Butler’s own Bret Michaels coming to PNC Park
He was born as Bret Michael Sychak in Butler in 1963 and raised in Mechanicsburg. He has family in Lyndora.
Better known by his stage name, Bret Michaels, he gained fame as the frontman for the band Poison.
And he’s returning to his Western Pennsylvania roots Friday, Aug. 12, when he and Poison appear at PNC Park as part of The Stadium Tour with Def Lepperd, Motley Crue and Joan Jett and the Blackhearts.
Michaels began playing guitar as a teenager and started a band with Rikki Rockett, Bobby Dall and David Besselman. They played the bar circuit in Pittsburgh before moving to Los Angeles in search of fame.
As Poison, they released their first album, "Look What the Cat Dragged In" in 1986. That album rose to No. 3 on the U.S. Billboard Top 100 in 1987 and went platinum. And the band became famous. In 1987, Michaels' song "Every Rose Has Its Thorn" was released in 1988 and became the band's only No. 1 single.
After Poison split in the 1990s, Michaels released a number of solo albums and singles and also starred on several television programs, including "Rock of Love" in 2007 and "Celebrity Apprentice 3" in 2010.
