Michael Garrett

Yesterday & Today

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Book cover - The Seventies - front;
© Wayland

CD cover - Behind the Curve - front;
© M. Garrett

Michael live in Filmcafé in 10/26/2012
© Yvonne Taeuber

Michael & Phil - Heilig Kreuz Kirche, 4/22/12
© R. Wollenberg

Phil live in Filmcafé in 10/26/2012
© Yvonne Taeuber

Discography

Live

Visitors' Book

Michael Charles Garrett was born on May 14th 1955 in Nottingham, England. Michael has been playing guitar since he was 12. Early influences were Martyn Carthy, Nic Jones and John Martyn. Later - Miles Davis, Ry Cooder and Commander Cody and the Lost Planet Airmen.

He also plays bouzouki, violin and mandolin. As a singer-songwriter he has written material for his own bands and as a solo artist.

"I started off playing finger in the ear folk music, then pop, reggae, jazz and blues, ...you name it. Now I play whatever I like, ...wherever it comes from: It's a question of style. Takes a while but you get there in the end."

(Michael Garrett, June 2009)

After leaving school he studied philosophy at the University of Sussex (from 1975 - 1978) where he became more interested in music than philosophy. After graduating, he formed his first trio - Risk. In 1980 he moved to London and the band became a quintet and changed it's name to Exit (later - The Meccanos). Between 1979 and 1981 the band produced four singles for RCA Records. Fool for Fashion was a top 50 "hit" for Exit. The band toured extensively in the UK, flirted with fame and recorded an album which was never released.

From 1981 - 88 Michael formed The New Belgians (Emex Records) and Antmanbee (Touchstone) and worked with The Fixx, B-Movie, Dan Priest, God's Forgotten Army plus various bands playing pubs and working men's clubs as a guitarist / vocalist.

"I was getting better as a musician - at least, more adaptable. But the gigs were often really depressing. I used to think "this is this the last time I'll do this". Took me a while cos the money wasn't so bad but in the end I stopped. Can't remember when I made this decision. It just happened. Suddenly, I was doing something else. Time to move on I suppose; strange thing is, after 9 years in the "music business", I didn't miss it at all."

(Michael Garrett, June 2009)

Later he worked as a freelance journalist (Daily Express, Sunday Mirror, Home Entertainment Design) and then as a market research consultant.

His book - The Seventies - was published by Wayland in 1989 and can still be found gathering dust in various libraries and antiquarian bookshops.

He travelled round the world for two years working as a crane driver, barman, teacher, cook, treasure hunter, musician, tourist guide and male model for a (major) biscuit company.

Since 1995 he has been living and working in Berlin, Germany as a teacher, translator and musician. Collaborations include projects with Mirco Nontschew, Peter Paulic, Nick Hajdu, Shannon Callahan and Anja Lange plus the occasional solo gig. Recent work with Randy Wollenberg (engineer, producer) led to Behind the Curve, Michael's first solo CD of original songs released in April 2009.

Check out to Michael's MySpace site to get more details.

Recently Michael has started working with pianist Phil Cooksey. With Repeat to Fade they present their original interpretations of Beatles songs from bossa nova to blues and reggae. Although respecting and loving the original songs, they remain truthful to their own style offering audiences an inspired and touching musical experience.