Michael James Oakley (born 3 January 1982) is a Scottish synthwave producer and musician.

Early life

Oakley was born in Glasgow but moved to Los Angeles in 2016, before settling in Canada in 2018. He attended Williamwood High School in

Clarkston, East Renfrewshire Clarkston ( sco, Clairkstoun, gd, Baile Chlarc) is a suburban town in East Renfrewshire, in the Central Lowlands of Scotland. A dormitory town with a population of around 10,000, Clarkston is on the southern fringe of the Greater Glasgow conurb ...

. He is a self-taught musician, having taken piano lessons for a short period in his youth.

Career

Having worked in Glasgow's cover band scene for some years, Oakley penned what would become his debut album, ''California'', in 2016. Lesley Daunt of ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (formerly ''The Huffington Post'' until 2017 and sometimes abbreviated ''HuffPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and ...

'' wrote in 2017 of the lead single "Turn Back Time", "Oakley's captivating beats and celestial synthesizers have given a fresh approach and revival to classic pop". In 2017, Oakley released ''California'' to critical acclaim from ''The Huffington Post'' and popular YouTube channel and record label ''NewRetroWave''. In 2019, the artist released his sophomore album, ''Introspect'', which was listed in NewRetroWave's Top 10 albums list of 2019. In 2020, Oakley issued the track "Wake Up!", featuring Ollie Wride, as part of the soundtrack to the game ''Wave Break: High Tide'', through Funktronic Labs. In the same year, he contributed an instrumental remix of his 2016 single "Rabbit in the Headlights" to the soundtrack of the

mobile game A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to ...

''Retro Drive''. On 16 April 2021, Oakley announced the release of a new single, "Is There Anybody Out There", co-written by fellow labelmate Ollie Wride and produced by

Jon Campbell The Time Frequency (TTF) are a Scottish electronic dance music group, founded by Jon Campbell in early 1990. Members that TTF have included are fellow keyboard players Paul Inglis, Steven Nelson, Kyle Ramsay and later Colin McNeil. Mary Kiani ...

of The Time Frequency. Oakley released his third studio album, ''Odyssey'', on 14 May 2021, through NewRetroWave Records. Callum Crumlish of ''

Daily Express The ''Daily Express'' is a national daily United Kingdom middle-market newspaper printed in tabloid format. Published in London, it is the flagship of Express Newspapers, owned by publisher Reach plc. It was first published as a broadsheet i ...

'' wrote, "The glowing eight-track record oozes style and electronica while managing to steer clear of the cliched building blocks of the genre".

Life-saving incident

In 2012, while returning from a performance at a wedding function near Glasgow, Oakley rescued two men from a burning car.

Discography

Albums

* ''California'' (2017) * ''Introspect'' (2019) * ''Odyssey'' (2021)

EPs

* ''Four'' (2022)

Singles

* "Turn Back Time" (2016) * "Rabbit in the Headlights" (2016) * "Afterglow" –

Scandroid Scandroid is an American electronic music project created by Klayton, which previously included Varien in 2013. The project released its debut single, "Salvation Code", on August 6, 2013. Scandroid can be described as encompassing the retro synt ...

(Michael Oakley Remix) (2018) * "Control" (2018) * "Now I'm Alive" (feat.

Dana Jean Phoenix Dana Jean Phoenix (born January 30, 1987) is a Canadian synthwave singer-songwriter and musical theatre actress. She is also the female lead singer of the Juno-nominated Toronto funk outfit God Made Me Funky. Early life and education Phoenix i ...

) (2019) * "Euphoria" – Scandroid (Michael Oakley Remix) (2019) * "Queen of Hearts" (2020) * "Wake Up!" - feat. Ollie Wride (''Wave Break: High Tide Soundtrack'') (2020) * "Is There Anybody Out There" (2021) * "Glasgow Song" (feat. Dana Jean Phoenix) (2021) * "We Are the Dreamers" (feat. Elevate the Sky) (2022)

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Oakley, Michael Living people 1982 births People educated at Williamwood High School Synthwave musicians 21st-century Scottish male musicians