Bret Michaels

Bret Michael Sychak (born March 15, 1963 in Butler, Pennsylvania) is 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.

Music Career
The band Paris began in 1983, with Michaels forming the band in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania in 1984. The original lineup for Paris was Leighton Zema on lead vocals, Bret Michaels on guitar, Brian Bircher on drums, Jonathan Combs on synthesizer/gong, and Patrick Bircher on bass. All original members, except Michaels, were from Steelton, PA, but they were all replaced by the members of what later became Poison. The band moved to Los Angeles in 1984 to begin touring clubs there. Poison became one of the biggest of the 80's hair metal bands in the world and also recording several hit albums such as the 8 million seller 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. 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. Michaels released 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 top 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. Bret 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."

Other Ventures
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 in the 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. The cable-TV network VH1 announced on February 14, 2007 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 series, however, she also had a boyfriend outside the show and claimed that the casting directors chose her off of the street. She announced during the reunion show that she and Michaels were not right for each other and told Heather he was all hers and that he should have chosen the runner up. 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". Ambre and Michaels have since broken up, and Rock of Love 3 premiered on January 4, 2009. On May 1, 2008, Michaels appeared on a special celebrity edition of Don't Forget the Lyrics!, where he raised $200,000 to donate to charity. Bret Michaels has 19 top hits and he has 31 nominated songs. Including the two songs on Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Bret Michaels has also been seen touring with the USO in Kuwait in 2007 for soldiers deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom. Michaels was also 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".