Michael Kiske

Michael Kiske was born in Hamburg, Germany on January 24th, 1968. His musical career began at age 16 when he was the vocalist for a band called Ill Prophecy. With this band he recorded a demo tape which had early versions of future Helloween songs. Michael Kiske made his fame in the German power metal band Helloween as their lead singer. Kiske joined Helloween in 1987 and recorded Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part I, widely considered to be one of Helloween best albums and a milestone in the creation of the power metal genre. He stayed with the band for 3 more studio albums and 1 live album. The studio album called Keeper Of The Seven Keys Part II which bringed success all over Europe, Asia and even the United States, the live album Live in the U.K. and 2 more studio albums called Pink Bubbles Go Ape and Chameleon. Kiske has a vibrant and clean voice some fans and critics have likened his singing style and range to that of Geoff Tate or a young Samson-era Bruce Dickinson. He sings in a tenor manner and possesses an almost 4 octave vocal range, as he is capable of reaching extremely high notes (A5) and low baritone notes (C2) as well. Kiske's time in Helloween has proved to be highly influential, and many singers cite him as a major influence. He is often recognised as one of the greatest power metal singers of all time. Three years after leaving Helloween, Kiske released his first solo album, Instant Clarity which featured guest appearances by Kai Hansen of Gamma Ray and Adrian Smith of Iron Maiden. His style is more rock than power metal now. His next solo album Readiness to Sacrifice was released only in Japan in 1999. This album was edited two years later in Europe by Noise Records. Out of desire to make rock music again, Kiske formed a band, named SupaRed. It's a great rock album and they had opportunities to tour but Michael had problems with his stomach which eventually had to be operated on.This album was under promoted and it didn't have much success so they split. In 2006, he recorded his third solo album titled Kiske. The new album has soft rock, acoustic songs. Also his debut solo album Instant Clarity was re-released with four bonus tracks. In 2008 Michael released his fourth solo album Past In Different Ways where he remade his old Helloween songs acoustically. Kiske from time to time has lent his voice to bands such as Masterplan for a song called Heroes which he duet with Jorn Lande, for a Brazilian band Tribuzy in a song called Absolution which he duet with Renato Tribuzy, in various songs for A Metal Opera called Avantasia, for another one called Aina, for ex-Helloween founding member, lead guitarist, and vocalist Kai Hansen band calledGamma Ray, Edguy and Revolution Renaissance. He made a project with members of Pink Cream 69 called Place Vendome where Michael sings on all tracks. Two albums has been released by this project. This project is in aor style and has a few hard rock songs. He made a duet with Gisa Vatcky from Indigo Dying in a song called Breathe In Water. He also did one with the Italian power metal band Trick or Treat for two songs called Tears Against Your Smile and Hello Moon. In 2010 he made a duet with Kai Hansen of Gamma Ray in a multilayered anthem titled All You Need To Know for their latest album. On November 10, 2009, Michael formed the band Unisonic together with Dennis Ward, Mandy Meyer and Kosta Zafiriou. Unisonic began their first tour in June 2010, playing some warm-up shows in Germany and performing at festivals Sweden Rock 2010 and Masters of Rock 2010 as well. The band is scheduled to release its debut album in late 2010. In 2010 an album called Kiske/Somerville is a result of the collaboration between vocalist Michael Kiske and American singer Amanda Somerville. This exciting album sees Mat Sinner (Primal Fear, Sinner) and Magnus Karlsson (Starbreaker, Primal Fear) handling most of the songwriting (with more contributions from Sander Gommans formerly of After Forever and Amanda Somerville herself), with Sinner overseeing the production & mix at various recording studios in Europe. Two videoclips were filmed for the songs Silence and If I Had A Wish in Nurnberg, Germany. Joining Kiske and Somerville for the shoot were bassist and main composer Mat Sinner], guitarist Sander Gommans (After Forever), drummer Rami Ali and keyboardist Jimmy Kresic (Voodoo Circle). The clips were directed by Martin Mueller of RCN TV, who previously helmed the videoclip production for Unheilig, Subway to Sally, Helloween, U.D.O. and Gotthard. The digital only release of the single, Silence on August 20th, 2010, will precede the release of the full-length CD. The Bonus DVD will include videoclips of “Silence” and “If I Had A Wish” plus a “Making of” documentary.