Name Kevin MacMichael Years active ca. 1975–2002 | Instruments Guitar Genres rock Role Record Producer | |
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Born November 7, 1951Saint John, New Brunswick, Canada ( 1951-11-07 ) Occupation(s) Musician, singer-songwriter Movies Cutting Crew: Live at Full House Children Cadence MacMichael, Elizabeth MacMichael | ||
Birth name Kevin Scott Macmichael | ||
Kevin Scott Macmichael (7 November 1951 – 31 December 2002) was a Canadian guitarist, songwriter and record producer, best known for being a member of the 1980s UK-based pop-rock band, Cutting Crew, who had a number-one hit in 1987 with "(I Just) Died in Your Arms". Cutting Crew was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 1987.
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Early life
Macmichael was born in Saint John, New Brunswick and raised in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia.
Musical career
Kevin got his first guitar in 1963 along with friend Gary Lyon. They were Beatles fans from the very beginning, learned to play many of their early songs, and went to see A Hard Day's Night in Halifax. He played with the Nova Scotia band Chalice and in 1978, he joined the band, Spice. In the early 1980s he was part of the Halifax band, Fast Forward, when he met Nick Van Eede, who was touring Canada as vocalist with the band The Drivers. Macmichael moved to London, England and began Cutting Crew along with Van Eede in 1985. After Cutting Crew's run of success ended and Virgin Records let them go, he worked with Robert Plant playing guitar and composing songs for his 1993 album, Fate of Nations.
His interlude with Plant was short-lived: Macmichael recalled when he auditioned for Plant, '"Play me something," he said. He's about my age so the first things that came to mind were songs by Buffalo Springfield and Moby Grape. His jaw just dropped and he picked me up off the sofa and said: "Never leave me."' The partnership lasted the single album and a world tour before Plant reunited with Jimmy Page, but the album's single "Calling to You", on which he played guitar, resulted in a Grammy nomination.
After nine years in the United Kingdom, Macmichael returned to Nova Scotia where he collaborated with number of Canadian East Coast musicians including Chris Colepaugh & The Cosmic Crew, The Rankin Family and Sons of Maxwell.
Death
On December 31, 2002, he died of lung cancer at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His surviving family members include his wife, father, brother, sister, and two daughters. Macmichael's remains were cremated.