mdbbio

Michael Des Barres Biography

Don't forget, Michael is written about extensively in Pamela Des Barres' book "Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart." He's also written about in her first book, "I'm With The Band," and both books have pictures.

Scroll down for biographies and solo album press kits. Also see the Michael Des Barres Trivia Page

Sources: Pamela Des Barres' "I'm With The Band" and "Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart," various interviews, and the Internet Movie Database.

Check these out too!

Biography of Michael Des Barres in Dreamland Records Press Kit (1980)
Biography of Michael Des Barres in MCA Records Press Kit (1986)

Notice: I have found this biography word-for-word on other sites. Please ASK and credit me, or write your own!! Thank you.

Picture: Michael and Pamela on the day they met (Jan. 24, 1974), contributed by Pamela Des Barres & Mistress Lisa. Scroll down to see more!

Michael Philip Des Barres was born in England on January 24, 1948. He was the only son of Philip and Irene Des Barres, who separated shortly after his birth. Michael grew up in the Surrey area and attended a boarding school. He later attended drama school and appeared in several plays before cutting a demo that won him the support of no less than Andrew Lloyd Webber. He also appeared in "To Sir, With Love," a hit movie in 1967, and "I, Monster," released in the early 1970's.

At that point, he turned his attention to rock and roll, joining a band called Silverhead, which made two albums and toured the U.S. and Europe. Silverhead made an appearance in a film called "Arizonaslim," which was never released. That was where Michael met his future wife, co-star Pamela Miller, from southern California, on his 26th birthday, Jan 24, 1974. Pamela and Michael fell in love, and Michael began divorce proceedings against his wife, Wendy, in England. Two years later, the divorce was final. Pamela and Michael got married on Oct. 29, 1977.

By this time, Michael was on his second band, Detective. In the mid-1970's, Detective recorded two albums and toured extensively, opening for major rock bands and even playing a 20 minute show at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Still, Michael was not pleased with the group and he was hitting bottom. According to Pamela in her second book, "Take Another Little Piece Of My Heart," he would stay out for days, and one time he came home after having been hit by a car. He admitted his addictions to her in early 1978. Later in 1978, he got his first American acting job, a good-sized guest starring role on an episode of the sitcom "WKRP In Cincinnati." In September 1978, Pamela and Michael welcomed a son, Nicholas Dean. Michael continued to get minor acting jobs throughout the late 1970's and early 1980's, sometimes playing a rock singer, and acquired an agent after doing an episode of the Rockford Files. Sometime in the late 1970's, Detective broke up.

In 1980, Michael released his first solo album, "I'm Only Human." Shortly after this, he joined A.A. and completely quit drinking and doing drugs, which he has said he did for his son. He continued to act, and in 1982, he teamed up with his friends Nigel Harrison, Clem Burke, Tony Sales and Steve Jones to form Chequered Past. He also teamed up with songwriter Holly Knight and wrote "Obsession," which was placed in a movie called "A Night In Heaven." Chequered Past released an album and toured, opening for Duran Duran at some of their shows, which gave them huge exposure, but they broke up in 1984.

In 1985, the band Animotion covered "Obsession" and had a huge hit. It was also during this year that Michael began getting more meaty roles, including his first movie since the early 1970's, "Ghoulies," in which he played a satanist. During a visit to Don Johnson on one of his movie sets in Texas, Michael received the call to join the Power Station, and he did, stepping into a whirlwind of sudden success that unfortunately only lasted a few months, as Power Station disbanded after their summer tour. Still, this was probably the best thing he did for his musical career, as it made him a household name, and got him on stage at Live Aid in front of millions of people.

In 1986, Michael released his second solo album, "Somebody Up There Likes Me," which had both Andy Taylor and Steve Jones helping him out, along with several other top notch musicians. The video for the song "Money Don't Come Easy" featured good friend Melanie Griffith. It was at this time that he participated in the Rock Against Drugs foundation. Soon after that came the role in Nightflyers and his first episode of MacGyver, "Partners." He would go on to play MacGyver's nemesis, Murdoc, in six more episodes over the next few years, and this remains his most well-known character. It was also during 1986 that Pamela published her book, "I'm With The Band." Michael and Pamela separated in 1987 or 1988.

In 1988, Michael got his first lead role in a film, the arty "Midnight Cabaret." As Michael's career got busier and he began to travel more to different locations to make movies and television shows, he rented an apartment in Hollywood, and shared custody of his son. Michael and Pamela have remained friendly and appear together at many Los Angeles events. In the late 1980's and early 1990's, Michael worked steadily in both movies and television. He was a lead actor (morning DJ Jack Allen) in the 1991/92 season of "The New WKRP In Cincinnati" while also filming two episodes of "Roseanne" as Leon's male lover and appearing about once a year on "MacGyver" as Murdoc. Besides all of this, he appeared in several other TV shows and had major and minor roles in many movies. In 1994 he was in five movies and, among other TV roles, appeared as villain Lenny Stokes in an episode of "Lois and Clark" - a role which allowed him to sing and play guitar.

Mostly, Michael focuses on acting. Currently he appears in several movies every year, does some episodic television appearances, and drops in for fun to sing with various bands around the Hollywood area. He remains good friends with Pamela and spends some holidays with her. Their son, Nick, spent several years working with video games and designed the Resident Evil movie poster. Michael has been sober since June 1980 and does volunteer addiction counseling and work with homeless teens.

Michael Des Barres Web Site *