Michel "Sweet Micky" Martelly - Performing & Recording Artists Born :2/12/1961 Country :Haiti
Best known for/as: Compas music's most colorful superstar

Biography: Michel Martelly, better known as "Sweet Micky", was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He grew up in the Port-Au-Prince suburb of Carrefour with his brother and four sisters. Micky credits veteran Compas bands, Skah Shah, Frere Dejean, Tabou Combo and Cesaria Evora, a singer from the Cape Verde Islands as being influential on his music.

Micky first began performing as a one man band in 1988 in the Casinoes in Haiti. He released his first hit "Ou La La" in 1988. Two years later Micky expanded the band to include a bass player and a percussionist and by the release of the album "I Don't Care" in 1994 Sweet Micky was a household name in Haitian communities at home and abroad.

Over the past decade, Martelly has won the hearts of the Haitian people through his musical talent and charismatic persona. His music blends Haitian music with new interpretations of compas, roots, salsa, Caribbean soca and jazz-fusion. His persona and satirical lyrics ignite great controversy throughout the Haitian diaspora. The only thing which is predictable about Sweet Micky is that he is completely un-predictable, he has been known to wear Diapers, Mini-Skirts and other shocking outfits onstage.

When Wyclef Jean of the Fugees needed someone to spark the flames for his Carnival album, it was Martelly whom he called upon to record the title song. As Wyclef proclaims while the "Carnival" tempo rises tumultuously, "Surprise - it's Sweet Micky, y'all!"

Sweet Micky is often referred to as the "Bad Boy" of Haitian music, but this description is music more appropriate in its American slang definition where "bad" means really, really good. In 1997, Michel Martelly showed the world that his musical talent is a continuous means toward a very positive end by donating his time to participate in "Knowledge is Power", an HIV educational music video with a powerful message about preventing the spread of HIV.

Based in Haiti, Martelly tours incessantly performing throughout the U.S., Haiti, Canada, the Caribbean and Europe. His wife Sophia handles the business affairs of the band, together they have 4 children. In his spare time Micky enjoys playing soccer.