Michael Oliver

Michael was born (many years ago ) in Riverhead, Long Island - NY. His love of music started at a very young age. "I can remember being glued to a AM radio enjoying rock and pop hits form the mid-late sixties. I especially loved anything from Motown. Influenced by seeing the Beatles live on the television (B&W TV that is) my good parents got me an inexpensive acoustic guitar and some lessons. At that time (8-10 years old) it was nothing more than a phase I was going through that coincided with sports and my growing interest in girls. My never ending passion to play music really started in my high school years. I bought a CHEAP electric guitar with an amp and taught myself rhythm guitar. You could always count on a jam at my childhood friend Ray Rossi's basement (most times with me on guitar and Ray on drums) doing our best with anything from Grand Funk Railroad, Doobie Bros., Johnny Winter, Commodores, Sly & the Family Stone, and many more. I bounced around town a few years playing very good rhythm guitar until I had an epiphany! I can't sing and my lead playing was...well...not great. So I switch to bass (an instrument no one wanted to play).

Sure enough there was plenty of gigging bands that needed a breathing bass player. I ended up playing with some very talented players. Guitarist Kenny Mades was a huge influence on me. We were in several bands together adding Alex Burton early on. Although Kenny and I really didn't understand Alex (being a "city boy") we knew he was an extremely talented singer. The last band that we were all in together was called "Mona Lethal"! Yep, a hard rock all original band with Grant Warner on drums and Keith Wilson on guitar (Grant and Keith were in the famous 70's "Bridge Gang Band"). After the band broke up around 1982, I knocked off several years and built a house in Aquebogue.

An unexpected phone call from my buddy Ray Rossi got me back into music with a studio project he was involved in. I continued to play from that day on (Thanks, Ray!) doing studio and live performances in pop rock bands. As luck would have it, the very famous Long Island band "NO EXIT" headed by Grant Warner and Alex Burton (my band mates and friends from years ago) were in the midst of reforming. No Exit was a kicking pop-rock Motown & sSoul band with a huge following. Grant and Alex taught themselves the guitar along the way and were the lead singers. I joined them on bass along with Jimmy Carroll (the best drummer on Long Island) and the muti-talented Debbie Liso (keys, sax, vocals). This band was just incredible. Every gig was a blast.

I dropped out of the No Exit Band because of a job relocation to Atlanta, GA in 96'. It wasn't too long before I met the love of my life, Kayte in Atlanta. Frustrated by not finding the right band situation, I started to dabble with the acoustic guitar again. By 2000 I was learning some simple travis finger picking music (Needle and the Damage Done" & "Dust in the Wind"). We moved to Sebastian, Fl to be closer to my folks & handicapped brother in 2003.

After a couple of years not finding the right band situation in Florida, I decided to give up bass altogether to focus only on the new to me and very hip finger style music of Don Ross, Preston Reed, Don Alder, and many others. This style of acoustic guitar music is called, for lack of a better description "Heavy Wood". You can listen to some recording I've done on finger style guitar on Michael's Music Page here on the website. All along since the late 90's Kayte and I would perform a few songs at gatherings with family & friends.

I should mention that Kayte has an fantastic voice and was not sharing her wonderful talent nearly enough. We were further encouraged by a great group of friends (The Dunphey's & The Laveracks) we have here in Sebastian, Florida to start playing out so in 2007 Kayte and I focused on learning the right material for us to perform. Songs everyone knows, BUT not the songs you see everyone playing. We've really fine tuned our sound, energy level, song selection, dynamics, etc to appeal to any music lover out there."