Born in Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, also the birthplace of Rachel and André Paiement and Marc (Ti Coq) Delorme, Michael befriended André in the early 1960's, when both discovered their love for new groups like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.

Michael and André both attended le Collège Sacré Coeur in Sudbury, where they met a number of future collaborators ... and their adherence to the Franco-Ontarian culture was cemented. The year before Michael graduated from the Ontario College of Art, André invited him to become a founding member of La Cooperative des Artistes du Nouvel-Ontario (CANO). The cooperative nurtured writers, actors, musicians and visual artists, and spun off a number of well-established Franco-Ontarian institutions such as Le Théâtre du Nouvel-Ontario, Les Editions Prise de Parole and CANO, the music group.

As was the case with everyone in the group, Michael did double duty, art directing the group’s album covers and promotional material, and acting as the band’s sound technician. As the group became more popular, touring with bigger sound and lighting systems, he graduated to the role of tour manager.

By the time CANO disbanded in 1985, Michael had moved to Toronto with his wife Colette Naubert and their then one-year old daughter Natalie. After three years at the Ontario Arts Council developing touring circuits for francophone performers, Michael joined the Ontario government’s Culture Ministry as a communications planner.

Michael is still with the Ontario government, currently as a communications manager with the Ministry of Health. He and Colette have two children, Natalie and Patrick, and one grandchild, Nicholas, born this past summer to Natalie and her husband André Létourneau.