First Listen: Michael Des Barres’s Album ‘The Key to the Universe’

Michael Des Barres is a music and screen legend whose career has spanned decades — starting with his role in the classic 1967 Sidney Poitier film To Sir With Love, then moving into the ’70s with his bands Silverhead and Detective, and the ’80s with Chequered Past (featuring the Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones, Tin Machine’s Tony Sales, and Blondie’s Nigel Harrison and Clem Burke), his co-writing credit on the Animotion hit “Obsession,” and his stint fronting the Duran Duran-affiliated supergroup Power Station. Along the way, he’s had memorable TV and film roles in MacGyver, GhouliesPink Cadillac, Sugar Town, WKRP in Cincinnati, Mulholland Drive, Roseanne, Nip/Tuck, and Melrose Place, and he enjoyed a rock ‘n’ roll romance for the ages with his former wife, famous groupie and author Pamela Des Barres.

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Michael continues to be as relevant and hard-working as ever in 2015, hosting a radio show on SiriusXM’s nationally syndicated “Little Steven’s Underground Garage” and releasing his new solo album The Key to the Universe, featuring the Linda Perry-penned single “Can’t Get You Off My Mind.” Recorded at the Forum Music Village in Rome (“a city of timeless power,” says Michael), it’s a truly grandiose rock ‘n’ roll exercise. “Around every corner [in Rome] is a fearsome statue sneering with nobility and excess at its passersby. To not come up to that level of expression would have sent us to the Coliseum as lunch for those hungry lions,” Michael reasons.

The Key to the Universe comes out via FOD Records on April, but you can here it now in its entirety, as it premieres on Yahoo Music a week before its official release.

Preorder The Key to the Universe HERE.