Robert Michaels

Robert Michaels (Roberto Michele Buttarazzi) (born in Toronto, Canada) is a Juno Award winner and nominee, multi-gold and platinum-selling recording artist, guitarist and vocalist.

Michaels returned from Canada to his mother's home town of Arpino, Italy when he was just a few years old. Living roughly 95 km southeast of Rome, he was exposed to Italian music, art, and culture from an early age. Much of that time was spent at his grandfather's restaurant, before moving back with his family to Toronto.

His debut CD, titled Paradiso, was released in 1997 and was nominated for a Juno Award (Canadian Grammy).[1] Paradiso album reached Platinum status eventually sold more than 100,000 copies in Canada.

In 1998, Michaels was nominated for Instrumental Artist(s) of the Year for a JUNO Award. His album Utopia was nominated in 2000 for a JUNO Award for Best Instrumental Album, and his next album Allegro won JUNO Award for Instrumental Album of the Year.

Michaels' album Via Italia was released in 2013.

One of Michaels' songs, "Wrong to Let You Go", co-written in collaboration with the band the Wild Strawberries, reached top 10 on the Canadian Adult Contemporary charts. It was recorded for volume 3 of the Women & Songs compilation album series created and produced by Alan Fletcher, from Warner. Subsequently, Fletcher put the band in contact with German electronic dance producer and DJ André Tanneberger (stage name, ATB). Tanneberger produced a remix of the song, which was released as an ATB single re-titled "Let U Go". This popularized the song on both continents, as the single reached number 18 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts[2] and number 7 on the German Singles Chart.[3] The song also marked the point in ATB's musical output when he began to produce songs with full vocal tracks, as opposed to sampled and looped vocals.[4]