Artist

Lee Michaels

Los Angeles, United States • b. 1945

Lee Michaels is a musician from Los Angeles, United States, active since 1945. Their discography on Gatefold includes 13 records.

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Albums tracked

In collections

1945

Since

Biography

Lee Michaels (born Michael Olsen on November 24, 1945) is a pop/rock singer-songwriter and business entrepreneur that was the 'next big thing' of the 70s pop scene for a time. Born in Los Angeles, California, Michaels, also known as Mike Olsen, began his music career with The Sentinals, a San Luis-based surf rock group that included musicians Merrell Fankhauser and Johny Barbata (later of The Turtles and Jefferson Airplane). Michaels joined Barbata in The Strangers as well

The Arc of Lee Michaels

The pivots — what forced Lee Michaels to reinvent.

The Psychedelic A&M Launch
Herb Alpert signed him to A&M in 1968 and threw him into studio arrangements packed with horns, strings, and standard acid-rock textures on Carnival of Life and Recital. Michaels hated the clutter and fought to strip away the session sheen. You can hear him straining against the orchestra, trying to make the Hammond B3 the sole engine of the band.
The Power Duo with Frosty
Michaels fired the excess personnel and locked in with drummer Barry 'Frosty' Smith to cut his 1969 self-titled record and Barrel. Stripped down to just organ, drums, and raw howling vocals, they created a massive sound that redefined how heavy two guys could play without a single electric guitar in the room. This direct, stripped-wire energy peaked with '5th' in 1971, catching lighting in a bottle with 'Do You Know What I Mean'.
Columbia and Guitar Detours
After jumping to Columbia Records for Nice Day for Something in 1973, Michaels stepped away from the B3 to play guitar and brought in full backing bands. The raw intimacy was replaced by standard-issue mid-70s bar rock and studio slickness on Tailface. The wild, unhinged low-end was gone, and he walked away from the grind shortly after.

Influences

Jimmy Smith — Michaels modeled his heavy, pedal-driven Hammond basslines directly on Smith's revolutionary jazz organ technique. You hear it on every live-tracked track where Michaels holds down the entire low end with his left hand and feet. Without Smith proving the B3 could replace a bass player, Michaels's duo setup never happens.
Ray Charles — Michaels built his vocal delivery around Charles's raw, gospel-shouting dynamics and piano syncopation. Listen to the phrasing on 'What Can I Do' and you hear the direct blueprint of Charles's rhythm-and-blues call-and-response. It gave his rock arrangements an immediate, unpolished soul foundation.
Booker T. & the M.G.'s — Booker T. Jones proved the Hammond M3 and B3 could drive a rock-and-soul groove without stepping on the rhythm section. Michaels lifted that tight, percussive chording style and supercharged it for loud theater systems. The clean rhythmic chops on early A&M cuts come straight from the Stax playbook.
Little Richard — Michaels routinely cited Little Richard as the absolute pinnacle of high-energy, piano-pounding rock and roll. The feral vocal screech on up-tempo jams like 'Heighty Hi' borrows completely from Richard's Specialty Records prime. It is pure revival-tent power translated to heavy rock.
Sam Cooke — Cooke's vocal phrasing and melisma provided the melodic counterweight to Michaels's aggressive keyboard attacks. Michaels covered 'Bring It on Home to Me' to openly pay homage to that phrasing style. You hear that smooth, resonant delivery fighting through the distortion on his slower ballads.