James Andrew Michael is an American record producer, sound engineer, mixer, songwriter, musician and singer. He was the lead singer of the rock band Sixx:A.M.

Early life

He took piano lessons while growing up and sang in Holland High School's show choir, Vocal Dimensions. As a teen, he played in different local rock bands including The Way We Dress and Night Shift. In the late 1980s, he moved to Los Angeles to pursue his musical career.

Career

James Michael has worked as a record producer, songwriter, and/or engineer and mixer with many rock and pop recording artists including

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, Sarah Kelly,

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and

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. He put out his first solo album in 2000 titled ''Inhale''. Michael wrote, produced and mixed the entire album and often played all the instruments. Michael is co-founder (along with

Nikki Sixx Nikki Sixx (born Frank Carlton Serafino Feranna Jr.; December 11, 1958) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and radio personality, best known as the co-founder, bassist, primary songwriter, and only constant member of the hea ...

and

DJ Ashba Daren Jay Ashba (born November 10, 1972) is an American musician, guitarist, songwriter, record producer, and graphic designer. He was the lead guitarist of Sixx:A.M. He is also known for his work with hard rock bands BulletBoys, Beautiful Creatu ...

) and lead singer of the rock band Sixx:A.M. The band's debut album, ''

The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack ''The Heroin Diaries Soundtrack'', often referred to as simply ''The Heroin Diaries'', is the debut studio album by Sixx:A.M., a side project of Mötley Crüe bassist Nikki Sixx. The band also features lead vocalist James Michael and guitarist D ...

'', produced by Michael, was on the ''Billboard'' 200 album chart for 26 consecutive weeks and featured the No. 1 rock track of 2008 and gold-selling single "

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". He also co-wrote and handled production for the band's second album, '' This Is Gonna Hurt'', which debuted at No. 10 on the ''Billboard'' 200 and its second track, " Lies of the Beautiful People", went No. 1 on Active Rock radio. Michael produced, mixed and co-wrote (alongside Sixx:A.M. bandmate DJ Ashba)

's last studio album ''

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'' that debuted at No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' 200. He also co-wrote the song "

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" for James Durbin's '' Memories of a Beautiful Disaster'' album released on November 21, 2011. He produced

's new album, '' The Connection'' (as well as co-wrote the track "Where Did the Angels Go"), which debuted at No. 17 on the ''Billboard'' 200 chart. Other projects from around this time include writing the track " People Like Us" for the

'' Greatest Hits – Chapter One'' mixing

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's new album '' Welcome to the Freak Show'' and writing with and contributing vocals for

, plus writing and producing "Take a Hint" for

featured in the show ''Victorious''. He released a solo song "Learn to Hate You," which premiered on November 26, 2012. Michael met up with Sixx and Ashba early in 2013 to start writing songs for a new Sixx:A.M. album, which turned out to be '' Modern Vintage'', released in 2014. It debuted at #1 on the rock charts. The band followed up in 2016 with two albums '' Prayers for the Damned'' and '' Prayers for the Blessed'', before going on a successful USA and European tour. The following year, they decided to take a hiatus. In 2019, Sixx:A.M. released their first song in three years, "Talk to Me," in support of the #TalktoMe campaign against opioid addiction. The following year, James performed on a remake of a Sixx:A.M. song, " Maybe It's Time," featuring Ivan Moody (

Five Finger Death Punch Five Finger Death Punch, also abbreviated as 5FDP or FFDP, is an American Heavy metal music, heavy metal band from Las Vegas, Nevada, formed in 2005. The band originally consisted of vocalist Ivan Moody, rhythm guitarist Zoltan Bathory, lead g ...

), Tommy Vext (

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), Arron Bruno ( Awolnation), Joe Elliot (

Def Leppard Def Leppard are an English Rock music, rock band formed in Sheffield in 1977. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drummer), Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen (guitar, ...

) and Slash (

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

), all proceeds again were donated to the battle against opioid addiction, a cause important to James throughout his career. In 2021, Sixx:A.M. released their Hits album, a compilation of fan favorites and a few new tracks most notably "The First 21." James Michael's 2022 releases include The Retaliators movie theme, "21 Bullets," written by James and Nikki Sixx. He then released a solo recording, "California Smile." He is currently working in his recording studios in both the US and UK/Ireland developing new rock and pop artists, focusing heavily on his strengths as a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, lead vocalist, producer, and mixer.

Partial discography

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Michael, James 1967 births Living people American male singers Record producers from Michigan Singers from Michigan People from Holland, Michigan Songwriters from Michigan Sixx:A.M. members American male songwriters Riverdogs members