Nick Michaels (1950 – May 26, 2018) was a
Canadian-American
Canadian Americans is a term that can be applied to American citizens whose ancestry is wholly or partly Canadian, or citizens of either country that hold dual citizenship.
The term ''Canadian'' can mean a nationality or an ethnicity. Canadian ...
voice actor
Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talen ...
, writer and producer.
[ ("Miami-based Nick Michaels (the commanding voice of WBBM-Ch. 2 and about 20 other TV and radio stations)")]
Career
Nick Michaels started in
radio
Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tr ...
while still in high school in Canada. After copywriting for AdGroup International in
Montreal
Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...
, he moved to
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
in 1973. He became one of the top commercial voice-over actors in Canada with multiple national accounts such as
Molson
The Molson Brewery is a Canadian based brewery company based in Montreal which was established in 1786 by the Molson family. In 2005, Molson merged with the Adolph Coors Company to become Molson Coors.
Molson Coors maintains some of its C ...
,
Kodak
The Eastman Kodak Company (referred to simply as Kodak ) is an American public company that produces various products related to its historic basis in analogue photography. The company is headquartered in Rochester, New York, and is incorpor ...
,
Texaco
Texaco, Inc. ("The Texas Company") is an American oil brand owned and operated by Chevron Corporation. Its flagship product is its fuel "Texaco with Techron". It also owned the Havoline motor oil brand. Texaco was an independent company unt ...
,
Kellogg's
The Kellogg Company, doing business as Kellogg's, is an American multinational food manufacturing company headquartered in Battle Creek, Michigan, United States. Kellogg's produces cereal and convenience foods, including crackers and toa ...
,
Procter & Gamble
The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer he ...
, and
Toyota
is a Japanese multinational automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on . Toyota is one of the largest automobile manufacturers in the world, producing about 10 ...
.
Michaels relocated to
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
in 1977, a move that resulted in several long-running campaigns for major advertisers,
including
Excedrin,
Gillette
Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G).
Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gill ...
,
Coca-Cola
Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance bar, temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pembe ...
,
General Motors
The General Motors Company (GM) is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest automaker in the United States and ...
,
Coppertone
Coppertone is the brand name for an American sunscreen. Coppertone is headquartered in Whippany, New Jersey. Coppertone uses a variety of branding, including the Coppertone girl logo and a distinctive fragrance.
Product line
The original prod ...
, and
Maybelline. In all, Michaels' voice has appeared on over a billion dollars of paid advertising.
He moved to
Miami, Florida
Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at ...
in 1980, where he lived until his death.
In addition to ad campaigns for consumer products, Michaels provided creative services to many U.S. media companies. He created the
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
television program ''
Friday Night Videos
''Friday Night Videos'' (later becoming ''Friday Night'' and then ''Late Friday'') is an American music video show that was broadcast on NBC from July 29, 1983 to May 24, 2002. It was the network's attempt to capitalize on the emerging popularit ...
'' which debuted in 1983,
serving as the original voice-over host until 1986. His voice also was heard on the network's late-night promos throughout the 1980s. In 1992, he became the worldwide voice of topical promotion for
CNN
CNN (Cable News Network) is a multinational cable news channel headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable news channel, and presently owned by ...
as well as other cable networks. As narrator, Michaels appeared on the series ''
National Geographic Explorer
''National Geographic Explorer'' (or simply ''Explorer'') is an American documentary television series that originally premiered on Nickelodeon on April 7, 1985, after having been produced as a less costly and intensive alternative to PBS's ' ...
'' and on the
documentary film
A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in te ...
''
Barcelona '92: 16 Days of Glory''. Michaels also served as the imaging voice for many television stations, including
WBBM-TV
WBBM-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Chicago, Illinois, United States, airing programming from the CBS network. Owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, the station maintains studios on West Washington ...
in Chicago,
WCBS-TV
WCBS-TV (channel 2) is a television station in New York City, serving as the flagship of the CBS network. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division alongside Riverhead, New York–licensed independent station W ...
in New York City, and
WCCO-TV
WCCO-TV (channel 4) is a television station licensed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States, broadcasting the CBS network to the Twin Cities area. It is owned and operated by the network's CBS News and Stations division, and maintains studio ...
in Minneapolis. In radio, he was the imaging voice for Chicago
classic rock
Classic rock is a US radio format which developed from the album-oriented rock (AOR) format in the early 1980s. In the United States, the classic rock format comprises rock music ranging generally from the mid-1960s through the mid 1990s, prim ...
radio station
WDRV, "97.1 The Drive", since its debut in March 2001.
Michaels established a creative services company, American Voice Corporation, to provide voice imaging and related services to advertisers and radio and television stations. It produces and syndicates his national radio program ''
The Deep End with Nick Michaels'' and its spinoff, ''Stories From The Deep End'', in the United States and New Zealand. On August 31, 2015, Michaels launched ''The Stories That Made the Music'', a daily one-minute feature series focusing on
country music
Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...
artists, hosted by him and distributed by Envision Networks.
A well-respected figure in the broadcasting industry, Michaels has delivered keynote addresses at numerous conferences such as the Dan O'Day Creative Summit, The Conclave, the
NAB Show
NAB Show is an annual trade show produced by the National Association of Broadcasters. It takes place in April, and has been held since 1991 at the Las Vegas Convention Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The show's tagline is "Where Content Comes t ...
, and RadioDays Scandinavia.
Michaels is the author of the book ''The Manifesto For The Over Communicated World''.
Death
On May 26, 2018, at the age of 67, Michaels died of a
heart attack
A myocardial infarction (MI), commonly known as a heart attack, occurs when blood flow decreases or stops to the coronary artery of the heart, causing damage to the heart muscle. The most common symptom is chest pain or discomfort which ma ...
at his home in Miami.
According to the official Facebook page of ''The Deep End with Nick Michaels'', the syndicated radio show will continue to air after Michaels' death until some affiliated stations go off the air.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Michaels, Nick
1950 births
2018 deaths
Canadian male voice actors
Place of birth missing
Canadian radio personalities
American advertising people