Michael was born in South Orange, New Jersey on September 7, 1941 and raised in the Oranges, attending Our Lady of the Valley and Our Lady of Sorrows, Catholic schools that are the setting for some of his better known songs.

 

He bought a guitar at fifteen (five dollars) and was soon playing in a group inspired equally by the Kingston Trio and Harry Belafonte. The act was called The Kalypso Kids and played a lot of VFW halls and psychiatric hospitals. The Kalypso Kids were the first to record a Michael Smith song: "Teen Dream". This recording, waxed on the spot, is lost in antiquity.

 

College (St. Petersburg Junior, in Florida) saw a group called the Wanderers, a quartet organized by Michael, with gigs on the beach and at local coffeehouses. Michael began touring with a duet called The Talismen. "We hit every coffee-house in the world," Michael recalls. "Those were days when you got hired by the week and people stood in line. They didn't even have to know who you were. It was Folk Music, and Folk Music was happening."

 

Three years at The Flick in Miami followed, six nights a week. Michael did entirely his own material. "I would say the song was Fred Neil's. People would say 'Oh, I hadn't heard that one.' I'd say 'It's one of his better ones, don't you think?'"

 

At the Flick Michael met his wife Barbara Barrow, and they traveled with a quartet called the Baker St. Irregulars, signed a contract with Decca as Juarez, and produced a recording that you can still find in very out-of-the-way record stores. Michael and Barbara's next recording was for Arista. It was called Mickey and Babs Get Hot, a title for which Michael takes the blame.