Michael Africk

"I feel like I should've been born in Nashville," says Boston native Michael Africk. Africk, like many, found the allure of Nashville in its simplicity. A seemingly small city with roots that even a tourist can still discern, Africk found Nashville a chance to get back to stripped down, genuine music. Away from over-production and the world of crass commercialism, Music City made no qualms about embracing the Bostonian and letting Africk get back to pen and paper. "In Nashville I felt it was sometimes ok to simplify things, put it all down and not worry about over thinking something or being lyrically tricky, you don't always have to reinvent the wheel, " Africk says.

Nashville for Africk has allowed for a musical rejuvenation but by no means a birth. He began playing piano at age eleven, attended two of the most prestigious musically skewed universities in the world, Berklee School of Music and the University of Miami's music business program, and has sang the title track in the 1999 major motion picture, Doug's First Movie. The tunesmith has also penned songs for Japanese recording superstar, Mai Kuraki helping her sell over twelve- million albums, and owns a recording studio and production company. But Africk doesn't want to discuss his exhaustive resume; he wants to talk about "Three chords and the truth", a lyric from the Harlan Howard classic that branded him after just one visit to the towering Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Nashville has that humbling power on any artist.

Michael Africk would like to make global music. "What I find interesting about country stars like Faith Hill and Shania Twain is that they can play NYC, they don't have to re- record their ballads for pop radio, they simply cross over as is, its already global music. " With his piano based, heart-wrenching material, Africk has the potential to do just that: blend the artful storytelling of country music with a universal pop sensibility. Africk has come a long way from his brother forcing him to listen to Willie Nelson as a youth; now country music has become a salvation from his former life in the pop music machine. "With country genre, I'm able to just write a song and I can tell I've got something. In the pop world you don't know if you have something until its been produced to the nth degree and radio deems it catchy enough. " With a reinvigorated passion Africk has spent his last few months splitting his time between Boston and Nashville. His talents have already generated significant buzz in Music City, and he has begun to work on material with seasoned songwriters like Troy Seals, Dean Dillon, and Skip Ewing among others. An accomplished songwriter and producer, Africk plans to heighten the level of showmanship in country music.

Michael is currently compiling material for his debut album, working with potential producers, and moreover, finding his niche as a soulful male musician that doesn't fit into the line up of Music Row hat acts. The power of one of his trademark songs was demonstrated full force in December 2004. The well known and respected coast to coast radio show “After Midnite” featured Michael’s “The Hardest Thing” during it’s popular “Pick It or Flick It” song rating segment. Listeners surged the phone lines with an impressive 83% Picked! That score outranked featured songs by some of the biggest names in country for many weeks! Africk plans to kick the door wide open in 2005 and broaden the benchmark of country music for good. Stay tuned….