Victor’s Career
Victor always had an interest in music from an early age, mainly because his mother and father were both musicians. He began learning the piano when he was eleven and also at this time began having guitar lessons from his father. Victor joined his fathers band, ‘ Vic Lezal And The Professionals’, at the age of seventeen in the famous Manchester Ritz. He started out mainly as a backing vocalist and as time progressed became the lead vocalist.
Victor stayed with the band for five years but began to perform as a soloist in other venues throughout the country. Like many young vocalists starting out in there career, he performed in many of the large clubs across the U.K. This became a major factor in helping Victor become more of an entertainer.
Victor was still performing with the band on Saturday nights which was fantastic. The standard of the band was extremely high and it was because of this that they were asked to become the resident band for the BBC during the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. This was Victor’s first experience with performing on television, and he loved it.
It was at this time that Victor began taking his voice more seriously, and therefore he began having vocal coaching. He has had two teachers, David Dubery and Robert Alderson. Both have been a major influence in helping Victor progress as a vocalist.
The interest in classical music was always there for Victor. He began to learn several arias when he reached his early twenties and he has never looked back since. And as time has passed, classical music has now become one of the main attractions of Victor’s show. There are other styles of music which have also become a major part of Victor’s shows. These range from ballads like My Prayer, Till, Hurt, Love Changes Everything and many more. (see the complete song list in the ‘ABOUT’ section of the Victor Michael web-site.)
Another style that Victor personally enjoys is Swing music. This music always seems to be a favourite with people wherever you go. It was therefore a pleasure for Victor when he was asked to perform a ‘Rat Pack’ style show for the BBC annual Christmas party.
Victor now performs at many different events and shows throughout the world and the U.K. For example:
Corporate Events: Ciao Italia – The Manchester City Gala Dinner – Red cross Ball – Lord Mayor’s Lady’s Luncheon at Haigh Hall – Brit Club annual dinner in Bahrain - BBC annual Christmas Dinner – several Manchester United functions
Cruise Liners: Arcadia – Ventura – Aurora – Oceana
Hotels and Entertainment Venues: All Warner’s Hotels throughout U.K – Many major hotels e.g The Radisson Group, The Crowne Plaza Group, Hilton, Cardon Park.
As well as performing in these fantastic places he has also enjoyed performing at many of the most prestigious golf clubs throughout the country. It is through doing this that he has met many interesting people who have asked Victor to perform at there functions. These include County Councils, Parliamentarians, Masonic dinners and events for the Emergency Services.
He also regularly gets asked to perform at many of the well known Italian functions. This is mainly because of his ability to sing some of there more well known Italian folk songs, arias and popular pieces from the world of opera.
There are many charity events throughout the country that Victor is proud to be a part of. He seems to perform a particularly large amount for Cancer research charities, but he is always willing to get involved with other good charitable organisations.
Victor has performed his show in so many different places it is impossible to name them all. One of the aspects of his career he enjoys most is performing at weddings. He usually will sing during the ceremony and then perform a personal show after the wedding breakfast. These are always fantastic days to be a part of.
Another major part of Victor’s career has been his recording and song writing. He has had the fantastic opportunity to work with some of the most successful record producers in the world e.g Peter Collins, Gordon Lorenz, Tim Duncan, Steve Millington, Roberto Danova and Lee Monteverdi.
‘The Phantom of the Opera Ice Show’ was Victor’s first major studio session work, and he was asked to feature on several of the songs in the show. It was produced by Roberto Danova who is a renowned and well respected Italian producer. The ‘Phantom of the Opera’ DVD and sound track is available now.
His most exciting recording experience came when he was invited to record in Nashville Tennessee. It was amazing for Victor to be able to see some of the world’s greatest musicians at work. Victor is now set to perform there next year at some of the major country festivals. It is a different style of music to what he is used to but just as enjoyable.
