Michael Holt (musician)

Michael Holt is a musician based in Toronto, Canada. He was born in Boston, Massachusetts in 1968, and raised in New York City, where he learned to play the piano as a child. He was a childhood friend of sociologist Dalton Conley.

In high school (Hunter College High School) in the early 1980s, he formed a band called The Connotations, which played regularly at CBGB and other downtown clubs in New York. Holt played keyboards, sang, and wrote most of the group's songs. Other members included (at various times) Dan Seiden (guitar, vocals), Dan Fisherman (drums, vocals), Simon Walsh (bass guitar, vocals), Bob Dee (guitar), Sam Bardfeld (violin, percussion, vocals), Oren Bloedow (bass guitar), Jenny Wade (bass guitar), and Alexis Stern (vocals). The band's style was a combination of ska, new wave, reggae, pop, and a dissonant, angular style they called "Bug Music."

In 1988, The Connotations broke up and Holt formed a new band called Pajama Garden, with Connotations drummer Dan Fisherman, and bassist Oren Bloedow. In 1990, Holt began playing with progressive pop band The Mommyheads, and in 1991 released his first solo album, the experimental pop "Pajama Garden."

In 1992, Holt and Fisherman moved to San Francisco, California, to join The Mommyheads as permanent members. Other members of The Mommyheads included Adam Cohen (now Adam Elk) (guitar), Jeff Palmer (bass), and Matt Patrick (now Devin Patrick) (bass, guitar). Through the 90’s The Mommyheads toured North America extensively and released several albums, the last co-produced by Don Was for Geffen Records. In 1996 Holt married Cora Simone, a Canadian woman he had met on tour, who had come to live with him in San Francisco.

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