Bret Michaels

Bret Michael Sychak, also known as Bret Michaels, (born March 15, 1963 in Butler, Pennsylvania) is best known as the lead vocalist of the Glam metal band Poison and starring in the reality show Rock of Love with Bret Michaels on VH1.

Michaels formed the band Paris in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1984. The original lineup for Paris was Leighton "Tugger" Zema on lead vocals, Bret Michaels on guitar, Brian Bircher on drums, Jonathan Combs on synthesizer/gong, and Patrick Bircher on bass. All original members, except Michaels, were from Steelton, PA, but they were all replaced by the members of what later became Poison. The band moved to Los Angeles in 1984 to begin touring the clubs there. Poison became one of the biggest heavy metal/Pop metal bands in the world and also recording several hit albums such as the 8 million seller Open up and say ...Ahh!.

Bret Michaels recorded his first solo album in 1998 'A Letter From Death Row' a soundtrack to the movie he directed, wrote and starred in. Comparisons of this effort to Bruce Willis' Duets album (see 'T & C News, January 1999 issue) have proved controversial.