John Michael Hersey

John Michael Hersey is a singer/songwriter known for his sophisticated yet accessible melding of rock, pop, folk, blues and country. Hersey is first and foremost a storyteller, one who happens to play a mean guitar.

On his latest album, You Got to Me, Hersey weaves a tapestry of mellow soul, folk-pop, doo-wop, adult alternative and roots rock. He has released five other albums of original material: Soup Du Jour (1999), Whirligig (2003), Mr. Lucky [with Speedo and the Cadillacs] (2004), How Am I Here? (2007), and Adirondack (2014).

Hersey grew up in the small town of Franklinville, NJ where he fronted his first band, Shale. In the 1980s, he moved to New York City and got a job playing guitar with doo-wop legends The Cadillacs, for whom he wrote and produced the album Mr. Lucky. In 1999, he released the album Soup Du Jour with Miles Away, a song about the alienation and loneliness one can feel in the big city. In the 2000s, Hersey began to strut his stuff as a guitarist, forging his own brand of blues on Heartbreak 101 from Whirligig and Running from the Blues from How Am I Here? In 2014, after spending time in prison, he released Adirondack with Sittin’ Pretty, a song about coming home a changed and grateful man.

Hersey’s latest album opens a new chapter, one defined by the redemptive power of love as heard in the title song You Got to Me.