Michael Livesley

As the kid who 'did voices', Michael left school to run away with the circus as soon as he could. Thanks to the Free Festival and Rave scenes, Britain in the '90s was ripe with opportunities for travel and performance. Unlikely as it sounds, Michael also did his A-levels, probably because the college radio station provided the first opportunity for him to flex his larynx on air with comedy and musical sketches. This combination of performance, education and travelling provided the foundation for Michael's meandering, haphazard career which also saw him performing on TV and in films such as Best.

 

The millennium brought with it new technology and creative reach, enabling Michael to stage his one-man production of Vivian Stanshall's Sir Henry at Rawlinson End. The show toured for 9 years and brought his work to the attention of fans such as Stephen Fry - who referred to Michael as 'an outrageous talent'.' The show also earned the approval of Viv's fellow Bonzo bandmate Neil Innes, who in 2015 asked Michael to sing with the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band on their reunion tour. 

 

After gaining a London agent, Michael began to do voiceovers, and has since done many for radio and TV. Most notably providing the voice of 'Grub' for the Tombola I'm a Celebrity campaign since 2016. Michael has also worked extensively in video and audio production for broadcast and commercial media, and 2023 saw his association with the work of Vivian Stanshall coming full circle when he produced 2 albums of Viv's 'new' material. Both releases reached the top ten. Outside of this, education continued to play a role in his life, lecturing on drama and running performing arts industry workshops for tertiary students in Liverpool.