Brother Michael Spencer is a guitar player, singer and songwriter who was first inspired by the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show.   It was his mother who later shepherded that divine inspiration into the soulful R&B sound and spiritual blend that lead Brother Michael to a very successful career as a sideman with legends like Joe Tex and Grady Gaines.

Michael Spencer grew up with music.  He has fond recollections of his stepfather, L.A. Hill, rehearsing with the great Bobby Blue Bland in the family's living room and the sounds of the guitars coming from Shady's Playhouse on the corner of Elgin and Ennis as he walked home from school.  But Michael didn't have a thought about becoming a guitar player until he saw the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan Show.  Imagine, a young black child living in the ghetto struck by Beatle mania! 

And it was then that Michael exclaimed "Mama, get me one of those guitars."  The rest, Michael believes, was divinely orchestrated.  That Christmas he was given a guitar, a record player and a number of albums recorded mainly by guitar players who composed, arranged and performed their own songs. Inspiration truly set in. 

Brother Michael's musical path has been paved with many lessons—none more important to him than what he learned from an old man who just happened to move into the house next to his grandmothers.  What could young Michael, already the lead guitar player with Joe Tex, possibly learn from Leonard J. Tyson, a man who said "he used to play a little guitar."

Reluctant at first to listen, young Michael was eventually worn down by the pleadings of his determined neighbor.  This is the man who taught him the intricate and unusual chord structures that form the foundation of Brother Michael's own first cd venture Judeo-Christian Soul.