Paul Anna Kamiel Michiels (born 15 June 1948) is a Belgian singer and songwriter who became popular for his work with the Belgian music group

Soulsister Soulsister is a Belgian music band consisting of Jan Leyers and Paul Michiels that initially existed from 1986 to 1995 and, after a split, reunited in 2007. Soulsister is often designated as SoulSister, the Soul Sisters or Leyers, Michiels an ...

. He has earned the nickname ''Polle Pap'', a name he inherited from a childhood job as a milkman in his hometown of

Heist-op-den-Berg Heist-op-den-Berg () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises Heist-op-den-Berg proper (including the hamlets: Heist-Goor, Heist-Station, Zonderschot, Heist-Centrum and Bruggeneinde), the villages o ...

, where he was born. Paul started out with a small band called ''Purple Bus''. From 1974 until 1980, he played keyboards for a British-Belgian band called

Octopus An octopus ( : octopuses or octopodes, see below for variants) is a soft-bodied, eight- limbed mollusc of the order Octopoda (, ). The order consists of some 300 species and is grouped within the class Cephalopoda with squids, cuttlefish, ...

. After Octopus broke up, Paul then went solo under the name ''P.P. Michiels''. Under that name, he became famous in his home country for a single titled "Females," which notoriously became popular because it was accompanied by a seducing music video. In 1986, Paul teamed up with Belgian singer

Jan Leyers Jan Anna August Leyers (born 16 May 1958 in Wilrijk, Belgium) is a singer, songwriter, and television personality. He was a member of the group Soulsister and later became a solo musician and host of various television series. Music career J ...

to form the group The Soul Sisters. They released three very popular singles: "You Get to Me," "Talk About It" and "Like a Mountain." In 1988, they changed their name to Soulsister and hit it big time with the soulful,

Motown Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''moto ...

-sounding song "The Way to Your Heart" on their first album, ''It Takes Two''. The band changed their name again in 1990, this time to Leyers, Michiels, and SoulSister, and released ''Heat.'' They released two more studio albums and a live album, and released a "Very Best Of" compilation in 1997 following their split. After splitting away, Paul returned to his solo career. In 1998, he released ''The Inner Child,'' which included the hit "One Day at a Time." In 2001, Paul released a personal compilation titled ''Forever Young'', which included the title song by Alphaville (which Paul sang for the 2000 Belgian movie ''Team Spirit'') as well as pieces by

Eddie Cochran Ray Edward Cochran (; October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American rock and roll musician. Cochran's songs, such as "Twenty Flight Rock", "Summertime Blues", "C'mon Everybody" and " Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire ...

, Jacques Dutronc,

Donovan Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world mus ...

Dionne Warwick Marie Dionne Warwick (; born December 12, 1940) is an American singer, actress, and television host. Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest U.S. hit makers between 1955 and 1999, based on her chart history on ''Billboards Hot 100 pop singles ch ...

, The Wallace Collection, Easybeats,

Eddie Floyd Edward Lee Floyd (born June 25, 1937) is an American R&B and soul singer and songwriter, best known for his work on the Stax record label in the 1960s and 1970s, including the No. 1 R&B hit song " Knock on Wood". Biography Floyd was born in ...

, and other artists from Europe and North America. Paul refrained from releasing another album too soon, but stayed on tour with the "Big M's," the name of his band. In 2006, he released a third solo album, ''Magic in the House''. The album featured the singles "If I Live, If I Breathe" and "The Light," the latter being released as both a standard and

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 ...

piece.

Sources

http://houbi.com/belpop/groups/michiels.htmhttp://www.paulmichiels.be/v1/biografie/biografie.php

External links

Official Site of Paul Michiels (Dutch)
* (Dutch) {{DEFAULTSORT:Michiels, Paul 1948 births Living people Belgian male singers Belgian singer-songwriters People from Heist-op-den-Berg