Monday, September 8, 2008

Michael Sembello

Artist: Michael Sembello
LP: Bossa Nova Hotel
Song: "Automatic Man"
[ listen ]

2008 marks the 25th anniversary of the release of Michael Sembello's highly controversial, career-ending LP, "Bossa Nova Hotel." Fresh off the success of his #1 hit single "Maniac" from the Flashdance soundtrack, Sembello was reportedly feeling professionally invincible when he decided to stick two floating, oiled-up new-wave heartthrobs engaging in light incidental groping on the cover his first full-length LP.

One of the figures wears a diaper and features a Jesus-like piercing of his left side, while the other has a large chain holding two small green sacks draped around his neck. Nobody could tell for sure what it all meant, but they knew that it wasn't right. As Sembello's follow-up single, "Automatic Man," stalled at #34 on the U.S. charts, a mob of conservative watchdogs attacked his home in Laguna Hills, California in the middle of the night. Running for his life, Sembello fled the country with nothing but some jeans, a photo album, a tennis racquet and two pairs of pajamas.

After cutting a zigzag pattern southward through Mexico, Sembello landed a job teaching European cooking at one of Guatemala's top universities. In 1994, Sembello hooked up with a 4-piece Latin jazz combo known as Los Pesados, and can still be found with them on Monday and Thursday nights performing "Maniac" and a roster of Spanish-language pop standards at Guatemala City's popular Café del Arco.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

wheres your career now.you seem like you have a lot of time on your hands buddy.M.S.