Michael Sweet

For other people named Michael Sweet, see Michael Sweet (disambiguation).

Michael Sweet

Michael Sweet (born 4 July 1963) is a singer from Whittier, California, United States. Sweet is best known as co-founder, writer and frontman of the Christian Rock band Stryper. He is also one of the two lead vocalists for Boston, the other being Tommy DeCarlo.

Biography

Youth

He began his musical career at age five playing guitar, and at age 12 he began to sing. Sweet also learned to play the drums, piano and bass guitar. His interest in Christianity began when he attended church during his childhood.

Stryper

Main article: Stryper

In the early 1980s, Sweet and his brother started a band called Roxx Regime and played in small venues. This band would later become Stryper. The band challenged the stereotype of heavy metal being satanic and took Christian rock into mainstream.

With the band, Sweet recorded five successful studio albums that reached gold and platinum status and won him many awards and worldwide fame. However, in the early 1990s, popular rock music was facing shifts in styles and the band's reputation declined.

Solo

After 8 years as front man of Stryper, Sweet left the band in 1992 in order to pursue a solo career. He first released a demo album titled Unstryped, which featured several songs allegedly intended for the band. Sweet later included some of these on his first full-length album.

His self-titled debut album was released in 1994 and sold over 250,000 copies. He followed it with a slightly softer album titled Real in 1996 earning him a Dove Award nomination. However, he left the Benson label with which he had released those two albums.

During this time, Sweet and his wife moved to Massachusetts, where Sweet worked as a park ranger in his father-in-law's campground, Maple Park. In 1998, he released an independent demo album titled Truth which received critical acclaim. He was signed to Restless Records and re-released the album in 2000 with a new song-list and new artwork (see Truth). Reviews have stated that Truth is Sweet's best work to date!

On August 19, 2007, Sweet acted as Boston's lead singer in Come Together: A tribute to Brad Delp at the Bank of America Pavilion in Boston, MA. He joined Boston during the band's summer 2008 tour with Styx as the opening act.

Boston

Michael Sweet performed lead vocals, background vocals, and guitar work for Boston. His first official show with the band was June 6, 2008 in Thunder Bay, Ontario. Sweet handled lead vocals on roughly half of the set list, including Boston staples "More Than a Feeling," "Amanda," "Peace of Mind" and "Longtime." "Peace of Mind" was re-recorded by Stryper and released via the iTunes Store on June 23, 2008. Reviews of his performance have been positive. It is unknown whether he will record new material with the band as Brad Delp's replacement.

Stryper reunited

In 1999, Sweet reunited with former Stryper bandmates Oz Fox and Tim Gaines during a concert in Puerto Rico. The concert featured Fox and Gaines's band, Sindizzy. Sweet was invited as a solo artist. The three of them got together for a set of four songs. The next year, the first Stryper Expo was held in New Jersey and the entire line-up was reunited again.

Although original bassist Tim Gaines left the group in 2005 and was replaced by Tracy Ferrie, the band has continued to work together, releasing a new album titled Reborn. However, Michael has continued with his solo career as well. In August 2006, he released a solo album titled Him which features traditional hymns re-written and arranged by Sweet.

Stryper released the album Murder by Pride in July 2009.

The death of Michael's wife, Kyle, was announced on March 5, 2009, after her two-year battle with ovarian cancer. During this time Michael released an album called Touched in honor of Kyle. It is exclusively available on his website.

In September 2009, Stryper embarked on its 25th anniversary world tour, "Rocking the Hell Out of You for 25 years" with the original members. The tour included two opening bands: a Canadian group, Manic Drive and Flight Patterns, which includes Michael Sweet, Jr., the son of Stryper front man, Michael Sweet.

In October 2009, Michael Sweet announced on his Web site that he is engaged to a woman whose name is Lisa. The band announced on Facebook that they were married on January 8, 2010.

Stryper recently completed a new record entitled The Covering, produced by Michael, and which was originally planned to be released in the fall of 2010 but delayed until February 2011.

Solo discography

• Unstryped (EP 1992)
• Michael Sweet (July 26, 1994)
• Real (October, 1995)
• Truth (demo 1998)
• Truth (official release 2000)
• Him (2006)
• Touched (2007)

Guest appearances

• Mu5tard - Electra Glide
• Longday - An Explanation for My Behavior
• Mars Hill - 'Sink or Swim (2003)
• Michael W. Smith - i 2 (EYE)
• Guardian
• DC Talk
• Mass - Reach for the Sky
• Liberty N' Justice Welcome to the Revolution
• Liberty N' Justice 4-All: The Best of LNJ
• Sonia V. - Oh Sweet Tragedy: Anthems from the Ashes, guitar & duet
• Christa Alberts - "My Song" (2011)

Projects produced

• Mass - Voices in the Night (1989)
• Mars Hill - Sink or Swim (2003)
• Longday - An Explanation for My Behavior
• Mu5tard - Electra Glide
• Savannah - Forever's Come and Gone

See also

• Stryper

References

• Ferraiuolo, Perucci (1994). "The Return of Michael Sweet". CCM Magazine. 16 (12): 30–33. ISSN 1524-7848. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
• Christensen, Brett (1997). "STRYPER: Can't Stop The Rock?". HM Magazine (64). ISSN 1066-6923. Retrieved 2007-04-30. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)

External links

• Stryper Official Site
• Michael Sweet Official Site
• http://www.stryperforum.com
• http://www.twitter.com/michaelhsweet
• http://www.myspace.com/michaelsweetrocks
• Synconation Speaks with Michael Sweet