Micah Barnes is a Canadian singer and songwriter. He has performed both as a solo artist and with the band

the Nylons The Nylons are an a cappella group founded in 1978 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, best known for their covers of pop songs such as The Turtles' " Happy Together", Steam's "Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye", and The Tokens' "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" ...

. Born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, Barnes is the son of composer, conductor and jazz drummer Milton Barnes, and author, TV (Mr Dressup) and CBC Radio writer Lilly Barnes. He is the brother of drummer Daniel Barnes and cellist Ariel Barnes. He attended

Oakwood Collegiate Institute Oakwood Collegiate Institute (commonly known as OCI or Oakwood) is a public high school in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located near the neighbourhoods of Regal Heights, Oakwood-Vaughan and Bracondale Hill. History and Alumni Oakwood was foun ...

in Toronto, and then studied voice with José Hernandez and

Bill Vincent William Albert Vincent (born 16 April 1957) is a New Zealand judoka. He competed at the 1984 Summer Olympics and the 1988 Summer Olympics. In 1986, he won the bronze medal in the 78kg weight category at the Judo at the 1986 Commonwealth Games, ...

, and sang in

Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...

cabarets and nightclubs during the 1980s while appearing in theatre, film, television and radio productions as an actor. He was subsequently a member of the Nylons from 1990 to 1996, and later moved to Los Angeles. In 2003, he collaborated with the

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

duo

Thunderpuss Thunderpuss is the (mainly dance) remix/production team of Los Angeles-based music producers Barry Harris and Chris Cox. Harris had previously worked as part of several music groups including Kon Kan, Top Kat, Killer Bunnies and Outta Control ...

on the hit dance track "Welcome to My Head", which reached number one on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' club charts. He has also had some roles in film and television, including guest acting roles in the television series ''

Katts and Dog ''Katts and Dog'' is a French and Canadian-produced television series that ran from 1988 to 1993. It was known as ''Rin Tin Tin: K-9 Cop'' in the United States where it originally aired on CBN Cable/The Family Channel and ''Rintintin Junior'' in ...

'' and ''

E.N.G. ''E.N.G.'' is a Canadian television drama, following the staff of a fictional Toronto television news station. The show aired on CTV from 1989 to 1994. The series ran for 96 episodes, produced by the Alliance Entertainment Corporation. Plot ...

'' and a supporting role in the short film ''

The Fairy Who Didn't Want to Be a Fairy Anymore ''The Fairy Who Didn't Want to Be a Fairy Anymore'' is a Canadian musical comedy-drama short film directed by Laurie Lynd, which premiered at the 1992 Toronto International Film Festival before going into wider release in 1993. Made as an academ ...

'', and as a vocal coach in the Canadian edition of '' How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?''. In 2019, Barnes and

Thom Allison Thom Allison is a Canadian actor.Richard Ouzonian, "Mad about the boy". ''Toronto Star'', September 29, 2000. He is best known for his regular recurring role as Pree in the television series ''Killjoys'',S. E. Fleenor"Killjoys' Pree is a gender-t ...

collaborated on ''Knishes 'n Grits'', a stage show in which they explored the links between

Jewish music Jewish music is the music and melodies of the Jewish people. There exist both traditions of religious music, as sung at the synagogue and domestic prayers, and of secular music, such as klezmer. While some elements of Jewish music may originat ...

and

African-American music African-American music is an umbrella term covering a diverse range of music and musical genres largely developed by African Americans and their culture. Their origins are in musical forms that first came to be due to the condition of slave ...

.Ruth Schweitzer and Kathryn Kates
"The links between African-American and Jewish music"
''

Canadian Jewish News The Canadian Jewish News is a non-profit, national, English-language digital-first media organization that serves Canada‘s Jewish community. A national edition of the newspaper was published for 60 years in Toronto. A weekly Montreal edition in ...

'', May 17, 2019.

References

1960 births 20th-century Canadian male singers Austrian emigrants to Canada Canadian dance musicians Canadian pop singers Canadian gay musicians LGBT singers from Canada LGBT singers from Austria LGBT songwriters Living people Musicians from Vienna Radical Faeries members The Nylons members 21st-century Canadian male singers Jewish Canadian musicians Jewish Canadian male actors LGBT Jews 20th-century LGBT people 21st-century LGBT people Canadian male singer-songwriters {{singer-songwriter-stub