Michael Champion
- Not to be confused with the English Michael Campbell (musician) of The Courteeners, or with the American Mike Campbell (musician) of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.
- For other people by that name, see Michael Campbell (disambiguation).
Michael Campbell (born in Anderson, Indiana) started his public career as a singer, songwriter and musician in Detroit. In 1967 with a short-lived band called 'The Abstract Reality', a 45 rpm single Love Burns Like A Fire Inside was released.[1][2] With Bob 'Babbitt' Kreinar, Ray Monette and Andrew Smith he formed Scorpion (1968–1970 band). His name appears as Mike Campbell on Scorpion (1969 album) and Meat Loaf's debut album Stoney & Meatloaf (1971). For this recording, apart from having cowritten four songs, he played the harmonica on Lady Be Mine.[3][4]
He became an actor by the name Michael Champion and since 1979 played in several TV series and movies such as Diagnosis Murder (1993), Matlock (1989), and The Flash (1991), History of the World: Part I (1981), Beverly Hills Cop (1984), Total Recall (1990) and Toy Soldiers (1991), and video game characters like the terrorist in Flash Traffic: City of Angels (1994) and 'Wolf' in Maximum Surge (1996).[5]
Musician and record coproducer Ralph Terrana has been quoted: "He [Campbell] was a very talented writer. He also could be a little unusual. We called him Crazy Mike."[4]
References
- ^ "Sport Records 104-A (1967 Detroit MI) label & song – side A: 'Love Burns Like A Fire Inside' (A. Williams, R. Monette, M. Campbell), The Abstract Reality". YouTube. Retrieved 12 July 2011. (Note: side B: ib. instrumental version)
- ^ "The Soul Discography (Volume 1 A–F)" (PDF). Eyeball Productions, West Vancouver, BC Canada. p. 2. Archived from the original (pdf) on 19 November 2011. Retrieved 12 July 2011.
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|deadurl=ignored (|url-status=suggested) (help) - ^ "Scorpion (album, band)". BadCat Records, Reston, VA, U.S. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
- ^ a b Stoney and Meatloaf The Almost Complete Meat Loaf & Jim Steinman Lyric Archive (Retrieved 2 July 2011)
- ^ For the alias of Michael Campbell: Michael Champion The Internet Movie Database (Retrieved 2 July 2011)
Michael Champion Filmography Fandango (Retrieved 2 July 2011)
Note: This Fandango source also shows Michael Champion (corresponding to the above IMDb source) as composer of the music score for the documentary The Union: The Business Behind Getting High (2007), which score may have been by another Michael Champion: IMDb Michael Champion II.