Sergio Michel, is an American guitarist, songwriter and actor. Michel's style of metal guitar playing came to mainstream attention with his 2004 breakthrough single "Hey Eyes" and 2013 album release "Marry Me Cindy". He has been active in the New Yorkmusic scene for over a decade.
Early life
Michel was born in Hoboken, New Jersey to AAA Baseball Player Sergio Agusto Michel and Attorney Margarita Michel-Gaston. He began taking guitar lessons at an early age. He has cited artists like Metallica and The Smiths as his early inspiration. While studying for his degree in audio engineering, Michel hosted a talk radio show, Mayhem in The AM on 90.3 FM broadcasting from Ramapo College in New Jersey. In the late 1990s through 2004, Michel fronted well known groups in New York metal scene. He is a graduate of Institute of Audio Research.
Career
Michel started performing as a professional guitarist in 2001. In 2004, Michel came to international attention with his breakthrough single "Hey Eyes". His 2013 release "Marry Me, Cindy" went viral with the single "I Close My Eyes" reaching over 175,000 viral plays and was verified as a trending video twice. The second single 'Bow Down', was verified as trending ten times. He recently premiered his first official music video for 'The Desert At Night' off 2011's critically acclaimed "Sorrowful Psalms: Uplifting 'Depressing' Music". As a musician, he has also been involved in technical aspects of guitar sound. He has worked on developing and improving guitar equipment and effects, and has been a part of development team at Overloud for creating patches for the widely popular TH1 guitar processor software. He has tested Moog Guitar for Moog and was also a beta tester for the revolutionary LTH-1 guitar and Naturacoustic pickups by Lashbrook Guitars.
As a production artist, Michel has worked with famous musicians. He has co-written songs with artists like Joe Lynn Turner and Sebastian Bach. Also, through his independent artist management, he helps upcoming artists. He has worked with artists like Sen Dogg from Cypress Hill to develop talent for major label consideration.
Television and acting
Michel has appeared on reality TV in shows like TMZ Live and Sergio's Blog that ran for 2 seasons between 2011-2012. His credits as an actor also include the Spanish languageTV showsCorazon Valiente, Dama Y Obrero and Marido en alquiler.
Endorsements and achievements
Michel holds official product endorsements with multiple top musical instrument manufacturing brands including Floyd Rose, Osiamo/Pickboy, Aurora Strings & Kam Industries; appearing on behalf of sponsors regularly as an artist of interest at the NAMM Show. As a celebrity, in 2016, Sergio Michel ranked as the #22 most famous American of Hispanic heritage according to Famous Fix, while Top-On-Social calculated Sergio Michel as the #4 most-searched-for musician on Facebook.
