Mike Zabaroff
New Album
HALE LANE
ALBUMS RELEASED
Calico Tears Low Fidelity Invisible Gone Back There
Ride New Moon Shining New Hats For Old Heads
The Silent Thunder The Art Of Compromise
Circles 9 + 1 Hale Lane
131 original songs to listen to!
Albums available on Spotify, Tidal, iTunes, Amazon, CD Baby, Deezer & more
A brief bio...
It was 1963. The Beatles came and conquered and that is where it all began for Mike who was only 9 at the time. He drove his parents mad for a guitar and only when he did actually get one did he realise that you just can't pick it up and play! It wasn't until 8 years later on a boat from Russia back to the UK did that flame get rekindled. There were a couple of guys playing guitar and singing a bunch of songs and the urge to learn to play was back.
Mike bought a 'teach yourself guitar' book and dusted off his old guitar. It still wasn't easy but he was serious this time. What interested him most of all was how to write a song. His first effort was brilliant....until he realised he had merely copied James Taylor's Fire and Rain!
In 1974 he met Vhal Shekiri (now of Venice in Peril) who introduced him to Bob Dylan and a whole new way of understanding what makes a good song work. Meeting him was a life-changer.
Along the way Mike has worked with and teamed up with a whole bunch of great musicians such as Davey Galt, Jez Foden, Matt Allan, Chris Davidson, Lee Neale, Jean-Michel Cotard, Dave Hughes, Mark Radford and more.
Out of all the albums Low Fidelity is more a collection of demos than an actual album, mostly due to the quality of the recordings, hence the title. New Hats For Old Heads started out as a project about bringing life to some old songs but some new ones came along so it is now a bit of both, old and new. Marcella, for instance, dates back to 1969 but all Mike had was the opening line. It's finally done!
The last album, 9 + 1, was going to be a nine song record but Vhal Shekiri had a song that Mike has loved for years called Road Song. Vhal was very keen (and persuasive) for Mike to cover the song. Didn't take too much arm twisting! So.....9 became 9 + 1.
Which brings us up to date with the new album just released. 'Hale Lane' is Mike's most ambitious project yet and features guest musicians Vhal Shekiri, Davey Galt and Jack Zabaroff. The album ends with Love Encounter, co-written with Vhal Shekiri, which is a song nearly 50 years in the making and finally completed April 2023 when Vhal was back in London for the first time in 44 years!
Two songs, Promises & Eye To Eye, were co-written with Sherrie Sherrif. Mike and Sherrie never actually met and they lost contact years ago. Sherrie, if you're out there.....please get in touch!
Mike is married to Pauline and they have 2 sons...Elliot and Jack.
They live in Mill Hill, London.