Biography of Michael Black
Michael now resides in San Francisco and is a lecturer at San Francisco State University teaching courses on Culture, Gender and Movement in the Kinesiology Department. He first came to the United States in 1984 to attend the University of California at Berkeley, on a Masters Degree Program in Kinesiology. Twelve years later he received his PhD in Sociology and he has remained in the bay area. Having left school at the age of fourteen he spent eleven years working at the famous Arthur Guinness Brewery in Dublin. When he was twenty five he got accepted at a small college in England to study Physical Education and he completed his B.Ed degree at the University of Limerick.
Whilst in the US he became very active in the music scene in San Francisco where he was a regular performer at the Plough and Stars pub for many years. As a singer, banjo player and an accomplished guitarist he has worked with many Irish musicians. More recently Michael has re-juvenated his solo career and his solo album entitled, "Michael Black" was produced by guitar virtuoso and fellow Dubliner, John Doyle. The album made the shortlist for a Grammy and offered him a springboard to play both across North America and internationally with performances as far apart as Iceland and New Zealand. His recent collaboration with guitarist, bouzouki and ukulele player, Jon Sanders (www.jon-sanders.com) has seen him playing on both sides of the Atlantic as well as in New Zealand. Michael has also begun to teach singing workshops hence his recent stint at O'Flaherty's Music Retreat in Midlothian, Texas in 2010, where he conducted weekend workshops focusing on improving one's repertoire and performance singing.
He remains an active athlete and is now involved with helping his three daughters, Ciara, Maeve and Catriona who are all soccer players. They are also emerging musicians in their own right as they sing and play fiddle, cello, flute and all are Irish dancers.
