Michael "Olga" Algar (born 21 September 1959 in Marsden,

South Shields South Shields () is a coastal town in South Tyneside, Tyne and Wear, England; it is on the south bank of the mouth of the River Tyne. The town was once known in Roman Britain, Roman times as ''Arbeia'' and as ''Caer Urfa'' by the Early Middle Ag ...

, England) is an English guitarist, singer and songwriter who fronts the band

Toy Dolls The Toy Dolls are an English punk rock band formed in 1979. They are best known for their sole UK hit, a punk-rock cover of " Nellie the Elephant". The Toy Dolls' songs expressed a sense of fun, such as "Yul Brynner Was a Skinhead", "My Girlfr ...

and now plays with the Cockney Rejects. Mainly a lead/rhythm guitarist, Olga is also a songwriter and record producer. Algar lived in the

City of Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most populous settlement in the Wearsid ...

during most of his life before moving to Tokyo, Japan, in 2000. He then moved to central

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

in 2002 where he has lived since.

Musical career

Michael “Olga” Algar, began playing music "around the age of 11 after seeing

Mud Mud (, or Middle Dutch) is loam, silt or clay mixed with water. Mud is usually formed after rainfall or near water sources. Ancient mud deposits hardened over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone (generally cal ...

Sweet Sweetness is a basic taste most commonly perceived when eating foods rich in sugars. Sweet tastes are generally regarded as pleasurable. In addition to sugars like sucrose, many other chemical compounds are sweet, including aldehydes, ketones, ...

Slade Slade are a rock band formed in Wolverhampton, England in 1966. They rose to prominence during the glam rock era in the early 1970s, achieving 17 consecutive top 20 hits and six number ones on the UK Singles Chart. The '' British Hit Singl ...

and

Suzi Quatro Susan Kay Quatro (born June 3, 1950) is an American singer, bass guitarist, songwriter, and actress. In the 1970s, she scored a string of singles that found success in Europe and Australia, with both "Can the Can" (1973) and "Devil Gate Drive" ...

on ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British record chart television programme, made by the BBC and broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show. For most of its histo ...

'', a UK pop TV show". He had started songwriting/composing by the age of 17. He played in various local bands including Straw Dogs and The Showbiz Kids before forming Toy Dolls in October 1979. Over their 40-year existence Toy Dolls have toured the world extensively and released numerous albums and singles. Olga has written all the band's albums which include such titles as '' Absurd-Ditties'', '' Fat Bob's Feet'', '' Idle Gossip'' and ''

Anniversary Anthems ''Anniversary Anthems'' is a studio album by the English punk rock band Toy Dolls, recorded in 2000. Album info and review Track listing All compositions by Michael Algar except where noted. # "The Anniversary Waltz" (Dubin, Franklin) – 1: ...

''. Following the debut album '' Dig That Groove Baby'', the band had a top 10 single in the UK in 1984, "

Nellie the Elephant "Nellie the Elephant" is a children's song written in 1956 by Ralph Butler and Peter Hart about a fictional anthropomorphic elephant of that name. Original version The original version, released on Parlophone R 4219 in October 1956, was record ...

", reaching number 4 in the UK Singles Chart.Page536, British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.) Roberts, David (2006). London: Guinness World Records Limited. This was followed by the album '' A Far Out Disc'' reaching number 71 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

Production

Olga has produced most of Toy Dolls' albums and also recordings for other artists too, including the double A side single "Take A Walk/Round, Round, Round" by Gem Archer of Beady Eye and Oasis and the albums ''Toy Doll'' and ''Tori Ningen'' by Japanese punk band

Lolita No.18 Lolita No.18 (ロリータ18号) is a Japanese all-girl punk rock band formed in 1989, known for their cartoony, high-pitched vocals. Members *Masayo Ishizaka (石坂マサヨ) - vocals (1989-) Former members *Kim*Rin (キム☆リン) - origin ...

. In 2010 he was executive engineer on the album ''Crash & Burn'' by North East UK punk band Crashed Out. The latest production from Olga is ''Episode XIII'' by Toy Dolls, released in 2019.

TV and film soundtracks

Olga has written the music for various TV commercials, including Ready Brek (UK), Badoit mineral water (France) and Crazy Grape Pepsi Cola (Russia). His music has been used on the soundtracks of Hollywood films, including '' Haggard: The Movie'', ''

Free Jimmy ''Free Jimmy'' ( No: ''Slipp Jimmy fri'') is a 2006 adult animated black comedy film first released in Norwegian in 2006, and later in English in 2008. The film was written and directed by acclaimed Norwegian subculture comic book artist Christo ...

'' and the video game ''

Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4 ''Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4'' is a 2002 skateboarding game developed by Neversoft and published by Activision under their Activision O2 label. The game was ported by different developers to various systems. It is the fourth installment in the ' ...

'' and most recently the documentary ''Tony Hawk: Until the Wheels Fall Off''. Olga wrote the theme and incidental music for the TV rock/pop show '' Razzmatazz'' and the theme music for comedian

Dave Gorman David James Gorman (born 2 March 1971) is an English comedian, presenter, and writer. Gorman began his career writing for comedy series such as '' The Mrs Merton Show'' (1993–1998) and ''The Fast Show'' (1994–1997), and later garnered a ...

's ''Googlewhack Adventure'' DVD.

Guitar playing

Prior to playing guitar, Olga first learned bass guitar and also plays

kazoo The kazoo is a musical instrument that adds a ''buzzing'' timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (itself a membranophone), one of a class of instruments that modify the player's v ...

. Olga plays a yellow

Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...

with a

Seymour Duncan Seymour Duncan is an American company best known for manufacturing guitar and Bass (guitar), bass Pickup (music technology), pickups. They also manufacture effects pedals which are designed and assembled in United States. Guitarist and luthier ...

bridge pick up. The

All Music Guide AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the data ...

describes Olga as being "capable of jaw-droppingly fast guitar picking", and he is notable for being one of few punk guitarists to frequently take guitar solos. Besides playing guitar with Toy Dolls, Olga has toured Europe, Japan and the USA as bass player with

The Dickies The Dickies are an American punk rock band formed in the San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, in 1977. One of the longest tenured punk rock bands, they have been in continuous existence for over 40 years. They have consistently balanced catchy mel ...

, and features on their Live DVD ''An Evening with the Dickies'' recorded at The Wedgwood Rooms in Portsmouth UK July 2002. He also played bass on various US shows with

The Adicts The Adicts are a British punk rock band from Ipswich, Suffolk, England. A popular English punk rock band of the 1980s, they were often in the indie charts during that decade. The Adicts originated as The Afterbirth in late 1975 but never had ...

. He made a guest appearance at the birthday show of

Ginger Ginger (''Zingiber officinale'') is a flowering plant whose rhizome, ginger root or ginger, is widely used as a spice and a folk medicine. It is an herbaceous perennial that grows annual pseudostems (false stems made of the rolled bases of l ...

from the Wildhearts at the Garage, London 17 December 2009. He has been a guest guitarist on a number of artists recordings including the tracks "Can't Drink You Pretty" from the ''

Yoni ''Yoni'' (Sanskrit: योनि, ), sometimes called ''pindika'', is an abstract or aniconic representation of the Hindu goddess Shakti. It is usually shown with ''linga'' – its masculine counterpart. Together, they symbolize the merging ...

'' by

from Wildhearts, "Aint Just Talkin bout Love" from The ''G7'' album by German band Gigantor, "Keepin on Keepin on" from the album ''Uppers and Downers'' by The Yo-Yos, Japanese band Seventh Tarz Armstrong's album entitled ''The Tokyo City Big Nights'', the track "Walk of Shame" from the album ''Poets on Payday'' by Norfolk Punk band Vanilla Pod, Japan based punk band Duncans Divas' album ''Up and at 'em'', and on

Peter and the Test Tube Babies Peter and the Test Tube Babies are an English punk rock band, formed in Peacehaven, Sussex in 1978, by Derek "Strangefish" Greening and Peter Bywaters. Due to their humorous tongue-in-cheek lyrics, they have been considered part of the Punk p ...

album ''A Foot Full of Bullets'' on lead vocals on the song "Smiling Through The Tears". Olga also appeared on lead vocals alongside

Brian Johnson Brian Johnson (born 5 October 1947) is an English singer and songwriter. In 1980 at the age of 32, after the death of Bon Scott, he became the third lead singer of the Australian rock band AC/DC. Johnson was one of the founding members of th ...

from (AC/DC) and John Miles, on the Geordie Aid single "Try Giving Everything" in 1985, for charity relating to Ethiopia. Another charity record that Olga appeared on was the album ''

Guitarists 4 the Kids ''Artists for Charity - Guitarists 4 the Kids'' is a compilation album which was produced and arranged by Slang Productions in 2006. Over 18 international artists contributed to the recording project to assist World Vision The world is the ...

'' released in 2006. In 2024 Olga was invited by Jeff 'Stinky' Turner to join the

Cockney Rejects Cockney Rejects are an English punk rock band that formed in the East End of London in 1978. Their 1980 song "Oi, Oi, Oi" was the inspiration for the name of the Oi! music genre. The band members are supporters of West Ham United, and pay tr ...

Musical influences

Olga finds inspiration from "everyday life, girlfriends, next door neighbours and things, rather than music", for his songwriting. His early musical influences include " Dr. Feelgood,

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist and songwriter who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and de ...

, SLF,

Sham 69 Sham 69 are an English punk rock band that formed in Hersham in Surrey in 1975. They changed their musical direction after seeing the Sex Pistols play live in early 1976. They were one of the most successful punk bands in the United Kingdom, ac ...

The Jam The Jam were an English rock band formed in 1972 in Woking, Surrey, consisting of Paul Weller, Bruce Foxton and Rick Buckler. They released 18 consecutive top 40 singles in the United Kingdom, from their debut in 1977 to their break-up in ...

The Skids Skids are a Scottish punk rock and New wave music, new wave band, formed in Dunfermline in 1977 by Stuart Adamson (guitar, keyboards, percussion and backing vocals), William Simpson (bass guitar and backing vocals), Tom Kellichan, Thomas Kelli ...

", among punk rock music in general.

References and notes

External links

Olga's Official Myspace
{{DEFAULTSORT:Algar, Michael 1959 births Living people English punk rock guitarists English male songwriters English record producers English punk rock singers Musicians from South Shields