Michelle Tumes

CCM singer/songwriter Michelle Tumes was born in Mt Gambier - a small town in South Australia, and began studying piano at the age of four. While in her teens, she enrolled in a two-year classical piano program, an experience which left her so disillusioned about performing that she instead turned to studying dentistry. At that point, her little sister gave Tumes $40 she had saved from her paper route in order to convince her older sibling to cut a demo; she agreed, sending the tape unsolicited to a variety of publishing companies.

Offers quickly poured in, and after signing a songwriting deal with an Australian publisher she relocated to the U.S., soon authoring Jaci Velasquez's CCM chart-topper "If This World." Tumes' attempts to mount a solo career initially met with frustration, but she eventually signed with the Sparrow, issuing her debut LP Listen in 1998 and earning a major hit with the single "Please Come Back." Center of My Universe followed in early 2000. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide

From her Yahoo Page: http://music.yahoo.com/ar-272279-bio--Michelle-Tumes

After her 2001 album, "Dream", Tumes parted ways with Sparrow Records. She worked on several collaboration albums and wrote for other artists (Disney Radio's Jump 5 and the Italian tenor, Alessandro Safina), went back to school to study ancient history and literature and secured a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell. In the summer of 2006 Michelle Tumes announced on her myspace website she was working on a new CD on the label Leventar/Infinity, a self-titled album that was released November 14. She has announced her intentions to tour in 2007.