Michael Greilsammer

Michael Greilsammer was born in Jerusalem in 1981, his parents immigrated from France and Belgium, and are both university professors. Michael grew up in a traditional-religious, multilingual household, with a strong love of music. All five brothers are musicians. Michael’s older brother, David, is the conductor for the Geneva “Camerata” orchestra (GECA) and is an internationally renowned pianist. Michael started studying the violin at the age of five, and continued to train throughout his childhood as a classical musician. In his adolescence Michael began drifting away from his classical roots, influenced by Irish music, reggae and rock, and started working on his own material, exploring his own unique sound.

Michael Greilsammer started performing regularly on large stages with the established Israeli-Irish band “Black Velvet”, and has played and toured regularly with them for five years. Over the years Michael has been invited to play and collaborate with numerous Israeli legends including : Berry Sakharof, Alma Zohar, “Hatikva 6”, Alon Oleartchik, as well as joining Mosh Ben-Ari in his tour “Massa-ou-Mattan” (Negotiation).

In 2009 Michael releases his first album in France and in Israel “Mitorer- Je me réveille”. The album was released under the prestigious French label “Naïve”. The singles from the album, “Ishti Hayekara (my dear wife)” and “Yalla Boi (come on)” ranked high in the music charts, and had continuous plays over the radio and television worldwide, receiving over a million hits on the Internet.

Michael resides in Jerusalem with his wife, the singer Shimrit Greilsammer and their two sons. In 2011 Michael and Shimrit collaborated on a second joint album; “B Paris”. The album was released under the well known Israeli record label “The 8th note”. The single from the album “Tou dou dou” was chosen for the Israeli pre-Eurovision competition, and had countless plays in Israel and abroad, in Canada in particular. Following the success of the album, Michael toured extensively abroad and participated in many music festivals, such as; “The Ottawa Jazz Festival”, “Der Kulturen” in Berlin, the “Tablu” festival in India and the reggae festival in Barbados.

In 2013 Michael, along with two members from his band; Drummer Uriel Swerdin and baseplayer Ohad Eilam, put together the “Nonprofit Band”. “Nonprofit band” received an offer to record an album for free in a studio in Nice, France. The album was released online for free, as part of the band's ideology. “Nonprofit band” toured in Israel and Canada and received glowing reviews such as “Reinvented Rock and Roll”. Kelsey Sunstrum, apt613 musical blog, Canada.

In 2015 Michael produced a tribute show to the famous Jewish singer-songwriter, Shlomo Carlebach. The show is part of a US tour which will take place in the fall of 2017.

Michael Greilsammer is currently working on his third album.