Michael "Olga" Algar (born 21 September 1959 in Marsden, South Shields, England) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who fronts the band Toy Dolls. Mainly a lead/rhythm guitarist, Olga is also a songwriter and record producer. Algar lived in the

City of Sunderland The City of Sunderland () is a metropolitan borough with city status in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is named after its largest settlement, Sunderland, spanning a far larger area, including nearby towns incl ...

during most of his life before moving to Tokyo, Japan, in 2000. He then moved to central London in 2002 where he has lived since.

Musical career

Michael “Olga” Algar, began playing music "around the age of 11 after seeing Mud,

Sweet Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketone ...

Slade Slade are an English rock band formed in Wolverhampton in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The ''British Hit Singles ...

and

Suzi Quatro Susan Kay Quatro (born June 3, 1950) is an American singer, bass guitarist, songwriter, and actress. In the 1970s, she scored a string of hit singles that found greater success in Europe and Australia than in her homeland, reaching No. 1 in th ...

on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most o ...

'', a UK pop TV show". He had started songwriting/composing by the age of 17. He played in various local bands including Straw Dogs and The Showbiz Kids before forming Toy Dolls in October 1979. Over their 40-year existence Toy Dolls have toured the world extensively and released numerous albums and singles. Olga has written all the band's albums which include such titles as ''

Absurd-Ditties ''Absurd-Ditties'' is the seventh full-length album by the punk rock band Toy Dolls, recorded in September 1992 and released in January 1993 by Receiver Records. Album info and review It is considered by many, including vocalist and guitarist Olg ...

'', '' Fat Bob's Feet'', ''

Idle Gossip ''Idle Gossip'' is a full-length album by the punk band Toy Dolls. Track listing All writing by Michael "Olga" Algar. # "Idle Gossip" – 2:33 # "Do You Wanna Be Like Dougy Bell" – 2:39 # "The Lambrusco Kid" – 3:28 # "You Won't Be M ...

'' and ''

Anniversary Anthems ''Anniversary Anthems'' is a studio album by the English punk rock band Toy Dolls, recorded in 2000. Album info and review Track listing All compositions by Michael Algar except where noted. # "The Anniversary Waltz" (Dubin, Franklin) – ...

''. Following the debut album '' Dig That Groove Baby'', the band had a top 10 single in the UK in 1984, "

Nellie the Elephant "Nellie the Elephant" is a children's song written in 1956 by Ralph Butler and Peter Hart about a fictional anthropomorphic elephant of that name. Original version The original version, released on Parlophone R 4219 in October 1956, was recorde ...

", reaching number 4 in the UK Singles Chart.Page536, British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.) Roberts, David (2006). London: Guinness World Records Limited. This was followed by the album '' A Far Out Disc'' reaching number 71 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts ...

Production

Olga has produced most of Toy Dolls' albums and also recordings for other artists too, including the double A side single "Take A Walk/Round, Round, Round" by Gem Archer of Beady Eye and Oasis and the albums ''Toy Doll'' and ''Tori Ningen'' by Japanese punk band

Lolita No.18 Lolita No.18 (ロリータ18号) is a Japanese all-girl punk rock band formed in 1989, known for their cartoony, high-pitched vocals. Members *Masayo Ishizaka (石坂マサヨ) - vocals (1989-) Former members *Kim*Rin (キム☆リン) - origi ...

. In 2010 he was executive engineer on the album ''Crash & Burn'' by North East UK punk band Crashed Out. The latest production from Olga is ''Episode XIII'' by Toy Dolls, released in 2019.

TV and film soundtracks

Olga has written the music for various TV commercials, including Ready Brek (UK), Badoit mineral water (France) and Crazy Grape Pepsi Cola (Russia). His music has been used on the soundtracks of Hollywood films, including '' Haggard: The Movie'', ''

Free Jimmy ''Free Jimmy'' ( No: ''Slipp Jimmy fri'') is a 2006 adult computer-animated comedy film first released in Norwegian in 2006, and later in English in 2008. The film was written and directed by acclaimed Norwegian subculture comic book artist Chri ...

'' and the video game ''

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4'' is a skateboarding video game and the fourth entry in the '' Tony Hawk's'' series. It was developed by Neversoft and published by Activision under the Activision O2 label in 2002 for the GameCube, PlayStation, X ...

'' and most recently the documentary ''Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off''. Olga wrote the theme and incidental music for the TV rock/pop show '' Razzmatazz'' and the theme music for comedian Dave Gorman's ''Googlewhack Adventure'' DVD.

Guitar playing

Prior to playing guitar, Olga first learned Bass guitar and also plays

kazoo The kazoo is an American musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modifie ...

. Olga plays a yellow

Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele , is an electric guitar produced by Fender. Together with its sister model the Esquire, it is the world's first mass-produced, commercially successful Les Paul had built a prototype solid bo ...

with a

Seymour Duncan Seymour Duncan is an American company best known for manufacturing guitar and bass pickups. They also manufacture effects pedals which are designed and assembled in America. Guitarist and luthier Seymour W. Duncan and Cathy Carter Duncan found ...

bridge pick up. The All Music Guide describes Olga as being "capable of jaw-droppingly fast guitar picking", and he is notable for being one of few punk guitarists to frequently take guitar solos. Besides playing guitar with Toy Dolls, Olga has toured Europe, Japan and the USA as bass player with

The Dickies The Dickies are an American punk rock band formed in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, in 1977. One of the longest tenured punk rock bands, they have been in continuous existence for over 40 years. They have consistently balanced catchy mel ...

, and features on their Live DVD ''An Evening with the Dickies'' recorded at The Wedgwood Rooms in Portsmouth UK July 2002. He also played bass on various US shows with

The Adicts The Adicts are a British punk rock band from Ipswich, Suffolk, England. One of the most popular punk rock bands in the 1980s, they were often in the indie charts during that decade. The Adicts originated as The Afterbirth in late 1975 but n ...

. He made a guest appearance at the birthday show of Ginger from the Wildhearts at the Garage, London 17 December 2009. He has been a guest guitarist on a number of artists recordings including the tracks "Can't Drink You Pretty" from the ''

Yoni ''Yoni'' (; sometimes also ), sometimes called ''pindika'', is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu goddess Shakti. It is usually shown with '' linga'' – its masculine counterpart. Together, they symbolize the merging of micr ...

'' by Ginger from

Wildhearts The Wildhearts are an English rock band, formed in 1989 in Newcastle upon Tyne. The band's sound is a mixture of hard rock and melodic pop music, often described in the music press as combining influences as diverse as the Beatles and 1980s- ...

, "Aint Just Talkin bout Love" from The ''G7'' album by German band Gigantor, "Keepin on Keepin on" from the album ''Uppers and Downers'' by

The Yo-Yos The Yo-Yos are a British rock and roll band, formed in 1998 by ex-The Wildhearts bassist, Danny McCormack and Tom Spencer (ex- Sugarsnatch / The Lurkers), after the two met at a Toy Dolls recording session. The Yo-Yo's recruited Andy Selway ( ...

, Japanese band Seventh Tarz Armstrong's album entitled ''The Tokyo City Big Nights'', the track "Walk of Shame" from the album ''Poets on Payday'' by Norfolk Punk band Vanilla Pod, Japan based punk band Duncans Divas' album ''Up and at 'em'', and on

Peter and the Test Tube Babies Peter and the Test Tube Babies are an English punk rock band, formed in the small town of Peacehaven, England in 1978, by Derek "Strangefish" Greening and Peter Bywaters. Due to their humorous tongue-in-cheek lyrics, they have been considered ...

album ''A Foot Full of Bullets'' on lead vocals on the song "Smiling Through The Tears". Olga also appeared on lead vocals alongside

Brian Johnson Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. He and the rest of the band were inducted into the Rock and Rol ...

from (AC/DC) and John Miles, on the Geordie Aid single "Try Giving Everything" in 1985, for charity relating to Ethiopia. Another charity record that Olga appeared on was the album ''

Guitarists 4 the Kids ''Artists for Charity - Guitarists 4 the Kids'' is a compilation album which was produced and arranged by Slang Productions in 2006. Over 18 international artists contributed to the recording project to assist World Vision Canada and their philanth ...

'' released in 2006.

Musical influences

Olga finds inspiration from "everyday life, girlfriends, next door neighbours and things, rather than music", for his songwriting. His early musical influences include " Dr. Feelgood,

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

, Mud, SLF, Sham 69,

The Jam The Jam were an English mod revival/ punk rock band formed in 1972 at Sheerwater Secondary School in Woking, Surrey. They released 18 consecutive Top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in December 1 ...

The Skids Skids are a Scottish punk rock and new wave band, formed in Dunfermline in 1977 by Stuart Adamson (guitar, keyboards, percussion and backing vocals), William Simpson (bass guitar and backing vocals), Thomas Kellichan (drums) and Richard Jo ...

", among punk rock music in general.

References and notes

External links

Olga's Official Myspace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Algar, Michael 1962 births Living people English punk rock guitarists English songwriters English record producers English punk rock singers People from South Shields Musicians from Tyne and Wear