Michael Harris "My sister said to me, 'I'll be your manager if you'll give me 15 percent.' I thought she was kidding. Three weeks later she called to say she'd quit her job and copyrighted all my songs."

BY JANE BELZ
Staff Writer

A year ago at Easter a family sing-along inspired University Police Officer Michael Harris to dust off his guitar and begin the roller-coaster road toward fame.

Now well known record companies such as Relentless Records and Capital Nashville have expressed interest in signing him. His first full length CD, "I Can Hold On," will be released in March.

Harris, who goes by the stage name Stephen Michael, started playing and singing at an early age. "Granddaddy started me playing at the age of six. I can't remember a time when I didn't know how to play. I was never one of those kids you had to make practice because I was always playing," the Jacksonville native said.

High school bands led to the group Faded Blue that toured all over the Southeast. When the group disbanded Harris went into the Army Reserve and when his initial active duty came to an end, Harris went in another new direction and became a police officer in Nassau County. Although he continued to play locally, even performing with the River City Opry for a while, when his extended family got together last year none of them had heard him play or sing his original tunes.

"My sister said to me, 'I'll be your manager if you'll give me 15 percent.' I thought she was kidding. Three weeks later she called to say she'd quit her job and copyrighted all my songs."

Harris' first break came when he was featured by Comstock Records on that company's quarterly sampler CD that goes to the European, Canadian and Australian radio markets, a big honor as Comstock only produces four samplers a year. His next success came when he won the international songwriting competition called Unsigned War. "There are six different categories and we won the country category with "Love Ain't Safe" out of thousands of submissions. That really opened some doors," he said.

Harris' influences are what he grew up with: 80's rock 'n' roll, bluegrass and country that is reflected in his choice of band mates. Keyboardist Robin Worthley played with Bonnie Raitt, back-up singer Andrea Re spent five years with Jackson Browne and rhythm guitarist and co-writer, John Griffin played with noted local band Cimmarron.

With his current single, "Love Ain't Safe" rising to number 3 on MP3.com's new country charts and a possible move to the big time in Nashville looming, Harris and all the family members that heard him at that fateful family gathering alternate between unreality and certainty.

"I'm a pessimistic person but I've passed the point of saying it's probably not gonna happen to it's gonna happen. But if it doesn't that's OK too. Music and law enforcement are both ways I'll be happy to make a living."