Michelle DaRosa (née Nolan) is an American musician, formerly of the band

Straylight Run Straylight Run is an indie rock band based in Baldwin, Nassau County, New York. The band released two albums, ''Straylight Run (album), Straylight Run'' and ''The Needles the Space'', as well as three EPs, ''Prepare to Be Wrong'', ''About Time' ...

, for whom she was a vocalist, guitarist, and pianist.

Biography

Michelle DaRosa was born Michelle Nolan on September 13, 1980, in

Rockville Centre Rockville Centre, commonly abbreviated as RVC, is an incorporated village located in the Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York, United States. The population was 26,016 at the time of the 2020 cen ...

, Nassau County, New York to Tom and Linda Nolan. Like her brother and former bandmate, John Nolan, she grew up in

Baldwin Baldwin may refer to: People * Baldwin (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname Places Canada * Baldwin, York Regional Municipality, Ontario * Baldwin, Ontario, in Sudbury District * Baldwin's Mills, ...

, Nassau County, New York. She attended South Shore Christian School in

Levittown, New York Levittown is a Hamlet (New York), hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in the Hempstead (town), New York, Town of Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on Long Island, in New York (state), New York. It is a suburb of New York C ...

for her freshman and second years of high school. She then attended Baldwin High School in Baldwin, New York for her junior and senior years. During her junior and senior years of high school, Michelle also attended Nassau Tech in

Westbury, New York Westbury is a Village (New York), village in the town of North Hempstead, New York, North Hempstead in Nassau County, New York, Nassau County, on the North Shore (Long Island), North Shore of Long Island, in New York (state), New York, United Stat ...

to study

cosmetology Cosmetology (from Greek , ''kosmētikos'', "beautifying"; and , ''-logia'') is the study and application of beauty treatment. Branches of specialty include hairstyling, skin care, cosmetics, manicures/ pedicures, non-permanent hair removal suc ...

. She provided background vocals for two of the songs off of

Taking Back Sunday Taking Back Sunday is an American rock band from Amityville, New York, formed by guitarist Eddie Reyes and bassist Jesse Lacey in late 1999. The band's current members are Adam Lazzara (lead vocals), John Nolan (lead guitar, keyboards, voc ...

's debut album, ''

Tell All Your Friends ''Tell All Your Friends'' is the debut studio album by American Rock music, rock band Taking Back Sunday, released on March 26, 2002, through Victory Records. Forming in 1999, the group underwent several lineup changes before settling on vocali ...

'' ("Bike Scene" and "Ghost Man on Third"). Also, Michelle was formerly a nanny, hairdresser, and a ballet dancer. She married fellow musician

Jeff DaRosa Jeffrey DaRosa (born July 31, 1982) is an American musician who is a multi-instrumentalist and a member of the Boston-based Dropkick Murphys. Early life and career Growing up in Watertown, Massachusetts (a suburb of Boston) and Somerville, Ma ...

(of the

Dropkick Murphys Dropkick Murphys are an American Celtic punk band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. The current lineup consists of co-lead vocalist and bassist Ken Casey, drummer Matt Kelly, co-lead vocalist Al Barr (on hiatus from the band since 202 ...

) on October 6, 2006, and has since taken his last name. They live together in Boston. She has been confused with another Michelle Nolan, a queer Seattle musician who has played bass for the bands Telepathic Liberation Army, Chromatics and

Shoplifting Shoplifting (also known as shop theft, shop fraud, retail theft, or retail fraud) is the theft of goods from a retail establishment during business hours. The terms ''shoplifting'' and ''shoplifter'' are not usually defined in law, and genera ...

. In January 2006, Michelle made an appearance on MTV's ''Total Request Live'', singing back-up vocals for

Coheed and Cambria Coheed and Cambria is an American progressive rock band from Nyack, New York, formed in 1995. It consists of Claudio Sanchez (vocals, guitars, keyboards), Travis Stever (guitars, vocals), Josh Eppard (drums, keyboards, backing vocals), and Za ...

's song "The Suffering". Michelle also contributed vocals on the song "Lightning Strikes Twice in New York" by the band Men, Women and Children. On June 3, 2008, Michelle left Straylight Run on friendly terms to pursue a solo career. Her new band, Destry, featured Shaun Cooper, bassist of

, and Sam Means, guitarist of

The Format The Format was an American indie rock band, formed by vocalist Nate Ruess and multi-instrumentalist Sam Means (musician), Sam Means. Their style can be considered a mixture of indie, alternative, punk and folk music, with elements of 1960s and 1 ...

. Shaun Cooper and Sam Means have since left Destry. Tyler Odom (ex-Northstar) has taken the place of Means, and Jeff DaRosa (Dropkick Murphys) can be seen on bass in place of Shaun Cooper.

Discography

* ''

'' (2002 as Michelle Nolan) *''Demo'' – (2003 as

) * ''

'' (2004 as

) * '' Prepare To Be Wrong EP'' (2005 as

) * '' The Needles the Space'' (2007 as

) – Credited as ''Michelle DaRosa''. * ''TNTS Digital - EP'' (2007 as

) exclusively on the iTunes Store * '' It Goes On'' (2009 as Destry)

References

External links

Official Straylight Run Website

Straylight Run's profile
at

PureVolume PureVolume (formerly Unborn Media) was a website for uploading and streaming of music files, the first independently run of its type. PureVolume was created by Unborn Media, Inc; Mitchell Pavao; Brett Woitunski; and Nate Hudson, all from the Univer ...

Straylight Run's profile
on MySpace
Destry's profile
at MySpace
Info on New Michelle DeRosa Band
{{DEFAULTSORT:Darosa, Michelle 1980 births Living people American rock guitarists American rock pianists American women pianists American women rock singers Songwriters from New York (state) Singers from New York (state) People from Rockville Centre, New York People from Baldwin, Nassau County, New York People from Westbury, New York People from Levittown, New York Guitarists from New York (state) 21st-century American women singers 21st-century American pianists 21st-century American women guitarists 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American singers