Mike Magliulo: Hilo boy with Nashville dreams
Photo courtesy Michael Magliulo
After three rounds of competition in “Music City Madness” on country cable network CMT, Oahu-born and Big Island-raised Michael Magliulo (pictured) is one of eight musicians left in the user-generated talent search that gives winners a chance to get signed with Warner Bros. Records and an appearance on CMT’s online series, “Unplugged at Studio 330.”
You can watch the video for his entry, “American Dream,” on YouTube and listen to more music on his MySpace page. Voting for the fourth round of competition ends Nov. 24.
Magliulo, 24, is a graduate of Waiakea High School and the University of Southern California. He got into country music as a teen on the Big Island.
According to his biography:
“He lived out a sample of country boy clichés: Riding horses, walking miles up and down dirt roads, catching crawfish in the front yard.
It was during these crucial years that he found his love for and fascination with music. The prevalent themes in country music tied into how he grew up, where he lived, and the values with which he was raised.
Oddly, that particular type of music was not exactly popular during the time that he began listening to it; in fact, neither Hilo nor anywhere else on the Big Island had a dedicated country station broadcasting during those years. Sometimes, if he tuned it just right, he could get his radio to pick up a stray signal from Maui, but for the most part he had to search for ways to discover new music: at the library, on television, online.”
These days, Magliulo lives in Alhambra, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles with a large Asian community. Before entering the CMT contest this fall, he worked as a freelance film lighting tech in order to take advantage of his film degree from USC.
While I can’t say I’m the biggest fan of this song, or Magliulo’s style of music in general, you’ve got to respect the fact that dude has gotten this far in the competition. I also liked how he incorporated a University of Hawaii football jersey and ukulele solo into the YouTube video.
November 21st, 2008 at 6:18 pm
Just wanted to say thank you to Jason for this article (and for doing some research!), and to everyone who has supported me in this competition. I appreciate the time you’ve dedicated to helping me get to the final eight, and the final four is only three days away. Mahalo nui loa, and a great big Aloha.
November 21st, 2008 at 6:57 pm
Mahalo from Michael’s ohana! We are very proud of our boy. Being chosen for the Top 64 from over 60,000 video submissions was a huge honor, and making it to the Top 8 is like a dream! We hope everyone will support him and vote at madness.cmt.com! :-)