Michelle Leonard (born 5 June 1973) is a German / British singer and

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

, now based in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Leonard has written and co-written multiple songs, both singles and for albums, that have achieved gold and platinum status. Leonard is known internationally for her work with

AURORA An aurora (plural: auroras or aurorae), also commonly known as the polar lights, is a natural light display in Earth's sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions (around the Arctic and Antarctic). Auroras display dynamic patterns of bri ...

and

Paul van Dyk Matthias Paul (; born 16 December 1971), known professionally as Paul van Dyk () is a German DJ, record producer and musician. One of the first true renowned DJs, van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly a ...

, as well as for her collaboration with

Robin Schulz Robin Alexander Schulz (; born 28 April 1987) is a German musician, DJ and record producer. On 4 February 2014, he released the first single from his debut album, a remix of "Waves" by Dutch hip hop artist Mr. Probz. This remix later received ...

(under the

stage name A stage name is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. Such professional aliases are adopted for a wide variety of reasons and they may be similar, or nearly identical, to an individu ...

Solamay). As a songwriter, Leonard is currently signed to Budde Music Publishing.

Biography

Leonard grew up in Germany, where she attended British schools.

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

Music Publishing signed her when she was 17. She had just released her first single at 16, which was a cover version of "

Falling Falling or fallin' may refer to: *Falling (physics), movement due to gravity *Falling (accident) *Falling (execution) *Falling (sensation) People * Christine Falling (born 1963), American serial killer who murdered six children Books * ''Fall ...

," a 1990 song by

Julee Cruise Julee Ann Cruise (December 1, 1956 – June 9, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and actress, known for her collaborations with composer Angelo Badalamenti and film director David Lynch in the late 1980s and early 1990s. She released fo ...

that later became popular as the ''

Twin Peaks ''Twin Peaks'' is an American Mystery fiction, mystery serial drama television series created by Mark Frost and David Lynch. It premiered on American Broadcasting Company, ABC on April 8, 1990, and originally ran for two seasons until its cance ...

'' theme song. Leonard's first original songs included "Feel So Perfect," which was released by Cape, became a radio hit, and was used for a three-year, pan-European C&A advertising campaign. Multiple music videos and short films were created around the song. Many of her co-written songs have been used in advertisements for companies including

Axe An axe ( sometimes ax in American English; see spelling differences) is an implement that has been used for millennia to shape, split and cut wood, to harvest timber, as a weapon, and as a ceremonial or heraldic symbol. The axe has many for ...

, RMS (Radio marketing services),

Ford Ka The Ford Ka is a small car manufactured by Ford Motor Company from 1996 to 2016 as a city car and from 2016 to 2021 as a subcompact car. It entered its second generation in 2008, produced by Fiat in Tychy, Poland. A third generation was introduced ...

and

Vodafone Vodafone Group Public limited company, plc () is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Telephone company, telecommunications company. Its registered office and Headquarters, global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It ...

Germany. Some of Leonard's biggest songwriting hits have been performed by other artists. Her greatest achievements in this field have included

's ''"''Running with the Wolves," "Rooftop" by

Nico Santos Nico Santos may refer to: *Nico Santos (actor) (born 1979), American actor *Nico Santos (singer) (born 1993), German-Spanish singer, songwriter, producer *Niccolo "Nico" Santos, a character in the Philippine romantic fantasy drama television series ...

, and "Love Is You" by

Thomas Godoj Tomasz Jacek Godoj (born 6 March 1978) is a Polish-German rock-pop singer and songwriter. He was the winner of the fifth season of ''Deutschland sucht den Superstar'' (2008), the German version of ''Pop Idol''. Early life Godoj was born on 6 Ma ...

. In 2005, Leonard also worked on the song "Instant Replay" with Such a Surge, which was released on their album ''Alpha''. Leonard was also the performance and music director for the German Theatre Abroad project in New York and directed the musical "Electric Society," which was staged on 12 November 2005 in Cologne, Germany. In 2009, she was a judge on the German casting television show ''

Popstars ''Popstars'' is an international reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unfamiliar people rather than professional actors. Realit ...

'' and released her debut album ''Fragile.'' Since 2005, Leonard has been a lecturer at the Popakademie (University of Popular Music and Music Business), the

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ...

, and at the SRH Hochschule der populären Künste (College of Popular Arts) in Germany for Songwriting. In 2011, Leonard started the co-publishing company "DOLSIRA" with Universal Music Publishing, Germany, and in 2018, started "EERA" in cooperation with

BMG Rights Management BMG Rights Management GmbH (also known simply as BMG) is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a music publisher and a record label. BMG was founded in October 2008 after Bertelsmann sold its ...

. In 2015, she started her own solo-artist project, Solamay, which has achieved platinum status.

Discography

As songwriter

As soloartist

Albums

Singles

References

External links

Michelle Leonard at Universal Music
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leonard, Michelle 1973 births Living people British songwriters Place of birth missing (living people) British expatriates in Germany