Miguel Alfonso Ramon Legarda "MiG" Ayesa (born 12 January 1970) is a Filipino-Australian singer and actor who was a finalist in the reality television show '' RockStar: INXS'' as well as appearing in stage productions of ''

We Will Rock You "We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded by British rock band Queen for their 1977 album ''News of the World''. ''Rolling Stone'' ranked it number 330 of " The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and it placed at num ...

'' (London); ''

Thriller Live Thriller may refer to: * Thriller (genre), a broad genre of literature, film and television ** Thriller film, a film genre under the general thriller genre Comics * ''Thriller'' (DC Comics), a comic book series published 1983–84 by DC Comics ...

'' and '' Bridges of Madison County'' (Manila).

Life and career

Ayesa was born in

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populated ...

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

and raised in Sydney. Ayesa was studying communications at

Macquarie University Macquarie University ( ) is a public research university based in Sydney, Australia, in the suburb of Macquarie Park. Founded in 1964 by the New South Wales Government, it was the third university to be established in the metropolitan area of ...

in Sydney when he was offered the role of

Ritchie Valens Richard Steven Valenzuela (May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959), known professionally as Ritchie Valens, was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens was killed ...

in the theatre production of ''Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story''. He decided to put his studies on hold and went on tour with the production all across Australia. He has since performed in theatres,

commercials A television advertisement (also called a television commercial, TV commercial, commercial, spot, television spot, TV spot, advert, television advert, TV advert, television ad, TV ad or simply an ad) is a span of television programming produce ...

, television series and film. He has also been a part of several bands: Randy Badass and the Slickmaster Five, Lovetown, The Honkies and The Riva Band.

Theatre

Ayesa moved from Sydney to London in 2001 to look for a publishing company for his material. He appeared in ''Rent'' by Jonathan Larson in London's West End in 2002 playing the role of Angel at The Prince of Wales Theatre. Ayesa played the character of Galileo Figaro in the musical ''

'', which is based entirely on

Queen Queen or QUEEN may refer to: Monarchy * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a Kingdom ** List of queens regnant * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Queen mother, a queen dowager who is the mother ...

material. In the final months of 2007, Ayesa returned to the stage as Galileo Figaro in the International Tour of ''

'', successfully completing runs in New Zealand, Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and finishing in Bangkok with his debut CD being released in those respective countries. Ayesa appeared in ''Handel's Messiah Rocks'' in 2008, which was released on CD/DVD fall of 2009, as well as airing as a PBS-TV special across the USA. In January 2010, Ayesa made his Broadway debut in

Jason Gilkison Jason Gilkison is an Australian professional ballroom dance champion and choreographer. Early life Gilkison was born in Perth, Australia. He was raised by his single mum, Kay. At age 4, he began dancing at the Perth ballroom dance studio, fou ...

's ballroom dancing revue ''

Burn the Floor Burn the Floor is a live dance show which has performed around the world, including on Broadway in New York City and the West End in London. Since 1997, Burn the Floor has performed in over 130 countries worldwide. The show has also featured seve ...

''. He toured with the show to Australia, Japan, Korea, Canada, and the U.S. In September 2010, Ayesa opened the first national tour of ''

Rock of Ages Rock of Ages may refer to: Films * ''Rock of Ages'' (1918 film), a British silent film by Bertram Phillips * ''Rock of Ages'' (2012 film), a film adaptation of the jukebox musical (see below) Music * ''Rock of Ages'' (musical), a 2006 rock ...

'', in the role of rocker Stacee Jaxx. In March 2011, he returned to Broadway and as Stacee Jaxx for the show's reopening at the

Helen Hayes Theatre The Hayes Theater (formerly the Little Theatre, New York Times Hall, Winthrop Ames Theatre, and Helen Hayes Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 240 West 44th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Named for actres ...

. Ayesa returned to London to reprise his role in ''

'' in January 2012. In May of that year, he reprised the role of Stacee Jaxx in a completely sold out new production of ''

'' in the Philippines. In February 2013, Ayesa reprised the role of Galileo Figaro for the 2013 ''

'' 10th Anniversary World Arena Tour, successfully completing runs in Finland, Denmark, the UK, Ireland, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Czech Republic, Turkey, Bulgaria, and Croatia. In June, he returned to the Philippines for ''

'', again as Stacee Jaxx, and also for a third season in October 2014. Ayesa performed '' The Music of Queen - Rock and Symphonic Spectacular'' in Sydney and Perth with fellow former ''We Will Rock You'' cast members Michael Falzon, Amanda Harrison and

Carly Thomas-Smith Carly is a given name, a feminine form of Carl. Hanks; Hardcastle; Hodges (2006) p. 47. It is also a pet form of given names such as Carla and Caroline. Variant different spellings include Carley, Carlie, Carlee, Carleigh and Carli, as well as Ka ...

. The concert series began on 7 February 2014 followed by two performances on 8 February at

Sydney Opera House The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...

, before three performances in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Western Australia (Joondalup Resort, Riverside Theatre and Boardwalk Theatre) with the

Perth Symphony Orchestra The Perth Symphony Orchestra (PSO), or simply Perth Symphony, is a not-for-profit professional symphony orchestra based in Perth, Western Australia. The orchestra aims to broaden access to classical music by performing in places and spaces no ...

. All three of the Opera House performances sold out and the Perth shows were at capacity, including an 8000-person event for the City of Joondalup at the Joondalup Resort. In June, Ayesa returned to New Zealand to play Rooster in '' Annie''. He returned to the West End in November for ''

'', which then toured Australia and New Zealand. In November 2015, Ayesa returned to the Philippines to star as Robert Kincaid in the first international production of ''

The Bridges of Madison County ''The Bridges of Madison County'' (also published as ''Love in Black and White'') is a 1992 best-selling romance novel by American writer Robert James Waller that tells the story of a married Italian-American woman (WWII war bride) living on a ...

''. The production also starred Joanna Ampil and ran from 20 November till 6 December. It was the first production of the musical outside the US. In 2018, Ayesa starred in the Philippine-Australian

jukebox musical A jukebox musical is a stage musical or musical film in which a majority of the songs are well-known popular music songs, rather than original music. Some jukebox musicals use a wide variety of songs, while others confine themselves to songs perf ...

'' All Out of Love: The Musical'', which is based on the songs of

Air Supply Air Supply is a soft rock duo formed in Melbourne, Australia, in 1975. It consists of Englishman Graham Russell (vocals, guitar) and Australian Russell Hitchcock (vocals). They had a succession of hits worldwide, including eight top-five ...

Television

Ayesa is also known for working in the role of the money-grubbing

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, t ...

Joe, in the kids television show ''

The Ferals ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the ...

'' on the ABC. He also had a small part in the film ''

Queen of the Damned ''Queen of the Damned'' is a 2002 vampire film directed by Michael Rymer, loosely based on the third novel of Anne Rice's '' The Vampire Chronicles'' series, ''The Queen of the Damned'' (1988), although the film contains many plot elements from t ...

'' as a vampire who was out to kill Lestat for spreading vampire secrets. He also played Danny Zuko in '' Grease''. Ayesa was also a competitor of the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

television series '' Rock Star: INXS'' to be the new lead singer of

INXS INXS (a phonetic play on "in excess") were an Australian rock band, formed as The Farriss Brothers in 1977 in Sydney, New South Wales. The band's founding members were bassist Garry Gary Beers, main composer and keyboardist Andrew Farriss ...

and was one of the final three contestants along with runner-up

Marty Casey Martin Xavier "Marty" Casey (born September 26, 1973) "New sensation: Marty Casey is a hit!" (news report/bio), Karen Budell, ''Metromix Chicago'', October 17, 2005, webpage: Metromix-New-Sensation: states, "Oct. 3, 2005-- Marty arrived in h ...

and winner J. D. Fortune. While Ayesa got off to a shaky start with his version of Nirvana's "

Smells Like Teen Spirit "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is a song by the American rock band Nirvana. It is the opening track and lead single from the band's second album, ''Nevermind'' (1991), released on DGC Records. The unexpected success of the song propelled ''Neve ...

", he quickly recovered and became a front runner with versions of " Live and Let Die" and "

Baby, I Love Your Way "Baby, I Love Your Way" is a song written and performed by English singer Peter Frampton, released as a single in September 1975. It first featured on Frampton's 1975 album, '' Frampton'', where it segues from the previous track "Nassau". A l ...

", receiving third place in the worldwide competition. In November 2014, Ayesa announced the launch of his new TV travel reality show ''Fil It Up''. Co-hosted with Sophie Sumner, it aired in January 2015. In conjunction with this, Ayesa released the new video for ''United As One''.

Discography

Ayesa's major label debut, the self-titled album '' MiG'', was released on Decca on 10 April 2007. The CD is a collection of classic and contemporary rock and roll staples, showcasing Ayesa's interpretations of his favourite songs.

Brian May Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English guitarist, singer, songwriter, and astrophysicist, who achieved worldwide fame as the lead guitarist of the rock band Queen. May was a co-founder of Queen with lead singer Freddie Mercury and ...

from the band

took an interest in his work and they worked on a collaboration with his band MiGnition. During his time with ''Rock Star: INXS'', "Baby, I Love Your Way", with

Peter Frampton Peter Kenneth Frampton (born 22 April 1950) is an English musician and songwriter who was a member of the rock bands Humble Pie and the Herd. As a solo artist, he has released several albums, including his major breakthrough album, the live ...

on acoustic guitar, was released on 22 August 2006 to Yahoo Music, and 29 August to other internet music sites. Exclusive to the US and Canadian release are three original songs, written by Ayesa and

Matthew Wilder Matthew Wilder ( Weiner; January 24, 1953) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and record producer. In early 1984, his single " Break My Stride" hit No. 2 on the ''Cash Box'' chart and No. 5 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. He also wrote t ...

: "She Loved", "Could It Be" and "You and I". He was signed by Decca/Universal Music Group and his self-titled debut CD was released in the US, Canada, Australia, Philippines and New Zealand in 2007. August 2011, he released his second album, ''More Than Ever''.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ayesa, Mig 1970 births Living people People from Manila Australian expatriates in the United Kingdom Participants in American reality television series Filipino emigrants to Australia Naturalised citizens of Australia Australian people of Filipino descent Australian male actors Hiligaynon people Singers from Sydney 21st-century Australian singers 21st-century Australian male singers