Born and raised in the Philadelphia area. His early concert experiences were the Velvet Underground and The Stooges, thus critically shaping him for modern life. He moved to New York in 1974 with an original band named Little Sister, later shortened to Sister. Working clubs such as CBGB's, Max's Kansas City and Club 82, Sister was a contemporary of the New York Dolls, the Dictators, the Fast, the Dogs and Wayne County. One night Lou Reed heard the band and offered to work with them and later to produce them. As the band and Lou went about activities that summer, Michael spent a lot of time at Lou's apartment transcribing songs from Lou's tapes that Lou was to later record. As it tuned out, Lou Reed is a great songwriter and artist, but not a very accomplished producer. Sister grew up; then they broke up.

As The Twinkees, Michael led a power trio from New York to Paris in 1976, where they annoyed the French citizenry, clubs, and airwaves, and were occasionally joined by members of Extraballe. Like the tasty snack they were named after, the Twinkees were not truly fulfilling. However, due to good advice from his friend, and songwriter, Stephane Delaroche, Michael was discovered by pop star Christophe while performing solo on the radio. Christophe helped make a recording contract with Rideau Rouge, and produced a single at Studio Ferber, with Stephane Delaroche. This featured Michael on all guitars and vocals, drummer Woody Woodmansey from Bowie's Spiders from Mars band, American bassist & songwiter Conrad Hermann from the Twinkees, and Dominique Perrier, a prominent French keyboard artist. Dominique Perrier came in to the studio at 4AM to save the day when no one could properly play an improvised piano track.

The single ("Loser" b/w "Nothing Wrong") was promising, but suffered from no promotion.

Reluctantly returning to the USA, Michael formed The Cheaters in Philadelphia. They released the world's first cassette single in 1980, just ahead of Malcolm McLaren. The Cheaters played from Philadelphia to New York, headlined locally, and opened for the Ramones, Bauhaus, Ultravox, Buzzcocks, and the Psychedelic Furs. After a brief recording contract with Red Records, the band went separate ways.

In 1982, Michael moved to Tampa, Florida, marrying his fiance, a former Philadelphia model. They have been together ever since.

In Tampa, the Flapcats, first a trio, then a quartet, were born. They played extensively, released 2 locally produced cds, and gathered some excellent reviews.