Michael McCleary is a

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

songwriter, composer, performer, producer and director based in

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' fin ...

, India since 2007. He has worked on a large number of advertisements such as for brands like Levi's,

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlant ...

Vodafone Vodafone Group plc () is a British multinational telecommunications company. Its registered office and global headquarters are in Newbury, Berkshire, England. It predominantly operates services in Asia, Africa, Europe, and Oceania. , Vod ...

etc. and films such as

Waiting Waiting, Waitin, Waitin', or The Waiting may refer to: Film * ''Waiting'' (1991 film), a film by Jackie McKimmie * ''Waiting...'' (film), a 2005 film starring Ryan Reynolds * ''Waiting'' (2007 film), a film by Zarina Bhimji * ''Waiting'' (20 ...

Margarita with a Straw ''Margarita with a Straw'' is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language drama film directed by Shonali Bose. It stars Kalki Koechlin as an Indian teenager with cerebral palsy who relocates to America for her undergraduate education and comes of age follow ...

, Shaitan,

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

David David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

, Bombay Velvet,

Nautanki Saala ''Nautanki Saala!'' () is a 2013 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy-drama film directed by Rohan Sippy, starring Ayushmann Khurrana and Kunaal Roy Kapur along with Pooja Salvi, Evelyn Sharma and Gaelyn Mendonca. The story is based upon ...

Shaadi Ke Side Effects ''Shaadi Ke Side Effects'' () is a 2014 Indian Hindi-language romantic comedy film directed by Saket Chaudhary, and starring Farhan Akhtar and Vidya Balan. It is the sequel to the 2006 film ''Pyaar Ke Side Effects''. The film is produced by B ...

, Shaandaar etc. Besides his prolific work on soundtracks for ad-films, background scores and songs for

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, refers to the film industry based in Mumbai, engaged in production of motion pictures in Hindi language. The popular term Bollywood, is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (fo ...

films, he is also well known for his re-interpretations of old Bollywood songs under the stage name of ''The Bartender'', most notably Khoya Khoya Chand and Hawa Hawai from '' Shaitan'', Neend Na Mujhko Aaye and Eena Meena Deeka from '' Shaandaar'', Fifi from '' Bombay Velvet'', O Lal Meri / Mast Kalandar from ''

'' and Dhak Dhak from ''

''. He has also released a one-of-its-kind album of full-length versions of some of his most popular advertisement jingles called TV Dinners.

Personal life

Michael McCleary is a New Zealander who was born in

Chennai Chennai (, ), formerly known as Madras ( the official name until 1996), is the capital city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost Indian state. The largest city of the state in area and population, Chennai is located on the Coromandel Coast of th ...

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a state in southern India. It is the tenth largest Indian state by area and the sixth largest by population. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu is the home of the Tamil people, whose Tamil language ...

, India. He lived and worked in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

for nearly fifteen years and is currently based primarily in

, India. He studied Composition and Orchestration at the Wellington Conservatorium of Music and at

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Zealand. The university is well kno ...

, then worked as a music producer in London at the

Trident Studios Trident Studios was a British recording facility, located at 17 St Anne's Court in London's Soho district between 1968 and 1981. It was constructed in 1967 by Norman Sheffield, drummer of the 1960s group the Hunters, and his brother Barry. ...

among other places. He is married to writer and actor Diksha Basu.

Career in India

McCleary began his career in the Indian industry with a collaboration with Lucky Ali. He was responsible for the music arrangement for the album Sunoh and several subsequent Lucky Ali albums and he has also worked regularly with A. R. Rahman. He is the talent behind some of the most successful and recognisable tracks for India's biggest advertising campaigns including Vodafone, Coca-Cola, Levi's, Titan, Garnier, Lakme, Reliance, Canon, Sony, Pond's, Cadbury Dairy Milk and countless more. In addition to advertising, McCleary continues to make his mark in

. He composed & produced all the tracks and background music for the recently released film ''

''. In 2015 he won the Best Composer Award for the Film ''

'' at the

Asian Film Awards Asian may refer to: * Items from or related to the continent of Asia: ** Asian people, people in or descending from Asia ** Asian culture, the culture of the people from Asia ** Asian cuisine, food based on the style of food of the people from Asi ...

. He also created the critically acclaimed background score for

Dibakar Banerjee Dibakar Banerjee (born 21 June 1969) is an Indian film director, screenwriter, producer and advertisement-filmmaker known for his work in Hindi films. Banerjee started his career in advertising, being a feature filmmaker, he still continues t ...

's 2012 political thriller ''

'' as well as contributing music for several other films including '' Shaitan'', ''

Kahaani ''Kahaani'' (; ) is a 2012 Indian Hindi-language thriller film co-written, co-produced and directed by Sujoy Ghosh. It stars Vidya Balan as Vidya Bagchi, a pregnant woman looking for her missing husband in Kolkata during the festival of Durga ...

'', '' Love Sex aur Dhokha'', '' Shaandaar'', '' Bombay Velvet'' and '' Chennai Express''. He composed the background score and a few tracks for

Bejoy Nambiar Bejoy Nambiar (born 12 April 1979) is an Indian film director, and screenwriter known for his work in Bollywood. He is mostly known for his critically acclaimed short films, ''Rahu'' and '' Reflections'', starring Mohanlal. He was the winner of ...

's second film, ''

'' and then turned into a full-fledged Bollywood music director for Rohan Sippy's 2013 film, ''

''. He also created the background score and one track for the 2014 film, ''

''.

''TV Dinners''

'' TV Dinners'' was McCleary's debut album of English songs. The album consists of songs that Mccleary composed and wrote for major TV advertising brands like

, Levi's,

Audi Audi AG () is a German automotive manufacturer of luxury vehicles headquartered in Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany. As a subsidiary of its parent company, the Volkswagen Group, Audi produces vehicles in nine production facilities worldwide. Th ...

, Titan and

Lakmé ''Lakmé'' is an opera in three acts by Léo Delibes to a French libretto by Edmond Gondinet and Philippe Gille. The score, written from 1881 to 1882, was first performed on 14 April 1883 by the Opéra-Comique at the (second) Salle Favart in ...

. He has extended these 45-second

jingle A jingle is a short song or tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. Jingles are a form of sound branding. A jingle contains one or more hooks and meaning that explicitly promote the product or service being advertised, usually ...

s into full-length songs by adding new composition and lyrics so that instead of sounding like jingles, they sound like tracks from various artists that were placed in TV ad films. Featuring his own vocals on half the album, it also features the singers

Anushka Manchanda Anushka Manchanda aka Kiss Nuka (born 11 February 1984) is a singer, music producer, composer, creative entrepreneur, actor, activist, and former VJ of Indian origin. She came to prominence as a member of the Indipop girl group Viva!. Manchand ...

Shalmali Kholgade Shalmali Kholgade is an Indian playback singer, who predominantly sings for Hindi language films. In addition to Hindi, she has also sung in other Indian languages such as Marathi, Bengali, Telugu and Tamil. Through her singing career, she ha ...

Monica Dogra Monica Dogra is an American musician and actress. She has acted in six feature films, as well as released five studio albums with the band Shaa’ir and func. She is a member on the judging panel of India's first English music talent show, The St ...

and Mauli Dave. Five music videos directed by him have been released for tracks from this album.

The Bartender

Going by the stage name of The Bartender, McCleary has three albums released, ''Classic Bollywood: Shaken not Stirred'' (2011), ''B Seventy'' (2013) and ''Classic Bollywood with a Twis''t (2014). The first album re-invents Bollywood songs from the '50s and '60s in a jazzy, seductive style and includes hit songs such as Khoya Khoya Chand (featured in

's film Shaitan) and Tum Jo Mil Gaye Ho from the Coca-Cola advertisement directed by

. The second album, ''B Seventy'', was created in honour of Amitabh Bachchan and was released as a dedication to him on his 70th birthday. It features revamped versions of his most iconic hit film songs, combining

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, " Do the Reggay" was the first popular song to use ...

cabaret Cabaret is a form of theatrical entertainment featuring music, song, dance, recitation, or drama. The performance venue might be a pub, a casino, a hotel, a restaurant, or a nightclub with a stage for performances. The audience, often dining o ...

and motown while staying true to the original soul of the songs. The third album, ''Classic Bollywood with a Twist'', was launched by

actor

Ranveer Singh Ranveer Singh Bhavnani (; born 6 July 1985) is an Indian actor who works in Hindi films. The recipient of several awards, including five Filmfare Awards, he is among the highest-paid Indian actors and has been featured in ''Forbes India''s ...

. In this album, McCleary has chosen some of the most loved songs from the 50s, 60s and 70s and reinterpreted them with jazzy, seductive and mischievous flare using various genres and a predominantly live band feel. McCleary has been quoted saying, 'A beautiful song is like a beautiful woman. The musical arrangements are like the clothes that she wears. The music recordings, much like clothes, may appear old and outdated to the younger generation, but the beauty of the song composition and lyrics are eternal. My goal is to give that beautiful song new clothes that suit and enhance her beauty for all to see afresh and enjoy. I personally also still love listening to the old recordings.' The Bartender as an artist includes Suman Sridhar,

Shibani Dandekar Shibani Dandekar Akhtar (born 27 August 1980) is an Indian-born Australian singer, actress, host and model. She began her career working as a television host on American television. Following her return to India, she began hosting several show ...

, Rachel Varghese,

Saba Azad Saba Azad (born as Saba Singh Grewal, 1 November 1985) is an Indian actress, theatre director and musician. She is one half of Mumbai-based electro funk duo Madboy/Mink. She made her Bollywood debut as one of the leads Raaga in the indie film '' ...

and Mauli Dave on vocals, Vinay Lobo on guitar, Aditya Ashok on drums, Anand Bhagat on percussions, Ramon Ibrahim on keyboards, Rhys D'Souza on saxophone, Kishore Sodha on trumpet and Mikey McCleary on bass. It has in the past also included

and

Sagarika Mukherjee Sagarika Mukherjee (born 4 September 1970), also known as Saag, is an Indian singer and actress. She sings mainly in Hindi, Assamese and Bengali language songs but has also sung in Tamil and Telugu languages. She is the daughter of singer an ...

on vocals,

Merlin D'Souza Merlin D'Souza (Merlyn) is an Indian composer and pianist from Mumbai. She is a musician whose work includes composing for film, albums, theatre and advertising. She is based at Bandra, a Mumbai suburb. Formerly the Asian jazz ambassador for Hen ...

on keyboards, and Warren Mendonsa on guitar.

Notable performances

* Amitabh Bachchan's 70th Birthday Celebrations * Book Launch for Abu Jani – Sandeep Khosla's book, India Fantastique * Blue Frog, Mumbai

Discography

Music albums

Films

References

18) http://kamlashow.com/2015/04/16/podcast-mikey-mccleary-on-creating-music-for-bollywood/

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:McCleary, Mikey Living people 1969 births Musicians from Chennai People from Auckland New Zealand music arrangers New Zealand film score composers New Zealand composers Male composers New Zealand expatriates in England New Zealand expatriates in India Expatriate musicians in India Victoria University of Wellington alumni