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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, a group led by Joel Scott Hill, before moving to San Francisco and taking in the experimental rock scene.
In 1967, he signed a contract with A&M Records, releasing his debut album, 'Carnival Of Life', later that year. Michaels' choice of the Hammond organ as his primary instrument was unusual for the time, as was his bare-bones stage and studio accompaniment, which was usually just a single drummer. Said person was most often a musician known as 'Frosty' (Bartholomew Eugene Smith-Frost} or was journeyman artist Joel Larson of The Grass Roots.
