Michel (42)

Born in Windsor, Ontario, Michel moved to London in the early ‘70s with dreams of Carnaby Street, Beatlemania and pop stardom. He signed a deal with The Beatles’ former label, EMI, and cut a single at Abbey Road in 1974, “I heard someone saying, ‘Oh, rubbish, rubbish,’”. It was Paul McCartney, arriving to work on Wings’ ‘Venus And Mars’. When the record, ‘In My Mind’/’Just A Part Of The Sky’ was released, the British public agreed with McCartney’s jokey review: it missed the Radio 1 playlist, the single tanked, EMI lost interest and Michel moved back to Canada, this time settling in Vancouver. As a penniless busker in 1976, he hit on the idea of getting Muhammad Ali (2) to sponsor his faltering music career. A year later, he was in the inner circle of the world’s most famous man, filming a very charming TV special, recording a very strange album and mixing with the world’s most powerful people. After leaving Muhammad Ali (2) inner circle, he wrote a sombre letter thanking the boxer for everything he’d done and apologising for failing to come good on Ali’s prediction that he would be recognised as “the greatest singer of all times.” He never received a response, and had no contact with Muhammad Ali (2)