Michael Sembello was born in Philadelphia in 1954. A talented songwriter, guitar player and vocalist, he started his career joining Stevie Wonder's band in the first seventies. "I auditioned on a Saturday", recalls Sembello "got the gig immediately, went to New York on Monday to rehearse for a week, then 'bang', on tour for three months". Michael Sembello's musical invocations began in 1983 when he released his first solo record entitled "Bossa Nova Hotel". Immediately following its release, Michael scored a huge chart thundering success writing and performing the Grammy award winning song"Maniac", from the movie "Flashdance". He has later on recorded, written and produced songs among the company of some of the industries greats, such as: Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Diana Ross, Chaka Khan, George Benson, Donna Summer etc. He has also worked writing and producing soundtracks for hit movies such as: "Cocoon", "Rocky IV", "Gremlins", "Independence Day" and several others. His career as a solo artist has brought another three albums "Without Walls" (1986), "Caravan Of Dreams" (1992) and "Backwards In Time" (1997).

He also collaborated with the group Brother Time as a guest vocalist and also was the leader of a new project called The Bridge: a project to create a multi-lingual world beat group. Now, Michael Sembello has returned to his roots on the East Coast where it all began. "The Lost Years" is a chronological look through the years of Michael Sembello. Many of those songs come from different times and are designed to be a special gift to the fans which are now able to gain in one collection a lot of rare tracks and unreleased tracks with an obvious emphasis on his rock roots. It also includes a magnificent rework of "Maniac" in a new and original version, plus his own version of the Jeff Paris hit "The Life Of My Broken Heart". Jeff himself appears on the album in a duet on "Tear Down The Walls", while Jennifer Batten (Jeff Beck, Michael Jackson) is guest guitarist on: "Love Doesn't Live Here Anymore" and "Tear Down the Walls". Michael Sembello's original desires and objectives are still intact: "Music teaches you about your own life and how it relates to life, the universe and everything. Good music is designed to harmonize mind and body. The trappings of fortune and fame are not the objectives, but merely the by-products along the way. I believe we are on this planet to learn and grow as souls", and proclaiming in his cosmic, confident manner: "that's why I'm here, that's why I came...".