Michael Quatro

A product of the same musical Detroit family that spawned rocker Suzi Quatro and the all-girl garage band the Pleasure Seekers, Mike Quatro also enjoyed a lengthy career on the Motor City club circuit, issuing a series of solo records during the 1970s. The son of jazz bandleader Art Quatro, he began playing piano at a young age, and as a teen earned a spot performing on The Lawrence Welk Show during the late '50s. By the end of the following decade, however, Quatro had largely turned away from performing to become a promoter, booking live dates throughout Michigan; his shows were notable for their pioneering use of closed-circuit video technology, anticipating the increasing reliance on video over the years to follow. By the early '70s, he returned to performing, soon signing to the Evolution label and issuing his solo debut Paintings in 1972; Look Deeply in the Mirror followed a year later, and in 1975, Quatro moved to United Artists to release In Collaboration with the Gods. Despite a fervent local following, he failed to reach a national audience, and subsequent efforts like 1976's Dancers, Romancers, Dreamers and Schemers, 1977's Live and Kickin', and 1979's Getting Ready made little impact on the charts. Out of the public eye for well over a decade, during the '90s Quatro formed his own music and video production venture, Quatrophonics; in 1995, he also issued Vision, his first solo LP in 16 years.