Michael Starrs (born 10 November 1947 in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian on the southern shore of t ...

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) is Scottish

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

singer best known for his work with

Colosseum II Colosseum II was a British progressive jazz-rock band formed in 1975 by former Colosseum drummer and bandleader Jon Hiseman, which featured guitarist Gary Moore. History Following the demise of his previous band, Tempest, Hiseman announced his ...

and

Lucifer's Friend Lucifer's Friend was a German rock band, formed in Hamburg in 1970 by guitarist Peter Hesslein, singer John Lawton, bassist Dieter Horns, keyboardist Peter Hecht, and drummer Joachim Reitenbach. The group was an early practitioner of heavy met ...

. He left Scotland for London in the late 1960s and worked in various minor bands. Starrs was signed by the record producer Tony Atkins for Marquee Productions and released several unsuccessful singles. He joined Colosseum II in 1975 after being spotted singing in a local pub and featured on their first album, '' Strange New Flesh'' in 1976. Starrs' powerful and distinctive singing style, complimented the guitar work of Gary Moore, the keyboards of Don Airey and the rhythm section of Neil Murray and

Jon Hiseman Philip John Albert "Jon" Hiseman (21 June 1944 – 12 June 2018) was an English drummer, recording engineer, record producer, and music publisher. He played with the Graham Bond Organisation, with John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers and later for ...

and the end result was a potential British supergroup in the making. The album was not a commercial success but the band was already working on the follow-up when Starrs was sacked, as it seemed the record label owner's wife did not appreciate his flamboyant stage performance. Colosseum II went on to produce two further, largely

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to inst ...

albums, with a different record label and without Starrs, which also failed to achieve a commercial breakthrough. Starrs toured Europe and the United States with Colosseum II in 1975–76, and also had a spell with a version of

The Animals The Animals (also billed as Eric Burdon and the Animals) are an English rock band, formed in Newcastle upon Tyne in the early 1960s. The band moved to London upon finding fame in 1964. The Animals were known for their gritty, bluesy sound and ...

. Then moving to

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

, he subsequently joined Lucifer's Friend, taking over from John Lawton, and featured on two of their albums, '' Good Time Warrior'' (1978) and '' Sneak Me In'' (1980), after which Lawton took over again. He was also involved in tours and albums with the German bands, Toneband and Duesenberg. In 2002, he joined up with

Lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

reformed under Alex Conti, regularly touring and appeared on their 2005 album, ''The Blast of Silence'', and subsequent DVD, taking lead vocals and co-writing one of the tracks. He left the band in 2010. Starrs' vocal stylings surfaced again on the reissued and expanded ''Strange New Flesh'' (2005) which contained unreleased material from the original Colosseum II line up. Mike is currently singing for the Blues/Rock outfit Crossover alongside N.W.O.B.H.M. guitarist Paul Gaskin. They are recording their debut album at this time.

References

External links

Oldies.com – Colosseum biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Starrs, Mike 1947 births Living people 21st-century Scottish male singers Musicians from Edinburgh Colosseum (band) members Scottish rock singers 20th-century Scottish male singers