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 Cutting Crew are an English rock band formed in London in 1985. They are best known for their debut album ''Broadcast'' and hit single, "(I Just) Died in Your Arms". History 1985–1986: Formation While still in his teens, Nick Van Eede (bo ...

, who had a number-one

hit Hit means to strike someone or something. Hit or HIT may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Fictional entities * Hit, a fictional character from '' Dragon Ball Super'' * Homicide International Trust, or HIT, a fictional organization ...

in 1986 with "

(I Just) Died in Your Arms "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" is the debut single by the English pop rock band Cutting Crew, released in July 1986 as a single from their debut studio album, ''Broadcast''. The song was written by frontman Nick Van Eede, produced by Terry Brown ...

". Cutting Crew was nominated for a

Grammy Award for Best New Artist The Grammy Award for Best New Artist has been awarded since 1959. Years reflect the year in which the Grammy Awards were handed out, for records released in the previous year. The award was not presented in 1967. The official guidelines are as ...

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Bicenten ...

Early life

Macmichael was born in

Saint John, New Brunswick Saint John is a seaport city of the Atlantic Ocean located on the Bay of Fundy in the province of New Brunswick, Canada. Saint John is the oldest incorporated city in Canada, established by royal charter on May 18, 1785, during the reign of ...

and raised in

Dartmouth, Nova Scotia Dartmouth ( ) is an urban community and former city located in the Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax Regional Municipality of Nova Scotia, Canada. Dartmouth is located on the eastern shore of Halifax Harbour. Dartmouth has been nicknamed the City of ...

Musical career

Early years

Kevin got his first guitar in 1963 along with friend Sandy Bryson. They were

Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

fans from the very beginning, learned to play many of their early songs, and went to see '' A Hard Day's Night'' in Halifax. MacMichael and Bryson started a band called The FourToGo in Dartmouth in 1964 with drummer Darrell Lysens and lead guitarist Al Arsenault, managed by Larry Manette. MacMichael then played with Bedford Row and Yellow Bus, later playing with the Nova Scotia band Chalice before joining the band Spice in 1978.

Cutting Crew

In the early 1980s, Macmichael was part of the Halifax band, Fast Forward, when he met

Nick Van Eede Nick Van Eede (born Nicholas Eede, 14 June 1958) is an English musician, producer and songwriter. He is best known for singing and writing the 1986 No. 1 power ballad, "(I Just) Died in Your Arms" for his band Cutting Crew, which saw internati ...

, who was touring Canada as vocalist with the band The Drivers. Macmichael moved to London, England and began Cutting Crew along with Van Eede, bassist Colin Farley and drummer Martin "Frosty" BeedlePierre Perrone
Obituary
''The independent'', 7 January 2003 in 1985.

Robert Plant

After Cutting Crew's run of success ended and

Virgin Records Virgin Records is a record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British independent record label in 1972 by entrepreneurs Richard Branson, Simon Draper, Nik Powell, and musician Tom Newman. It grew to be a world ...

let them go, he worked with

Robert Plant Robert Anthony Plant (born 20 August 1948) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the English rock band Led Zeppelin for all of its existence from 1968 until 1980, when the band broke up following th ...

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 Buffalo Springfield was a rock band formed in Los Angeles by Canadian musicians Neil Young, Bruce Palmer and Dewey Martin and American musicians Stephen Stills and Richie Furay. The group, widely known for the song " For What It's Worth", r ...

and

Moby Grape Moby Grape is an American rock band founded in 1966, known for having all five members contribute to singing and songwriting, and who collectively merged elements of folk music, blues, country, and jazz with rock and psychedelic music. They were ...

. 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.

East Coast

After nine years in the United Kingdom, MacMichael returned to Nova Scotia where he collaborated with a number of Canadian East Coast musicians including Wayne Nicholson, Tribute, Chris Colepaugh & The Cosmic Crew,

The Rankin Family The Rankin Family (originally known as The Rankins) are a Canadian musical family group from Mabou, Nova Scotia. The group has won many Canadian music awards, including 15 East Coast Music Awards, six Juno Awards, four Society of Composers, Author ...

and Sons of Maxwell.

Death

On 31 December 2002, he died of lung cancer at the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre in

Halifax, Nova Scotia Halifax is the capital and largest municipality of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, and the largest municipality in Atlantic Canada. As of the 2021 Census, the municipal population was 439,819, with 348,634 people in its urban area. Th ...

. His surviving family members include his wife and two daughters, father, brother, and sister.

References

External links

Kevin Macmichael biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Macmichael, Kevin 1951 births 2002 deaths Canadian rock guitarists Canadian male guitarists Canadian songwriters Canadian record producers Canadian expatriates in England Deaths from cancer in Nova Scotia Deaths from lung cancer Musicians from Halifax, Nova Scotia Musicians from Saint John, New Brunswick People from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia 20th-century Canadian guitarists 20th-century Canadian male musicians