Michael Olivier

Michael ‘Bubbles’ Olivier AKA Prodigal Son is an award-winning songwriter and artist with a career that spans over 3 decades, playing steel drum, performing in various notable bands including 20th Century Steel band other world music bands.

Key Career Highlights include:

⇒ 1970’s performed with Pan Am North Stars and recorded and toured with the Pianist Winifred Atwell

⇒ 1974-1976 – Formed 20th Century Steel Band – released 2 albums ‘Cold Steel Warm Heart’ & ‘Yellow Bird is Dead’ on United Artists Label

⇒ Toured the world with 20th Century Steel Band and performed with the likes of Donna Summers. Wrote a number of songs including ‘Heaven and Hell Is On Earth’

⇒ 1976-1978 – Joined and toured with the band Steel and Skin and writes most popular song ‘Reggae Is Here Once Again’ .  Went on to be featured in the documentary with the same name which was recently televised on London Live TV

⇒ 1980’s – Won UK Panorama Steel Band Championship title in 1986 with Mangrove Steel Band

⇒ 1980-90’s – Michael won the Panorama Championships 5 more times.

⇒ 1990’s – Michael continued to play the steel drum and travel the world.

⇒ In the mid 90’s he formed the Steel Pan Band Page 2 and toured and performed around the UK, including performances at the Royal Albert Hall.

⇒ 1990’s-2000’s – ‘Heaven and Hell’ became a cult classic and used by other artists Soul II Soul, Grand Master Flash, Jungle Brothers and Lauryn Hill

⇒ 2002 – JLo uses ‘Heaven and Hell’ on the chart-topping ‘Jenny from the Block’

⇒ 2002 – Starts to receive attention for songwriting skills to the world attention.

⇒ 2003 & 2004 – Award an ASCAP and BMI Award for Jenny from the Block

⇒ 2004 – Signed a significant publishing deal with EMI publishing

⇒ 2005 – 2007 – Continued to perform on the steel drum and working with musicians, co-writing projects and recording on the steel drum

⇒ 2008-2009 – Records and releases his reggae-world music album ‘Unfinished Business’

⇒ 2010 –Returns to UK Panorama championships with RASPO Steel Orchestra

⇒ 2011 – 2014 – Continued to tour and perform in festivals and shows around the world

⇒ 2015 – Performed in shows in the US and received reviews from American Songwriter

⇒ 2016 – Set up new Steel Drum School in Bristol called Bandwagon

⇒ 2017 – Recorded 2 new albums(1 steel drum and 1 classic album), Toured Africa countries performing including Tanzania and Morocco

⇒ 2018 – releasing a new single in March 2018, followed by 2 new albums later in the year