Michael Des Barres

With his commanding vocals, magnetic presence onstage, and an aesthetic drawn from art, glam, and hard rock, musician and actor Michael Des Barres has frequently crossed paths with rock and Hollywood luminaries. His screen introduction arrived via the 1967 landmark To Sir, With Love, after which he established himself on the global music landscape fronting Silverhead and Detective during the 1970s, co-writing Animotion’s Top Ten single “Obsession,” stepping in for Robert Palmer on the Power Station’s 1985 Live Aid appearance, and joining forces with Stray Cats and Polecats alumni in the Swing Cats at the millennium’s start. Along the way he issued solo sets such as the 1980 glam-new wave hybrid I’m Only Human and the tougher 1986 release Somebody Up There Likes Me. Recurring television parts followed on MacGyver, The New WKRP in Cincinnati, and Melrose Place. Fresh solo material surfaced in the 2010s with the hard-rocking 2015 album The Key to the Universe. By then Des Barres had accumulated dozens of screen credits, among them episodes of CSI, Gilmore Girls, and Bones plus roles in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001) and the music-industry drama California Solo (2012). He also began hosting a widely heard SiriusXM program on Little Steven’s Underground Garage. Entering the 2020s he issued singles that included an orchestral rendition of the punk staple “Anarchy in the U.K.” and the 2022 Prima Donna collaboration “Ain’t Nothing You Can Do About It.”

Born Michael Philip Des Barres in South East England on 24 January 1948, he studied acting in London and appeared in multiple stage productions while securing early television work throughout the 1960s. One such role placed him as student Williams in Sidney Poitier’s To Sir, With Love (1967). Subsequent stage work included the musical The Dirtiest Show in Town and a brief screen appearance in the Christopher Lee–Peter Cushing horror film I, Monster. Encouraged by Andrew Lloyd Webber after a performance of the musical, Des Barres assembled the cult glam outfit Silverhead, whose lineup featured Rod Davies on percussion, vocals, and guitar, Nigel Harrison on bass, Pete Thompson on keyboards and drums, and Stevie Forest on guitar and vocals. The group signed with Deep Purple’s Purple Records and delivered its self-titled debut in 1972. Robbie Blunt replaced Forest for the 1973 follow-up 16 and Savaged; when commercial breakthrough remained elusive, the band dissolved before issuing the 1975 concert document Live at Rainbow London. Harrison later joined Blondie, while Blunt contributed to several Robert Plant solo recordings in the 1980s.

After settling in Los Angeles, Des Barres formed the Led Zeppelin–influenced prog-rock unit Detective alongside former Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye and bassist Bobby Pickett. The Swan Song label released two albums, 1977’s Detective and 1978’s It Takes One to Know One, before the group disbanded. Turning back to acting, he quickly obtained guest spots on WKRP in Cincinnati and The Rockford Files while issuing his solo debut I’m Only Human (1980), a stylistic blend of glam, new wave, art rock, and ska. In 1982 he assembled Chequered Past with Nigel Harrison, Blondie drummer Clem Burke, Sex Pistols guitarist Steve Jones, and Iggy Pop bassist Tony Sales; the ensemble produced only the 1984 self-titled LP. That same year Des Barres took a lead part in the film Ghoulies and co-wrote, with Holly Knight, the worldwide hit “Obsession,” which Animotion carried to number five in the United Kingdom and Top Ten placings in the United States, Canada, and Germany. Chequered Past’s opening slot for Duran Duran led to Des Barres replacing Robert Palmer on the Power Station tour supporting the band’s 1985 debut album; among the tour’s highlights was a Live Aid performance of their Top 40 cover of T. Rex’s “Get It On (Bang a Gong).”

With the Power Station’s members dispersing by 1986, Des Barres resumed solo work with the harder-edged Somebody Up There Likes Me. Television appearances continued on St. Elsewhere and, alongside the Power Station, on Miami Vice. A recurring role as arch-nemesis Murdoc on MacGyver began in the late 1980s and extended across multiple seasons. He became a series regular on The New WKRP in Cincinnati in the early 1990s and made additional appearances on Seinfeld, L.A. Law, and Northern Exposure. Further Melrose Place episodes aired in 1996 and 1997, and in 1999 he joined the ensemble of the music-industry comedy Sugar Town with John Taylor, Martin Kemp, and John Doe. Both Silverhead studio albums received remastered reissues with bonus tracks before the decade closed.

In 2000 Des Barres contributed vocals to the Elvis Presley tribute A Special Tribute to Elvis under the Swing Cats name, featuring alumni of Stray Cats and the Polecats. Acting work persisted with David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001), The Man from Elysian Fields (2001) alongside Mick Jagger, and series such as JAG, Alias, and Bones. Solo releases resumed with 2012’s Carnaby Street, 2013’s Hot ’n’ Sticky Live, and the 2015 hard-rock outing The Key to the Universe, the latter again featuring Nigel Harrison. Additional band members included drummer Clive Deamer (Radiohead, Portishead, Robert Plant) and guitarist Dani Robinson. Steven Van Zandt recruited Des Barres as a regular DJ on Little Steven’s Underground Garage for SiriusXM, where his rock and soul segments reached millions. Cherry Red Records reissued Silverhead’s catalog in 2016 after uncovering two previously unreleased tracks.

Wicked Cool Records issued the 2018 singles “Living in the USA” and the Bob Dylan cover “Gotta Serve Somebody.” That year Des Barres reprised his MacGyver franchise connection as Nicholas Helman in the series reboot. Performing as Michael Des Barres and the Mistakes with guitarists Loren Molinare and Eric Himel, bassist Paul Ill, and drummer Matt Starr, he released the 2019 two-track single “Crackle and Hiss”/“Stop! In the Name of Love.” A solo cover of the Sex Pistols’ “Anarchy in the U.K.,” produced and arranged by Van Zandt, appeared in 2020, the same year the documentary Michael Des Barres: Who Do You Want Me to Be? premiered on streaming platforms to widespread praise. Pandemic-related tour cancellations prompted a return to the studio that yielded the 2022 two-song Prima Donna collaboration “Ain’t Nothing You Can Do About It”/“Waves.”