Michael Landau is a prolific session musician

Session musician

Session musicians are instrumental and vocal performers, musicians, who are available to work with others at live performances or recording sessions. Usually such musicians are not permanent members of a musical ensemble and often do not achieve fame in their own right as soloists or bandleaders...

 and guitarist who has played on a large number of albums since the early 1980s with artists as varied as Seal

Seal (musician)

Seal Henry Olusegun Olumide Adeola Samuel , known simply as Seal, is a British soul and R&B singer-songwriter, of Nigerian and Brazilian background. Seal has won numerous music awards throughout his career, including three Brit Awards—winning Best British Male in 1992, four Grammy Awards, and an...

, James Taylor

James Taylor

James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000....

, Helen Watson, Richard Marx

Richard Marx

Richard Noel Marx is an American adult contemporary and pop/rock singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He had a string of hit singles in the late 1980s and 1990s, including "Endless Summer Nights", "Right Here Waiting", "Now and Forever", and "Hazard"...

, Steve Perry

Steve Perry

Steve Perry may refer to:*Steve Perry , science fiction author*Steve Perry , solo artist and the former lead singer of the band Journey*Steve Perry Steve Perry may refer to:*Steve Perry (author) (b. 1947), science fiction author*Steve Perry (musician) (b. 1949), solo artist and the former lead...

, Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd

Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...

 and Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

. Landau, along with fellow session guitarists Dean Parks

Dean Parks

Dean Parks is an American session guitarist and record producer from Ft. Worth, TX.-Albums:Dean was member of The North Texas State One O'clock Lab Band before moving to Los Angeles to work with Sonny and Cher in 1970. Dean is best-known through his many contributions to albums by Steely Dan...

, Steve Lukather

Steve Lukather

Steve "Luke" Lukather is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger, and record producer best known for his work with the rock band Toto. Lukather has played with many artists, released several solo albums, and worked as a composer, arranger, and session guitarist on more than 1,500 albums...

 and Dann Huff

Dann Huff

Dann Huff is an American musician, session musician, singer-songwriter and producer. For his work as a producer in the Country music genre he has won several awards including the Musician of the Year award in 2001 and 2004 at the Country Music Association Awards and the Producer of the Year award...

, played on many of the major label releases recorded in Los Angeles from the 1980s-1990s.

In addition to his session work, Landau has also fronted several bands including Raging Honkies and Burning Water. In the early 1980s, he was also in the band Maxus

Maxus

Maxus is a commercial vehicle marque owned by SAIC Group. It was launched in March 2011.The name of the marque originates from the Maxus model of the defunct British commercial vehicle manufacturer LDV Group, following the acquisition of LDV's intellectual property by SAIC in 2010. The first Maxus...

 that featured future Los Angeles session musicians Robbie Buchanan

Robbie Buchanan

Robbie Buchanan is a Canadian keyboardist, songwriter, arranger, and producer.Buchanan began playing the piano at the age of 6. He acquired his first paying gig as a pianist at the age of 12 playing 6 nights a week in Dawson City, Yukon Territory. While still a teenager, Buchanan joined a band...

, Jay Gruska, and Doane Perry

Doane Perry

Doane Ethredge Perry is an American musician, composer and author. He has been working since 1984 as drummer and percussionist with Grammy award winning band Jethro Tull.-Early life:...

. Landau was also in competition with high school bandmate Lukather to become the guitarist for Toto in the late 1970s.

His brother Teddy Landau is married to pop singer Michelle Branch

Michelle Branch

Michelle Jacquet DeSevren Branch is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist and actress. During the early 2000s, she released two top-selling albums, The Spirit Room and Hotel Paper, and was subsequently nominated for the Grammy Award for Best New Artist in 2003...

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