Inspired Music from Mike Grillo

  I am a published singer-songwriter - with extensive experience in the music industry - going way-back seemingly to the dawn-of-time.

  I have been entertaining audiences in various musical line-ups for longer than  care to remember– performing at a broad range of venues around the U.K. including; clubs, pubs, theatres, arts centres, universities, cabaret and many private functions. In that time, I've shared the bill with some notable acts in the form of jazz-pop maestro Georgie Fame, along with 60's / 70's hit-maker Alan Price, the late folk / blues / jazz fusionist John Martyn and the effervescent and multi-faceted Charlie Dore – best-known for her U.S. hit 'Pilot Of The Airwaves' and a co-writer of Jimmy Nail's 90's U.K. chart-topper 'Ain't No Doubt'.
  From the outset, it was my intention to become a fully-fledged songwriter and I managed to secure a contract with 'Sesame Songs’ – the newly-formed arm of the, now legendary, Surrey Sound Studios, which cut its teeth on producing the debut album by The Police (when 'Sting' was just plain old 'Gordon Sumner' ... a Geordie school-teacher working in South London or wherever). Surrey Sound also worked with Godley & Creme (10cc), Rik Astley and Siouxie & The Banshees plus numerous other well-known acts.

Shortly after this, I succeeded in landing a number of other publishing deals, one of which was with the world-famous EMI Music Publishing (now Sony / ATV Music). I also wrote and had songs published with Bruce Woolley ... one of the co-writers of the international million-selling late 70’s hit ‘Video Killed the Radio Star’. I continued to write songs and made recordings with the respected producer/engineer Gregg Jackman who has worked with (among many others) Status Quo, The Moody Blues, Squeeze, Chris De Burgh, Richard Thompson, Enya, OMD, and Marc Almond.
  Throughout the 90's and well into the noughties, I entertained audiences as a solo artist – performing cover songs – before eventually devising and creating my own one-man music show ‘The Roy Orbison & Del Shannon Story’, which I have performed in theatres and arts centres around the U.K. and I also continue to deliver talks and presentations to various groups on the same subject.

  In the spring and autumn of 2018, I went back into the studio to record (and re-record) a selection of my original songs … some of which go way, way back. My intention was to record these 12 songs ‘how they were always meant to sound’ whilst at the same time giving them a slightly more ‘contemporary’ feel. The result was ‘Where Did It All Go Wrong?’ – a CD album released late in 2018 (available to order - just e-mail me or SEE my CONTACT page) and from 2019 available for streaming.

  I'm very happy with the results but I could never have done any of this without the input of the brilliant (and very sadly 'late') Carl J. Perkins (in the checked shirt on the left of the b/w studio picture opposite) - and yes … the Isle of Wight’s very own. Carl’s parents gave him a legendary name to live up to – and he certainly didn’t let them down. Carl was an highly talented and versatile musician – with the added bonus of possessing a fine ‘musician’s ear’ when it came to production.

​  In November 2019 through to February 2020, I went back into the Bad Cow Studios on the Isle of Wight (run by Carl Perkins … who else?) to record an E.P. consisting of 4 new songs – with Carl once again assisting as musician and producer. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic – and the accompanying awful ‘lockdown’ scenario so many of us had to endure, the E.P. was eventually released in July. The E.P. is called ‘Zero Attention Span’ and is available in streaming format only from Spotify, Apple Music / iTunes, Deezer plus all the other usual streaming outlets.

  Following the release of 'Zero Attention Span' - in late 2020 the opening song from the 4-track E.P. 'Out On The Open Road' was taken up by a promotion company based in Nashville and distributed to specific personnel inside the music industry. As yet, that million-dollar contract hasn't materialised (no surprises there) but I still think that 'Out On The Open Road' would be a great track to include in an advert for Chevrolet, GMC, Ford – or any one of the many other pick-up truck manufacturers seen everywhere today.

2021 saw the release of 2 'solo' 4-track EPs. The first 'Give Your Head A Wobble' was originally scheduled for early 2021 but due to the on-going Covid / lockdown situation everything was put on hold for several months … with it finally being released in the summer. 'Give Your Head A Wobble' contains songs outlining everything that's happening RIGHT NOW in these unprecedented times across the Western World. Songs that contain a semblance of HOPE - but also down-to-earth STARK REALITY!

  In autumn of the same year I released a follow-up E.P.‘Salad Days’ which contains 4 'traditional' pop songs ...reminding us of Beatlemania and 'The British Invasion' of the States back in te 60s. As with my previous E.P. releases - 'Give Your Head A Wobble' and ‘Salad Days' are both available on all the usual streaming outlets – while some tracks are available in video format on my YouTube channel.

  The onset of 2022 brought about another 4-track E.P. - released in January - amidst very little fanfare (no surprises there)! The title of the E.P. is 'Epiphany' containing a Country-ish set of songs ... with a couple of tracks included which touch on the spiritual side of life.

  At the start of 2023 I tried something a little different - releasing a 10-track album of 'instrumentals' entitled 'Lost For Words'. Some of the tunes were brand new - whilst others were backing-tracks of previously released material - with relevant tweaks here and there - and different titles given to them.

  In June, I decided to revive an old 'pop' song that I had published way-back-when 'Dreaming Of Your Love'. The song has been given a more modern and updated feel and includes additional vocals by none-other than Liz Zee Gee who sang lead vocal on my 2022 single'Is It Me?'

  Following straight on the heels of this, a 5-track E.P. my next release was 'Songs For No One'. Another eclectic mix of songs that are hard to put a label on ... well, I'll leave that to others.

  In September 2023 I released another single - the 'Radio Edit' of 'That's The Way We Roll' - the full version being on my 'Songs For No One' E.P.

  Into 2024 ... another new single 'Living In Bubble' - summing-up what many of us do far too often without realising all the crap that's going on around us. Some feel comfortable this way - whilst others take advantage of the situation to the detriment of many!

 Then 3 months later in April ... I released another single 'Inseparable'. I thought I'd try something a little different this time around - with not many lyrics to this - but I'm happy with the outcome. A long-time experienced and valued musician friend of mine said it sounds a bit like Midge Ure / Ultravox back-in-the-day. I never really thought of it like that - but I'm happy to be mentioned in comparison.

  I'm writing this in November 2024. I've taken a 6-month hiatus from songwriting and recording. However, I'm planning on releasing a 3-track E.P. 'The State We're In' (hopefully before Christmas). The three tracks are re-masters of previous releases - with the main track 'Wrong Lines' being the extended version of the previously released version from 'the 'Zero Attention Span' E.P. back in 2020. The tracks all have a 'political' theme - not for the feint-hearted - butstill entirely relevant - but as a pre-warning for anyone wrapped-up in 'wokeology' - listen at your own risk!

Mike Grillo