biography
BIOGRAPHY
Ask any young boy what he wants to be when he grows up and chances are he’ll say fireman or policeman, astronaut or president. But not so for David Michael. He had visions of tour busses and walks on the Grammys’ red carpet dancing in his young head. Wishful thinking? Maybe. But David never forgot those childhood dreams—even when life got in the way.
With little recollection of his biological parents, David bounced around Ohio’s foster care system until he was nine years old. His favorite childhood memory is the day he and his younger brother Andy were finally adopted into a family they could call their own. And while his new parents weren’t exactly Ward and June Cleaver, he acknowledges the hand of God in bringing him through the dark and painful days of his youth.
Like the song says, “I’ve had angels take me under their wings, ordinary people do extraordinary things.”* One such angel was his fifth-grade music teacher who first planted seeds of hope in David’s potential as a singer. Ironically, he would learn years later that he possessed a rich musical heritage from both his birth-mother, a southern gospel singer, and his birth-father, a drummer in a band called The Renegades.
But it took a spiritual transformation just five years ago to encourage this ruggedly handsome and outgoing singer to finally reach for his dream. “God saved me,” says David, “both inside and out.” He tells of a friend named CJ, his “spiritual father” and mentor who affirmed David’s passion for singing and urged him to pursue the dream that God put into his heart.
“My background has everything to do with what I’m about as a musician,” he says. After overcoming such a difficult past, David wants to use his gift to inspire people. He also recognizes the power of music. “To change a person’s mood from sad to good, to happy, to inspirational—that’s what I want to do.”
As for those who inspire David Michael, you need only look at those closest to him. First and foremost, David credits his brother Andy as the greatest personal influence in his life. “Andy has a strength and spirit that doesn’t quit. Going through all the hard times, he has never given up. And that’s what inspires me to do what I was once told I could never do.”
He flashes a ready smile when asked about his wife. “Spending time with Becky refreshes my soul.” Married in August of 2007, the newlyweds beam with eager anticipation about this musical journey they’re undertaking. “God, Becky, music—together, they’re the completion of who I am.”
“David Michael is a talent on two fronts,” says DJ Barry Howell of WYHT/Clearchannel in Mansfield, Ohio. “He has the gift of natural and true rhythm that makes him a legitimate dancer . . . and a tenor vocal ability that’s a mixture of Gary Levox and Ray Charles.” Howell believes David’s “drive, ambition, love of music, and God-given talents to express it vocally make him a natural in the music and recording business.”
Which leads one to believe those tour bus visions and red carpet dreams at the Grammys might be more than just wishful thinking for David Michael.
* From Life is the Puzzle, written by Mila Mason, Don Goodman & Jeff Childress