Breakdown | Biography

By no means a complete biography, this timeline is merely meant to provide a concise overview of the subject of this site. For more information, see the interviews and articles archived in Babbling Brook. Online resources on most collaborating artists mentioned here are in Collaboration. Special thanks to Steven Davey, David Beardsley, and Brian Thomson.

Plays guitar in several local "blues rock" bands (Brook's term) in his native Toronto, Canada. Toronto was home to a very vibrant avant garde music scene at the time.

Studies Eastern music with visiting composer Jon Hassell, the father of Minimalism La Monte Young, and Hindustani classical vocalist Pandit Pran Nath at Toronto's York University. Hassell's trumpet sound and Brook's guitar sound on Hybrid are strongly tied to Pandit Pran Nath.

Builds "The Crypt," his own studio, where he begins producing local artists. Here, he develops his invention the infinite guitar.

Engineers Jon Hassell's Vernal Equinox.

Administers the video lab for A Space (a Toronto government-funded arts center) through the early 1980s.

Brook's band Flivva performs at A Space. Michael's brother plays bass, his girlfriend at the time on minimal drums (mainly snare) - with songs written and sung by Phil Schreibman. Toronto local video artists Andrew Paterson and Marien Lewis (the head of A Space) play live with them at A Space and both appear on the LP.

Flivva releases the LP The Name is Schreibman / Sympathetic Ear on their own label, as an extremely limited edition of possibly only 1000 copies.

Brook joins Steven Davey's band The Everglades. Brook was known for continuing to play after the band had finished a song - and keeping going until the next song without a break. The band plays the Toronto club scene regularly for at least 50 gigs over two years, opening for the B-52s, Talking Heads and the Troggs. The Everglades record a never-released demo for Warner Brothers. They also appear on a sampler of Toronto "New Wave" bands in 1978 called The Last Pogo, from Bomb Records.

Brook leaves The Everglades and begins to work more with Brian Eno (haunting the Toronto scene at the time) and Daniel Lanois. The Everglades continue to perform until 1982.

Brook, Jon Hassell and Eno perform at the Ontario College Of Art, with Eno doing his thing from the auditorium's balcony in the dark.

Brook performs with Martha and the Muffins (former opening act for The Everglades and later Canadian superstars) on a two-week tour in support of their album This Is The Ice Age. This album was Daniel Lanois' first production credit. Muffins guitarist Mark Gane says (via Steven Davey): "Micheal never ended up on a studio album but when we did the Ontario Place [a 10,000 seat in-the-round theme park] concert in '83 with the Danseparc era touring band (including Michael) we hired Comfort Sound to record it onto multitrack with Dan Lanois engineering. These multitracks disappeared some time later during one of Current Record's many moves and in spite of a lot of searching they were believed to be lost for good. Fifteen years later, when Gerry Young was clearing out his mother's house after her death, he found them in a closet. We are hoping to mix and release these tapes as a live CD sometime in the future, (when we can find the money to do so!). We've got cassette references of that show off the board and there's some good stuff, although it's all history now."

Brook works with TBA (a play on "To Be Announced"), a Toronto all-synth band in the vein of Simple Minds. Brook mixes and treats their live sound. TBA records Love Across the Nation, a 7-inch single on their own label, a big hit on Toronto radio. (TBA later mutates into Perfect World, who release several singles and an LP on Epic world-wide in Canada and the UK. Band member Andrew Zealley works in soundtracks and a new studio project called Greek Buck, with a new virgin-vinyl lp called Messing With...)

Works as an engineer at Daniel Lanois' Grant Avenue Studio in Hamilton.

Brook and Richard Henderson perform tape treatments with Jon Hassell in Toronto, Brook also on bass and guitar.

After the successful release of the album Aka Darbari, Jon Hassell forms The Jon Hassell Group with J.A. Deane, Jean Philipe Rykiet and occasionally Michael Brook and Richard Horowitz. A world tour is undertaken starting in Tokyo through Paris, Venice Amsterdam, Stockholm, Brussels, Oslo, Berlin, Hamberg, Chicago and culminating at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York.

First major solo work, Hybrid, with Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois. In many ways rightly classified as an "ambient" album, Hybrid is a also an experiement in world fusion, utilizing numerous Arabic influences.

Collaborates with The Edge for the Captive soundtrack, featuring the debut recording of Sinéad O'Connor.

Executes a final re-mix of Mary Margaret O'Hara's controversial Miss America for Virgin Records.

Becomes involved with Brian Eno's Opal Obscure label, and plays live at the Opal Evenings Concert Tours. Tracks from a 1988 concert in Berlin with Laraaji appear on Music for Films III.

Plays the Lanzarote Music Festival in December. A bootleg cd, Shona, is belatedly released in 1995.

Accompanies Brian Eno for a performance staged for the dedication of a Japanese Shinto temple.

Provides technical assistance in the design and installation of Brian Eno's video environments, as featured in art galleries around the world.

Opens for former Velvet Underground violinist - now avant garde / pop artist John Cale.

First becomes involved with Real World Records, producing the seminal Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan world-fusion record Mustt Mustt. Much important work with Real World follows.

The live Mustt Mustt Collaboration with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan at the Time Zones Festival, Bari, Italy in July.

Cobalt Blue released. Like Hybrid, it has become something of a legend in ethno-ambient circles.

Plays a small series of solo concerts in support of Cobalt Blue. Records and films Live at the Aquarium at a special concert for friends and media in May. Other concerts follow, including Los Angeles and Edmonton.

Brook records Rama Sreerama with U. Srinivas during RealWorld recording week in 1992 at Real World Studio near Salisbury. Rama Sreerama is a "pure" RealWorld album, recorded live in front of an audience. For a separate project, Brook put together backing tracks in Gabriel's writing room "The Shed," and held a few jam sessions. Cellist Caroline Lavalle played to a tape Brook sent her, and Trey Gunn was added later, before the album Dream eventually came out in 1995.

Embarks on a world tour with David Sylvian and Robert Fripp, as both opening act and full member of the band. Documented on Damage, The Road to Graceland, and numerous bootlegs.

Records Moon Shines at Night, an album of classical Armenian repertoire, with Djivan Gasparyan, for Brian Eno's Opal label.

Acclaimed score for the IMAX film The Fires of Kuwait leads to further work in film.

4AD holds concerts featuring several of its recording artists in Los Angeles at the Troubadour and McCabe's, from 27 September to 2 October. A promotional video and cd, both called All Virgos Are Mad, promote the event. Both contain work by Brook, but it is unknown if he participated in these shows.

Contributes music for the Michael Mann film Heat. Much of it unfortunately discarded.

In the spirit of Mustt Mustt, Brook collaborates with Indian electric mandolinist U. Srinivas on the sound collage album Dream.

Brook begins a new project with Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, putting together backing tracks for Khan to improvise over. The process of developing an album is torturous, since Brook doesn't have the budget to hire the right equipment (like a 24-track Fairlight) to compile the album properly. Regardless, the phenomenal world music crossover Night Song is released to excellent reviews and a Grammy nomination.

Plays some dates with Khan in support of Night Song. Khan continued to tour extensively in spite of his worsening health.

Composes score to actor Kevin Spacey's directoral debut, Albino Alligator.

Collaborates with Russell Mills, Julia Fordham, Paban Das Baul, and Iarla Ó Lionáird.

Performs with Ó Lionáird at the Festival de M¿sica Visual de Lanzarote (Lanzarote Festival of Visual Music) in October.

Star Rise, a tribute to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, is posthumously released, containing remixes of the Brook / Khan collaborations.

Reuinites with Djivan Gasparyan for another Real World "hybrid" world fusion project, Black Rock.

In October, performs with Djivan Gasparyan at the Armenian Music Awards in Los Angeles. Black Rock wins the award for Best New Age Album.

In November, performs at the Reverb in Toronto with Neil Finn (formerly of Crowded House).

Composes the score of the Paul Schrader film Affliction.