists American male guitarists 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American pianists 21st-century American keyboardists 21st-century American pianists 21st-century organists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 20th-century American keyboardists American male singer-songwriters