Michael learned to play the organ after visiting Blackpool Tower, at age nine. He was fascinated by the sound and so attracted to the instrument. Hard work and the tutelage of Organist Foley Bates eventually returned Michael to the Tower where he achieved his ambition to play that famous instrument. As a teenager he worked weekends and in the school holidays at a local music shops where maintained his development of style and evolved further his ability with the instrument. His prowess led to performing at concerts, dances, and local events including an appearance on the same bill as a young Joe Pasquale for a charity event. Michael has owned many instruments and entertains either on his Hammond M102 or on a Yamaha HS series. His IT career has dominated his time for some years but latterly he has acquired a Yamaha HX1 and then an EL900m, and with them returned to the concert circuit playing both electronic Yamaha Stagea D-Deck DDK-7 and theatre organ. His career in IT continues to limit though, his music appointments. In his spare time, Michael helps with maintenance at some theatre organ venues and is the editor of ‘Cinema Organ’; the quarterly journal of the Cinema Organ Society, a role he took over from John Leeming. Domestically his garage now houses a 2-manual Wurlitzer console that he is rebuilding as a Virtual Theatre Pipe Organ
photo – wephoto.co.uk Info – OrganFax.co.uk
