I'm a classically-trained singer and songwriter with 25 years experience. I've performed in just about every genre you can name, and I take every performance seriously!
I most often perform solo, but I also work with many musicians so let me know what you're looking for and with enough time I can likely put together a group, whether you want a string quartet, an Irish folk band, an acoustic jazz group, or something in between.
1 review
Patti M.
October 20, 2026Michael Waite brought so much passion with his voice to this memorial service. I have seen Michael perform a number of times and he always gives so much to each performance.
Hired as: Singing Guitarist
Price range: Contact for pricing
Languages: English
Gig length: 5 - 180 minutes
I delight in helping create an atmosphere of fun and warmth. I have an extensive repertoire and am happy to work with clients to bring about events that suit their vision. Music adds such meaning to my life, and I love to be able to share what I know about it with others. Let me know if you need music for anything from a dance party to a funeral. I'll set up professional sound gear and make it available to you for the event. I also work with pro musicians on many instruments, if a larger group is needed.
Singer/Songwriter Michael Waite has been a part of the Marquette music scene since the late 1900’s. He's a natural outgrowth of the wild Upper Peninsula: craggy, genuine, warm as a Franklin stove, cool as a wind off Lake Superior. He writes about the intangible: natural wonder, familial love, concerns of the spirit. His latest studio album, We’ve Always Been at Home, was recorded in the house he built for his family halfway to Big Bay, two miles from the electrical grid. The sense of place on the album is enhanced by field recordings Michael made from the forest and shore nearby, as a fitting background to sensuous songs written within this same soundscape.
My repertoire is too extensive to list here. I played requests every Tuesday for 15 years. I've made a Spotify playlist of songs I can perform from memory which you can find by pasting this link: (link hidden)
Here is some recent set lists from different types of events:
--- From a swing dance event:
They Can’t Take That Away From Me
Sunny side of the street
All of me
Take the A Train
Night and Day
Autumn Leaves
Crazy
Ooh-Shoo-Be-Doo-Bee
You Never Can Tell
You Stepped Out of a Dream
All the Things You Are
Pennies from Heaven
Blue Skies
Ain’t Misbehavin
Bare Necessities
Don’t Get around much Anymore
Stay all night, Stay a little longer
You Make Me Feel So Young
Comes Love
Mana Manha (from the muppets)
Frankie and Johnny
--- Here are some of the songs I have sung at weddings and really enjoyed and found fitting:
My own songs, most of which are available on streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify:
New Love, Old Love is a good song for couples who’ve been together for a few years
If I’m Not Strong Enough
Spread the Love Around - more of a general love song than a marriage song, but someone wanted it once for a recessional and it really worked
I’m your man
The Wedding - this works good as a processional
-Cover songs I’ve sung at weddings:
True Colors
Rings - Leo Kottke (Reeves/Harvey)
How Can I Keep From Singing
He Reached Down (Gillian Welch)
I Can’t Help Falling in Love With You
Ave Maria - the setting by Bach/Gounod or my own arrangement
Jesus bliebet meine Freude (Jesu, joy of man's desiring) -Bach
Loving in my Baby’s Arms - Taj Mahal
Spring Wind or Hey Baby Hey, both by Greg Brown
Sunshine on my shoulder
Harvest Moon
La Vie en Rose
Dreams (Cranberries)
Every Night (McCartney)
Time will tell - Gregory Alan Isaacov
--- A set list from an Irish folk music event with fiddler Isaac Behrens. I organized this music into categories to better accommodate the moment at this party:
- Tune sets
AAD Flowers of Munster/Monaghan twig/torn jacket reel set
D I have two yellow goats polka set
Sliabh Luachra set
Vincent Broderick set G/D/G Haunted house/Whistler at the Wake/Old Flail
Lad’s Favorite/Leinster Buttermilk/Tim Fitzpatrick’s D/(b)D/D
Paddy F G/G
Scottishish reels in A/am/A
2 (3-part) jigs in A mixolydian
Tuttles and Ragged Hank of Yarn - D minor reels
- Rowdy and silly
Wild Rover
Real Old Mountain Dew
Whiskey You’re the Devil
Johnny MacEldoo
Sally MacLenanne - Pogues
Gentleman Soldier
Humours of Whiskey
Little Beggar Man
Irish Rover
Rowdy, more meaningful
Donegal Danny
Ballad of St. Anne’s Reel
Arthur MacBride
- A little slower
Newry Highwayman
Red-haired Mary
- Easy singalong
Whistling Gypsy
Molly Malone
- Ballads
Lonesome Robin (Bob Coltman)- Father Kelly before and after ?
Leaving of Liverpool
Paddy’s Green Shamrock Shore
Matt Hyland
Flowers of the Forest
Parting Glass
I'm influenced by all kinds of music, but genres I lean toward are singer-songwriters, classic jazz and classic country.
I can provide PA and also electricity if needed in remote locations.
Singer/Songwriter
