Michael Ball

Michael Ashley Ball was born on June 27, 1962, in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, England. He made his debut in 1985, playing Marius Pontmercy in the original London production of Les Misérables, before taking on the role of Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera in 1987. In 1989, he reached number two on the UK singles chart with “Love Changes Everything, ” a song from the musical Aspects of Love, in which he played the role of Alex, both in London and on Broadway. After placing second in the 1992 Eurovision Song Contest with “One Step Out of Time” and the revival of Les Misérables (1995), Michael Ball pursued his dual career with equal vigor: he took on the lead roles in *Passion* (1997) and *Chitty Chitty Bang Bang* (2002) and won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actor twice, for *Hairspray* (2008) and *Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street* (2013). He continued to record at a steady pace of one or two albums a year until Back to Bacharach (2007), dedicated to the American composer. His repertoire, consisting of covers of traditional pop, vocal jazz standards, and pop and rock classics, gradually expanded with Heroes (2011), Both Sides Now (2013), and If Everyone Was Listening (2014), before forming a long-lasting duo with Alfie Boe on Together (2016), where he returned to the top of the album charts fourteen years later. The collaboration continued on Together Again (2017, No. 1), Back Together (2019, No. 2), and Together at Christmas (2020, No. 1). That same year, he achieved his first number-one single with the popular ballad “You’ll Never Walk Alone, ” recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic with World War II veteran and centenarian Tom Moore and the NHS Voices of Care Choir. In 2021, his 27th studio album, We Are More Than One, was released, followed by a reunion with Alfie Boe for Together at Home (2024), featuring a fresh collection of pop covers. The album earned Michael Ball and Alfie Boe a new number-one hit in the UK and led to a joint tour in 2025, centered on their repertoire of duets and covers. The same period also brought him back to the stage: Michael Ball reprised the role of Javert in Les Misérables: The Arena Spectacular, an international production marking the musical’s 40th anniversary, where he shared the bill with Alfie Boe and other West End stars. In 2026, he relaunched his solo career with “Vintage,” the first single from Glow, his 23rd solo album and his first record consisting entirely of original songs. Released in May 2026, Glow features “Best Night of Your Life,” “A Million Lights,” “Little Wins,” and “On With the Show.”