Born in Pennsylvania, on April 17, 1954, Michael Sembello is a singer and composer most well renowned for the 1983 song Maniac, from the film Flashdance. While he did not focus his musical talents on developing a solo career, he still has released 6 albums over the expanse of almost three decades, his first being Bossa Nova Hotel in 1983 and his last being Moon Island in 2009.

Beginning his career as a session musician for Stevie Wonder, he collaborated with a lot of famou artists. He wrote the song Carousel, which Michael Jackson included in his 1982 album Thriller. In 1992, Sembello produced Jennifer Batten’s first solo album Above Below and Beyond, and he also produced and co-wrote a song for Argentine singer Valeria Lynch’s album Caravana de Sueños in 1994.

He has dedicated his career to writing and composing music for a lot of 80s and 90s movie classics, like Cocoon, The Monster Squad, Independence Day, Gremlins, Gladiator, and Summer Lovers.