Introduction to Michael Ball

Michael Ball

Chinese name: Michael Ball

Foreign name: michaelball

Nationality: British

Birthplace: Avon River, England Stratford

Date of birth: June 27, 1962

Occupation: Actor, singer

Graduation school: Guildford School of Performing Arts

Representative works: "TheMusicals", "AloneTogether"

Main achievements: Michael released the highly anticipated first solo album "Michael Ball"

Character Experience

Michael Ashley Ball was born on June 27, 1962 near Stratford-Upon-Avon, England. After graduating from the Guildford School of Acting in 1984, Michael really began to shine in his acting career. Although Michael has never received formal vocal training before, his innate perfect singing voice and acting talent are destined to shine on the stage in the future! Right after graduation, Michael got the valuable opportunity to perform in "Godspell". A few months later, he starred in the operetta "The Pirates of Penzance" at Manchester Opera House. It was precisely because of this opportunity that Michael was discovered by ace musical producer Cameron Mackintosh. After watching Michsel Ball's performance, Mackintosh invited him to audition for the second leading role of Marius in the new musical "Les Misérables." Since then, there has been another musical wizard on the stage of London's West End.

In 1985, Michael played Marius in the London West End premiere of the musical "Les Misérables". He immediately won unanimous approval from the audience and is still regarded as the best actor to play Marius. Later, Michael successively recorded the London version and the full version of "Les Miserables". At the 10th anniversary concert of "Les Misérables" held at the Royal Albert Hall in 1995, Michael once again showed his unique stage charm to the audience as Marius.

Michael Ball's rapid popularity attracted the attention of another British musical master, Andrew Lloyd Webber. In 1987, he played the young talent Raoul in Weber's famous musical "THEPHANTOMOFTHEOPERA" (THEPHANTOMOFTHEOPERA) in London's West End.

In 1989, Michael starred in Weber's new play "ASPECTSOFLOVE", which became a major turning point in his future career. The character Alex created by Michael in the play has received rave reviews. After the single "Love Changes Everything" in the play was released, it quickly reached silver record sales. It not only topped the British song charts, but also made Michael Ball a household name in the UK.

After receiving the Most Promising Artist Award from Variety Club, Michael made his debut on Broadway in New York in 1990 as the male protagonist Alex, presenting "Perspectives of Love" to unfamiliar Broadway audiences.

After returning from New York, Michael decided to temporarily leave the musical stage in order to prepare his solo album, and instead made great progress in his solo singing career. In 1992, Michael was selected to represent the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest (Eurovision Song Contest), which attracted the attention of 600 million viewers around the world, with his new song "One Step Out of Time", and won second place. After his triumphant return, Michael released his much-anticipated first solo album "Michael Ball", which topped the UK Golden Songs Chart in its first week. Even with such a high starting point, until now, all of Michael's solo albums have at least maintained gold record sales. Immediately afterwards, Michael began his first UK tour. Tickets for the concerts sold out quickly wherever he went, and the scene was furious.

In 1993, Michael recorded the album "West Side Story" with the famous soprano Barbara Bonney, and released his second solo album "Always" in the same year. 1994 can be said to be a year of rapid development for Michael Ball's career. The third solo album "One Careful Owner" actually achieved gold record sales within three days of its release, which is amazing. After only two years, Michael's first solo album has been reissued with a new name "The Best of Michael Ball" and a new cover. As for the sales, is there any doubt? In the past two years, Michael has cooperated with ITV (UK) and had his own TV show "Michal Ball Show". In this program, Michal Ball has invited many famous figures in the world of music, such as Cliff Richard, Elaine Paige, TakeThat, Bee Gees, Cher, James Brown, etc.

In 1995, Michael made his first attempt on the big screen, starring in his first film "England, My England", playing Henry, the famous composer of the British Baroque period. Henry Pucell.

In 1996, Michael Ball finally decided to return to the musical stage after a four-year absence and played the role of Giorgio in Stephen Sondheim's musical "Passion". The joining of Michael Ball undoubtedly adds a lot to "Passion"; Michael is also indispensable for the many awards "Passion" has won. For the performance of "Passion", although Michael was busy on stage for several months, he still took time out of his busy schedule to record his solo album "The Musicals", which was widely praised by music fans.

In 1998, Michael held a number of concerts and was invited to be a special guest performer at various music celebrations. These include the "Webber's 50th Birthday Concert", the charity concert "Hey, Mr. Producer" and "Sondheim Tonight" at the Barbican Centre. At the end of the year, Michael prepared another surprise for his fans. The album "The Movies" set a new record and became Michael's first solo album to achieve platinum sales. Soon, he received the Best Recording Artist Award (Best Recording Artist) from the Variety Club of Great Britain Award.

The Theater Goer's Club of Great Britain Award also awarded him the Most Popular Musical Stage Actor Award.

From 1999 to 2000, Michael Ball released a number of personal albums and held a number of sensational tour concerts in the UK, Ireland, Kuala Lumpur, the United States, and European countries. After tens of thousands of fan votes, Michael was selected as the most popular musical actor of the past 21 years by the Theatergoer's Club. However, Michael not only wanted to be a talented singer and actor, but also wanted to prove to everyone that he was also an excellent songwriter. The songs he tried to write for himself, such as "Someone Else's Dream", "Lightcandle", "Just When" and "Never Coming Back", have long been classic nostalgic hits in the eyes of Ballfans.

2001 marked the year when Michael crossed the ocean and reached a new peak in his career. Michael finally realized his long-held dream and held a concert at Sydney's Lyric Theater. This was his first time to sing in Australia. The unprecedented performance and enthusiastic Australian fans helped Michael successfully open up the Australian market, and many of Michael's records were quickly released locally. Immediately, Michael's concert tour plan in Australia also entered the planning stage. Later, Michael was invited by Sam Mendes (director of the Oscar-winning film "American Beauty") to perform his one-act play "Alone Together" at the Divas of the Donmar celebration. With the dark stage and lonely piano, Michael performed and sang with gloomy emotions from beginning to end. Michael's move to subvert his previous sunny image immediately caused an uproar among critics. All of a sudden, praise and criticism came to him.

After experiencing the intensely controversial "Alone Together", in April 2002, as people expected, Michael returned to the West End stage in London where he had been away for 6 years; but to everyone's surprise, Michael , this time Michael actually appeared in the children's musical "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" as the cute inventor Caractacus Potts, who is full of fantastic ideas. Michael once again became the focus of the audience's attention. He dances for the first time in this hilarious musical! Although Michael has repeatedly modestly stated that his dancing skills are average, you can clearly see from the various comments and the delighted expressions of the audience that they were once again completely impressed by Michael Ball's "initiative".

In July 2003, Michael reluctantly ended his "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" tour, making final preparations for his UK tour in October and recording a new album.

In 2005, Michael challenged himself again and replaced Michael Crawford as the villain Count Fosco in Andrew Lloyd Webber's new drama "The Woman in White".

Acting experience

GODSPELL Gospel(1984)"Judas, JohnTheBaptist"/Aberystwyth, WalesTHEPIRATESOFPENZANCEThe Pirates of Ponzance(1984)"Frederic"/OperaHouse, ManchesterLESMISERABLESLes Miserables(1985) "Marius", OriginalLondonCast/TheBarbicanCentreamp;PalaceTheatre,LondonTHEPHANTOMOFTHEOPERAThe Phantom of the Opera House(1987)"Raoul"/HerMajesty'sTheatre, LondonASPECTSOFLOVEView of Love (1989)"Alex"Original LondonCast/ThePrince of WalesTheatre, LondonASPECTSOFLOVEView of Love (1990)"Alex "OriginalBroadwayCast /TheBroadhurstTheatre,NewYorkPASSIONPassion(1996)"Giorgio"OriginalLondonCast/TheQueen'sTheatre,LondonCHITTYCHITTYBANGBANGFlying Universal Car(2002)"CaractacusPotts",OriginalLondonCast/TheLondonPalladium"TheWomaninWhite"/CountFosco(2005)"Patience"/ReginaldBunthorn e(2006)"Hairspray" /Edna(2007-2008)

Personal album

MichaelBall(1992)

Always(1993)

OneCarefulOwner(1994)

TheBestofMichaelBall(1994)

FirstLove(1996)

TheMusicals(1996)

TheMovies(1998)

InConcertattheRoyalAlbertHall(1999)

Christmas(1999)

ThisTime...It'sPersonal(2000)

CenterStage(2001)