Biography

Let's go back to the basics. Michael Wookey was born in Southampton. His family attached no importance to music, except for an organist grandfather in wartime. "His way of avoiding killing people, I guess," he says. It is therefore from the sidelines that Michael, the youngest of the family having learned the organ and the piano, wrote his first songs at 15 years old with a guitar and a harmonium found at the Salvation Army. His first performances were “strange improvisations on the piano”. One of his toy piano songs was selected in a French compilation, which earned him an invitation to the Divan du Monde venue in 2008 on the occasion of the Music for Toys Festival. Michael stayed in Paris, regularly participating in events and residences around homemade instruments. Michael Wookey performed at the Théâtre Du Châtelet on several occasions, notably alongside Margaret Leng Tan (protegé of John Cage), who performed his concerto for toy piano. He also composed numerous film and documentary soundtracks for Arte and France TV. As a consequence, Michael’s lifestyle became nomadic. It is therefore between two residences that he wrote Hollywood Hex, his album released in 2018.