Gavin Mikhail (born March 26, 1975) is an American composer, pianist and singer-songwriter from

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. The winner of the 2007 "Lay It Down and Mix It Up in the UK" fan-vote contest, he has released more than 30 albums and singles independently. Mikhail also composed the piano soundtrack to

Ruta Sepetys Ruta Sepetys (; born November 19, 1967) is a Lithuanian-American writer of historical fiction. She is a ''#1 New York Times'' and international bestseller, winner of the Carnegie Medal, and has been honored by The American Academy of Arts and Le ...

' ''New York Times'' bestseller ''

Between Shades of Gray ''Between Shades of Gray'', a ''New York Times'' Best Seller, is the debut novel of Lithuanian-American novelist Ruta Sepetys. It follows the Stalinist repressions of the mid-20th century and follows the life of a teenage girl Lina as she is ...

'' which was released in 2011.

Early life and education

Mikhail was born in

West Lafayette West Lafayette ( ) is a city in Wabash Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Wabash and Tippecanoe Township, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, Tippecanoe Townships, Tippecanoe County, Indiana, United States, approximately northwest of the state capit ...

, Indiana. Coming from a family where much emphasis was placed on the arts, Mikhail began studying

classical piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

and

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

by age seven and began performing at weekly church services by age ten. He graduated from West Lafayette High School in 1991. Turning his attention to mainstream music, Mikhail spent the next four years at

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

, in West Lafayette, performing in bands as lead vocalist and keyboardist while pursuing a degree in finance. Graduating in 1995, he moved to Nashville to begin a career in the music industry.

Giant Records and independent songwriting (1997–2001)

In 1997, after a year of part-time work at various music companies, Mikhail began working at Giant Records, the label started by

Irving Azoff Irving Azoff (; born December 12, 1947) is an American businessman, who is chairman of Full Stop Management, a company that represents recording artists. During the course of his career, he has worked as an agent, personal manager, concert pr ...

. Originally hired into the finance department, Mikhail transferred to a position on the

artists and repertoire Artists and repertoire (or A&R for short) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for scouting, financing, and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists and songwriters. It also acts as a l ...

(A&R) staff within four months. Throughout the next two years in his A&R role, Mikhail assisted in the signings and promotion of acts including

Blake Shelton Blake Tollison Shelton (born June 18, 1976) is an American country music, country singer, songwriter and television personality. In 2001, he made his debut with the single "Austin (Blake Shelton song), Austin" from his Blake Shelton (album), self ...

Clay Walker Ernest Clayton Walker Jr. (born August 19, 1969) is an American country music artist. He made his debut in 1993 with the single " What's It to You", which reached Number One on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles & Tracks (now Hot Country Son ...

Daryle Singletary Daryle Bruce Singletary (March 10, 1971 – February 12, 2018) was an American country music singer. Between 1995 and 1998, he recorded for Giant Records, for which he released three studio albums, '' Daryle Singletary'' (1995), '' All Because ...

The Wilkinsons The Wilkinsons were a Canadian country music trio from Belleville, Ontario. Founded in 1997, the group consisted of lead singer Amanda Wilkinson, her brother Tyler Wilkinson, and their father, Steve Wilkinson. The Wilkinsons achieved success la ...

and

Georgia Middleman Georgia Leigh Middleman (born December 27, 1967) is an American country singer. Middleman sang from age ten at the Texas Star Inn in San Antonio, and began writing songs shortly thereafter. She sold recordings of her first song, There's a Rainbo ...

. Leaving Giant at the end of 1998 to pursue songwriting and production, he spent several years working with independent artists and began to focus more heavily on his own writing and solo artist career.

Solo career (since 2002)

Mikhail completed his first self-produced demos in early 2002, a number of which would later appear on his debut album ''My Personal Beauty Needs''. In 2003, Mikhail released the album independently and immediately began work on his follow-up album ''Like Normal People Do''. In 2007, Mikhail signed a licensing deal with Trolley Bus Records to distribute ''Like Normal People Do'' to

HMV HMV is an international music and entertainment retailer, founded in 1921. The brand is owned by Hilco Capital and operated by Sunrise Records, except in Japan, where it is owned and operated by Lawson. The inaugural shop was opened on Lo ...

and

Tower Records Tower Records is an international retail franchising, franchise and online music store that was formerly based in Sacramento, California, United States. From 1960 until 2006, Tower operated retail stores in the United States, which closed when ...

stores in Japan. Winning the "Lay It Down and Mix It Up in the UK" fan-vote contest sponsored by

Eventful Eventful is an online calendar and events discovery service owned by Audacy, Inc. The service allows users to search for and track upcoming entertainment events in their area (such as concerts, festivals, and film presentations) involving specifi ...

Tunecore TuneCore is a New York City–based digital music distribution, publishing and licensing service founded in 2006. It was acquired by Believe Music in April 2015. TuneCore distributes music through online retailers such as Deezer, Spotify, Amazon ...

, and

Solid State Logic Solid State Logic Ltd. (SSL) is a British company based in Begbroke, Oxfordshire, England that designs and markets audio mixing consoles, Audio signal processing, signal processors, and other audio technologies for the post-production, video p ...

in October of that year, he traveled to

Peter Gabriel Peter Brian Gabriel (born 13 February 1950) is an English singer, songwriter, musician, and human rights activist. He came to prominence as the original frontman of the rock band Genesis. He left the band in 1975 and launched a solo career wit ...

Real World Studios Real World Studios is a residential recording studio complex founded by Peter Gabriel and situated in the old Box Mill building in the village of Box, Wiltshire, England, near to the city of Bath. It is closely associated with the Real World R ...

in England to record. In early 2008, Mikhail was featured as an "internet sensation" by ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' magazine in its "Underground" video series and later that year was invited to perform alongside

Matt Wertz Matthew Stewart Wertz (born February 17, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter. Originally from Liberty, Missouri, as of 2014 he lives in Nashville, Tennessee. Life and career Born and raised a Christian in Liberty, Missouri, Wertz's interest ...

Matthew Perryman Jones Matthew Perryman Jones (born December 25, 1973) is an American singer and songwriter. Career Jones began his music career in 1997, playing his first public performances at Eddie's Attic in Decatur, Georgia. In 2000, Jones issued his first solo ...

, and Jeremy Lister for the

Nashville Songwriters Association International The Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) is a 501(c) Non-profit organization, not-for-profit trade organization that works to help songwriters in three ways: through legislative advocacy, through education and advice about the ...

Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival The Tin Pan South Songwriters Festival is an annual festival of songwriters in Nashville, Tennessee. It was established by the 4,000-member Nashville Songwriters Association International (NSAI) in 1993. The festival is typically a five-day sessi ...

in Nashville. ''The Real World Sessions: Volume I'', Mikhail's first album from the trip to Real World Studios, was released in April 2009. The album includes his piano-based cover of alternative-rock band

Death Cab for Cutie Death Cab for Cutie (commonly abbreviated to DCFC or Death Cab) is an American rock music, rock band formed in Bellingham, Washington, in 1997. Death Cab for Cutie's music has been classified as indie rock, indie pop, and alternative rock. The ...

's song "I Will Follow You into the Dark". The song and associated video later went on to become a YouTube hit and was viewed over one million times. In 2011, Mikhail's friend Ruta Sepetys asked him to compose an original piano soundtrack to her ''New York Times'' bestselling novel ''Between Shades of Gray'', which Mikhail released in 2011.

Discography

* ''My Personal Beauty Needs'' (2003, Tower Window Records) * ''Like Normal People Do'' (2006, Tower Window Records) * ''The Real World Sessions: Volume I'' (2009, Tower Window Records) * ''Between Shades of Gray Soundtrack'' (2010, Tower Window Records) * ''Some Die Young'' (May 23, 2012, Tower Window Records)

References

External links