Bret Michaels (born Bret Michael Sychak, March 15, 1963) is an American singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the glam metal band Poison. Besides his career as lead singer, he has several solo albums to his credit, as well as one chart single. He has also starred in the VH1 reality show Rock of Love with Bret Michaels and its sequels, and as a judge on the talent show Nashville Star. He is a contestant on NBC's reality show Celebrity Apprentice 3.
Bret Michaels live with Poison on July 11, 2008 at the Moondance Jam
Early life
Michaels was born Bret Michael Sychak, to Wally and Marjorie Sychak, in Butler, Pennsylvania. He has two sisters, Michelle and Nicole. He was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at the age of six (as Michaels later attested in the Behind the Music special, backstage photos of the singer injecting insulin led many to think that he was a heroin addict). When he was a child, his family relocated to Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, where he attended Mechanicsburg Area Senior High School.
Michaels' music career began with the creation of the band Paris, in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1983. After several lineup changes his band was renamed Poison, and moved to Los Angeles later that same year. Poison became one of the biggest glam metal bands in the world and also recorded several hit albums such as the multi-platinum selling, Open Up and Say...Ahh!.
Michaels recorded his first solo album in 1998 A Letter from Death Row, the soundtrack to the same-titled movie he directed, wrote, and starred in. In 2003, he released the studio album Songs of Life which featured the singles "Raine" and "Bittersweet". Michaels also served as a judge during the 2005 season of reality television singing competition Nashville Star and released a country rock album in the same year called Freedom of Sound which featured the singles "Right Now, Right Here", "Open Road" and the hit single "All I Ever Needed" (featuring Jessica Andrews). Michaels released a best of album called Rock My World in June 2008 which featured music from his reality television series Rock of Love including the new singles "Go That Far" (Rock of Love theme), "Fallen" and "Start Again", the first 2 also featuring music videos with clips from the series and the album charted at #40 on the Billboard 200 and #4 on the Independent Albums. In December 2008 Bret released a single version of "Driven" (rock mix) which also featured a music video with preview clips for Rock of Love Bus and he also re released the "Fallen" single with acoustic, piano and demo versions included.
Michaels released a 30-minute DVD from (Time Life) in 2008 called Hard & Heavy Confidential featuring Bret Michaels which included acoustic versions of "All I Ever Needed", "Driven", "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" and "Something to Believe In", it also included in depth interviews. The DVD was included in the Hard & Heavy cd/dvd collection from (Time Life) advertised on TV by Bret Michaels. The same 4 acoustic performances were also released on CD which was titled "Bret Michaels Acoustic Sessions."
In 2010, Michaels released a new single called "Nothing to Lose" from his upcoming new studio album titled "Custom Built". The song featured the guest vocals of Miley Cyrus.
Rock of Love
In February 2007, the cable TV network VH1 announced that Michaels would star as the bachelor in the reality television dating competition series Rock of Love with Bret Michaels. Jes Rickleff was the winner of the first season of the series. However, she announced during the reunion show that she and Michaels were not right for each other and told runner-up Heather he was all hers and that he should have chosen Heather. The first season was released on DVD in early 2008.
Michaels went on to star in the second season of Rock of Love, which premiered on January 13, 2008. On April 13, 2008, Michaels selected Ambre Lake as his "Rock of Love". Lake and Michaels have since broken up.
A third season, Rock of Love Bus premiered on January 4, 2009. In August 2009, Michaels stated in a interview with VH1 that he and winner Taya Parker were no longer together. When asked about a fourth season of Rock of Love, Michaels said "Now they want me to come back for a fourth 'Rock of Love.' I feel that it should be something that changes up, but I still want that fun element. What you see is what you get with me."
Other television and film appearances
Michaels and actor Charlie Sheen established a film production company, Sheen/Michaels Entertainment, which produced the movie A Letter from Death Row (1998), which Michaels wrote, directed and starred in, and for which he released a soundtrack album. They also produced No Code of Conduct that same year, which Bret Michaels also directed. Their company also produced the feature film Free Money, starring Marlon Brando and Mira Sorvino, and the surfer movie In God's Hands.
Michaels appeared in an episode of the CBS sitcom Yes, Dear.
In 2010, Michaels currently appears as a contestant on the NBC reality television series Celebrity Apprentice on NBC.
On May 1, 2008, Michaels appeared on a special celebrity edition of Don't Forget the Lyrics!, on which he raised $200,000 to donate to charity.
Michaels has 19 top hits and he has 31 nominated songs. Including the two songs on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.
In other media
Michaels was portrayed in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, which features him singing "Go That Far" and Poison's "Talk Dirty to Me".
Charity work
Michaels has also been seen touring with the USO in Kuwait in 2007 for soldiers deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Personal life
Michaels dated and later became engaged to actress and singer Susie Hatton. Michaels and Hatton dated from 1988 to 1993. Bret produced Hatton's debut album Body and Soul in 1991. Hatton is featured in Poison's "Fallen Angel" music video released in 1988.[citation needed] Michaels has two daughters with Kristi Lynn Gibson whom he dated from 1994 to 2005. Raine Elizabeth Sychak was born on May 20, 2000, and Jorja Bleu Sychak was born May 5, 2005. As of 2005, Michaels and Gibson are separated and share custody of their children.
Michaels was involved with Pamela Anderson. An abridged version of an explicit sex tape the couple made appeared on the Internet and was released on DVD on September 7, 2005, by Metro Studios. Michaels later stopped the sexually explicit tape from being distributed, although the "teaser" version of it is still widely available on the Internet.
Michaels is a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League and the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League. He has a personalized guitar bearing the Steelers' logo, and played the national anthem at Three Rivers Stadium. His favorite player was Jack Lambert, and Michaels has been a member of fan club "Lambert's Lunatics."
On June 7, 2009, Michaels suffered a fractured nose and cut lip at the Tony Awards show after performing Poison's song Nothin' but a Good Time with the cast of the musical Rock of Ages. When Michaels turned to exit the stage, a descending piece of the set hit him in the head before he could duck under it, knocking him on his back.
On April 12, 2010, Michaels was rushed to hospital after suffering intense stomach pains resulting in an emergency appendectomy.
On April 22, 2010, Michaels was rushed again to hospital with an "excruciating" headache, where doctors discovered that he had suffered a massive subarachnoid hemorrhage. He was in critical condition, but his condition is now stabilized.
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