Bret Michaels

Michaels was born Bret Michael Sychak on March 15, 1963, to Wally and Marjorie Sychak, north of Pittsburgh in the town of Chicora, Pennsylvania, and grew up in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. He claims that his parents had originally intended for him to have the middle name "Maverick", after the title character in the popular James Garner TV Western series Maverick. He is of Carpatho-Rusyn (from his paternal grandfather), Irish, English, German, and Swiss descent. Bret's great-uncle Nick Sychak fought at Omaha Beach in the Invasion of Normandy and was killed in action in France in 1944. At the age of 6, Michaels fell ill, and during a three-week stay in the hospital, he was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. ==Music career==

Michaels began playing the guitar as a teenager, forming a band with drummer Rikki Rockett, bass player Bobby Dall and guitarist David Besselman. Shortly thereafter, Besselman left the band due to creative differences and in 1983 the band hired Matt Smith to form a new band named Paris in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania. In early 1984 the band tired of playing the Pennsylvania bar circuit, changed their name to Poison The album also featured a music video for "Menace to Society" and a 9/11 tribute "One More Day". Michaels served as a judge on the 2005 season of the reality television singing competition Nashville Star and released a country rock album in the same year called Freedom of Sound. The album features the singles "Right Now, Right Here", "Open Road" which Michaels performed live on the show and the hit single "All I Ever Needed" (featuring Jessica Andrews) which appeared on Billboard's "Hot Country Songs" chart, with its best position being number 45. The song also featured a music video which appeared on Billboard's "Hot Videoclip Tracks" chart in 2008. Michaels released a best of album called Rock My World in June 2008 which featured music from his reality television series Rock of Love including the new singles "Go That Far" (Rock of Love theme), "Fallen" and "Start Again", the first two singles also featuring music videos with clips from the series. The album charted at No. 40 on the Billboard 200, No. 4 on the Top Independent Albums, No. 4 on the Top Hard Rock Albums and No. 16 on the Top Rock Albums chart. In December 2008, Michaels released a single version of "Driven" (rock mix) which also featured a music video with preview clips for the third season of Rock of Love, titled Rock of Love Bus. Michaels also re released the "Fallen" single with acoustic, piano and demo versions included. Michaels released a 30-minute DVD from Time Life in 2008 called Hard & Heavy Confidential featuring Bret Michaels which included acoustic versions of "All I Ever Needed", "Driven", "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" and "Something to Believe In", it also included in depth interviews. The DVD was included in the Hard & Heavy CD/DVD collection from (Time Life) advertised on TV by Bret Michaels. The same four acoustic performances were also released on CD titled "Bret Michaels Acoustic Sessions". 2010–2014 In 2010, Michaels released a new single called "Nothing to Lose" from his upcoming new studio album, Custom Built. The song featured the guest vocals of Miley Cyrus and was the most added song to radio the week of its release, topping both Bon Jovi and Nickelback. In April 2010, he released the second single "Lie to Me" and in May 2010 released the third single, "Wasted Time". Michaels performed on the American Idol season 9 finale on May 26 against his doctor's recommendation. Michaels also performed a duet of "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" with Miley Cyrus on the June 18, 2010 episode Good Morning America. On July 6, 2010, Michaels released his new album Custom Built. The album became Michaels' highest charting solo album to date peaking at No. 1 on both the Top Independent Albums and Top Hard Rock Albums chart and also charting at No. 4 on the Top Rock Albums and No. 14 on the Billboard 200. On August 4, 2010, Michaels appeared in the fifth season of ''America's Got Talent'' and performed "Every Rose Has Its Thorn", accompanying himself on acoustic folk guitar. Despite not being released as a single, a music video was produced for "Riding Against the Wind" a song from Michaels' latest album "Custom Built" that also doubles as the theme song for his new VH1 reality show Bret Michaels: Life As I Know It. The music video was released on October 7, 2010, exclusively at Billboard's and contains footage from the series, which officially premieres on VH1 on October 18, 2010. Michaels also released a music video for the cover of Sublime's song "What I Got", which is the fourth single from "Custom Built". The music video is a special tribute to his fans and was released on Thanksgiving. In early 2011 Michaels recorded a new song "Hit and Roll" for Top Gear (U.S. TV series) which also included a music video featured on the series and the promo commercials. On December 31, 2011, Michaels celebrated the new year with a New Year’s Eve concert from the "Get Your Rock On" solo tour. The concert took place in Springfield, IL at the Prairie Capital Convention Center. To make the night complete, this New Year's Eve bash will be featured and well documented in the music video for the new single "Get Your Rock On" from Bret's upcoming new album. The single "Get Your Rock On (featuring Phil Collen & Sal Costa)" was released January 9, 2012. In conjunction with his new single Michaels also released an alternate version titled "Get Your Ride On (featuring Phil Collen)" on January 10, 2012. The song will also serve as Monster Energy AMA Supercross Opener all season on Speed with an exclusive video that premiered on SPEED TV January 7, 2012. The video will be customized for each race throughout the season. Michaels toured with Def Leppard and Lita Ford in 2012. It was announced in October 2012 that Michaels would be hosting and starring in his own new reality show Rock My RV with Bret Michaels on the Travel Channel. The network initially only ordered eight episodes as a miniseries, however an early 2013 the Travel Channel revealed that they had ordered an additional 8 episodes, totaling 16 episodes for one season. The series premiered on May 26, 2013 aired and the series final aired on September 1, 2013. In January 2013, Michaels released a new single "You Know You Want It (Featuring Peter Keys)" from his upcoming new album titled "Jammin' With Friends". The new album features collaborations with some of the top artists and players in music from a variety of genres and generations. The album was released June 25, 2013 and charted at No. 13 on the Top Hard Rock Albums chart, #23 on the Top Independent Albums chart, #29 on the Top Rock Albums chart and #80 on The Billboard 200. On April 1, 2014, Michaels released his new solo single, "A Beautiful Soul", with a music video being released on April 2. Michaels announced that he will perform the track live on the April 2 edition of "Oprah's Lifeclass" which will be taped live on Oprah's website. Also in 2014, Michaels starred in a TV commercial for Nissan vans in which he sang "Endless Love", backed by Kiki Wong on lead guitar. 2015–present On April 7, 2015, Michaels released a new song titled "Girls on Bars", making it the second year in a row he released a new song during the month of April. The song was co-written with Luke Laird. "Girls on Bars” boasted the highest number of views of any debut single ever on CMT. The album in physical was exclusively released in own distribution. In May 2017, Michaels released a single and music video titled "Jorja Bleu" which is a tribute to his youngest daughter in honor of her 12th birthday. The song is a sequel to his 2003 single "Raine" which is titled after his oldest daughter. In 2019, Michaels released a music video for his single "Unbroken", which was co written with his 13-year-old daughter, Jorja Bleu. The song is about mental and physical strength over adversity. In May 2020, he released his autobiography named Bret Michaels: Auto-Scrap-ography Volume 1: My Life in Pictures & Stories, announced as the first in a series of trilogies. As said by Michaels, its release was planned under a different name since 2010, but kept being pushed back to include more content. More recently, he had signed a deal with the United Talent Agency. In December 2022, Michaels announced the 2023 Parti-Gras Tour which performed between July 13 and August 6, 2023. Along with Michaels, the tour included Jefferson Starship and Night Ranger with appearances by Steve Augeri of Journey and Mark McGrath of Sugar Ray. Parti-Gras 2.0 kicked off in 2024 with special guests including solo artists Dee Snider, Lou Gramm and Don Felder and bands Slaughter (band) and Warrant. Parti-Gras returned again in 2025 with Vince Neil and Stephen Pearcy. In January 2023, Michaels released a new solo single named "Back in the Day" ==Rock of Love==

Michaels starred in the reality television dating competition series Rock of Love with Bret Michaels, the first season of which premiered in July 2007. Jes Rickleff was the winner of Season One. However, she announced during the October 2007 reunion show that she and Michaels were not right for each other and told runner-up Heather he was all hers and that he should have chosen Heather. The first season was released on DVD in early 2008. The show's second season premiered on January 13, 2008. On April 13, 2008, Michaels selected Ambre Lake as his "Rock of Love". After the show the two maintained a relationship, but parted ways after just a few months due to personal commitments, but they remain good friends. A third season, Rock of Love Bus, premiered on January 4, 2009, to ratings which represented a series high for VH1. Michaels chose Penthouse Pet Taya Parker as the winner. When asked about a fourth season of Rock of Love, Michaels said "Now they want me to come back for a fourth 'Rock of Love.' I feel that it should be something that changes up, but I still want that fun element. What you see is what you get with me." ==Television and film appearances==

Michaels and actor Charlie Sheen established a film production company, Sheen/Michaels Entertainment, which produced the movie A Letter from Death Row (1998), in which Michaels wrote, directed and starred, and for which he released a soundtrack album. They also produced No Code of Conduct that same year, which Michaels also directed and acted in. Their company also produced the feature film Free Money, starring Marlon Brando and Mira Sorvino, and the surfer movie ''In God's Hands'' in which Michaels also had a small acting role. Michaels appeared in the CBS sitcom Yes, Dear, Season 1, Episode 6, titled ''Greg's Big Day, first aired November 6, 2000. He also appeared as himself in three episodes of The Chris Isaak Show'' from 2001 to 2004. On May 1, 2008, Michaels appeared on a special celebrity edition of ''Don't Forget the Lyrics!'', on which he raised $200,000 to donate to charity. In 2009 Michaels appeared in the movie American Pie Presents: The Book of Love. In 2010, Michaels was the winning contestant on the NBC reality television series Celebrity Apprentice 3 on NBC. Michaels stars in a series named Bret Michaels: Life As I Know It, which depicts his life at home with his daughters and their mother. Filming of the series began before Michaels' health troubles, and filming was suspended after his hospitalization. Michaels hosted the Miss Universe 2010 pageant along with Natalie Morales on August 23, 2010. In October 2012 it was announced that Michaels would be hosting a new reality show titled Rock My RV with Bret Michaels on the Travel Channel. The 16 episode series premiered on May 26, 2013 and the series final aired on September 1, 2013. In 2013 Michaels made an appearance on the show Full Throttle Saloon In 2020, Michaels competed in the third season of The Masked Singer as "Banana". He ended up in seventh place on April 22, 2020. In 2023, Michaels appeared as a guest on the tenth season of Impractical Jokers. He participated in the punishment for Murr. ==In other media==

Michaels was portrayed as a guest singer in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock, which features him singing "Go That Far" from his solo career, and Poison's "Talk Dirty to Me". ==Charity work==

Michaels and his band visited troops at Al Asad Air Base on October 6, 2007, while on a tour of U.S. bases in Iraq in support of Armed Forces Entertainment. Bret Michaels has done extensive work for Operation Homefront- a charity that provides emergency financial and other assistance to the families of service members and wounded warriors. He earned $640,000 for the American Diabetes Association for competing in and ultimately winning Celebrity Apprentice 3. In June, 2014, while on a national tour date in Omaha, Nebraska, Michaels became aware of a series of tornadoes that hit the Nebraska town of Pilger. He, his band, and crew, went to Pilger to see the damage and assist with clean-up. When his tour came near the area again in August, 2014, he hosted a fundraising performance in Norfolk, Nebraska, to help tornado victims in the area. ==Personal life==

While filming the finale of his reality show, Bret Michaels: Life As I Know It, Michaels proposed to Kristi Lynn Gibson, his on-again, off-again companion of 16 years. In July 2012, he announced that he and Gibson had separated. The pair have two daughters together. Michaels has a line of pet clothing and accessories called Pets Rock, sold at PetSmart. In October 2023, he adopted a husky named Bret Michaels from the Nebraska Humane Society, after reading a story about the dog providing a blood transfusion to a sick kitten. On May 20, 2010, it was reported on his official website that Michaels had been "readmitted to the hospital the week after suffering numbness on the left side of his body". While conducting diagnostic tests it was found that Michaels has a "patent foramen ovale (PFO), a hole in the heart". Lawsuit with Tony Awards and CBS Michaels was injured during his opening performance at the 63rd Tony Awards on June 7, 2009. As he was ending his performance with Poison and exiting to the stage rear, a large portion of the descending set struck him on the head and knocked him down. The initial injury reported was a broken nose. However, the hemorrhage incident in 2010 prompted Michaels to file a lawsuit for unspecified damages against the Tony Awards and CBS claiming the incident caused the hemorrhage. On May 14, 2012, the parties announced that they had agreed to settle the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount. Michaels thanked the Barrow Neurological Institute at St. Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center in Phoenix for saving his life and career. ==Discography==

;Studio albums • Songs of Life (2003) • Freedom of Sound (2005) • Custom Built (2010) • ''Jammin' with Friends'' (2013) ==Filmography==