Michael Ball

'Chess' party, Press Night, London, UK 01 May 2018

Michael Ball is one of Britain’s leading musical theatre star, a Grammy nominated, multi-platinum recording artist and a hugely popular radio and TV presenter. For over 30 years he has been at the top of his game, starring in musical theatre productions in the West End and on Broadway, winning critical acclaim, a devoted following and awards for his stage work and recording career.

Ball’s theatre include Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (ENO/Coliseum), Javert in Les Misérables – The Staged Concert (Gielgud Theatre) Anatoly in Chess (ENO/Coliseum), Mack in Mack and Mabel (Chichester/UK Tour), Sweeney Todd in Sweeney Todd (West End) for which he won the Olivier Award for ‘Best Actor in a Musical’, Edna Turnblad in Hairspray (Original West End Cast) for which he won the Olivier Award for ‘Best Actor in a Musical’, Kismet (English National Opera), Patience (New York City Opera), The Woman in White (West End/Broadway), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (West End), Passion, The Phantom of the Opera, Aspects of Love (West End/Broadway) and creating the role of. Marius in Les Misérables (Original West End Cast).

His television credits include the Victoria Wood BBC TV film, That Day We Sang, opposite his Sweeney Todd co-star, Imelda Staunton. Michael has a successful radio broadcasting career which includes his own show, The Michael Ball Show on BBC Radio 2 on Sundays. He is also a popular TV presenter – he has hosted The Michael Ball Show on ITV1, his first TV travelogue, Wonderful Wales on Channel 5 and most recently an Easter Sunday special for the BBC.

He regularly tours the UK as a concert artist and has sold millions of albums over the last 30 years; he’s performed in Australia, China, USA, Japan and, in 2007, made his BBC Proms debut: An Evening with Michael Ball at the Royal Albert Hall which marked the first time a musical theatre star had been given a solo concert at the Proms. In 2016 he released Together, a collaborative effort with close friend and singer Alfie Boe, that featured performances of classic songs. The album became the UK’s best-selling album of 2016 and beat the likes of Little Mix and The Rolling Stones to the Christmas No.1 spot.

Ball & Boe then released Together Again which brought the pair yet another No.1 album in 2017, and Back Together which landed them the No.2 spot in the Official Albums Chart. In 2020, Michael and Alfie released their first festive album Together at Christmas featuring both old favourites and originals. Thanks to their latest release ‘Together in Vegas’, which entered the UK album chart at No.3 in October 2022, they have now sold over 1.5 million albums in the UK, received two Classic Brit Awards, sold out two headline arena tours and presented three ITV Specials! During the various U.K. lockdowns, Michael started to pen new material — the result was We Are More Than One, an album more personal than ever before. After learning how to write and record remotely, every track had an inspiring story to tell. His debut novel, ‘The Empire’ – published in Autumn 2022, became a Sunday Times Bestseller and he recently released his first ever memoir titled ‘Different Aspects’.