Music
Mike Howe
1965–2021 · heavy metal singer
Downriver-born heavy metal singer who started in the Detroit band Hellion and became the voice of Metal Church in two eras.
- Born
Taylor, Michigan- Died
Eureka, California
aged 55- Detroit years
- 1965–mid-1980s
- Field
- Music
01 / The Detroit story
The Detroit story
Mike Howe was born in Taylor, a Downriver suburb of Detroit, and began his career as singer of the Detroit metal band Hellion, which moved to Los Angeles in the mid-1980s and was renamed Snair. He then joined the Los Angeles band Heretic, formed in 1986, before Metal Church recruited him in 1988 to replace David Wayne. With Howe the band made Blessing in Disguise (1989), The Human Factor (1991) and Hanging in the Balance (1993), albums admired for his powerful, melodic range. After Metal Church split in the mid-1990s he left music for years, working outside the industry. He returned to the band in 2015, recording XI (2016) and Damned If You Do (2018), and was still its singer when he died in Eureka, California, in July 2021.
Highlights
- Singer of the Detroit metal band Hellion
- Metal Church singer 1988–1994 and 2015–2021
- Albums Blessing in Disguise (1989) and The Human Factor (1991)
- Comeback albums XI (2016) and Damned If You Do (2018)