Michael Tellinger graduated from Wits University in 1983 with a B.Pharm degree. While studying he spent most of his time moving within the entertainment circles performing on stage and screen. He started his career in Nick Taylor's musical "Christian" at His Majesty's theatre in 1980 and followed this by playing the part of "Joseph" at the opening of the State Theatre. At this time he launched his solo career as a musician and released his first single called "Hazel" in 1981, which was nominated for a SARIE award. In 1982 Michael teamed up with Russell Stirling and formed the musical duo "Stirling & Tellinger". The two played together for four years and had a number of radio hits with "Call Me" and "What's a Nice Girl Like You, Doing In a Place Like This" Their videos took the market by storm and laid the foundation for many of the SA music videos of the early 80's. The "Call Me" video was voted among the top two most popular videos at MIDEM in Cannes 1984. In 1985 the duo recorded an album in Nashville, under the guidance of Terry Dempsey. During a year in Los Angeles he attracted the attention of various agents but because of the cultural boycott against white South African musicians, the duo was bluntly rejected. Michael worked for Cannon Films as a sound designer and editor, returning to SA in mid 1986, when he recorded the controversial anti-apartheid song "We come from Johannesburg" which was banned shortly after its release. Michael continued his career as an actor and musician, appearing as one of the leads in South Africa's first soapie called "Orpen House" and as the lead in a six-episode series "The Star Shooters' in 1987 for which he created the soundtrack. He presented a variety of hit SABC shows like "Graffiti' and "Fast Forward". His experience with SABC led him to get involved in TV production and he created shows like the talk show called "Late Nite Live" and "Weekend Bonus". Began a career in advertising as a writer and received a Clio award in New York in 1989 which caused Michael to join partner Philip Botha in a specialist radio ad agency called Airheads which became a highly competitive and visible niche player in the South African advertising industry. In 1997 Michael returned to music and launched Nebula BOS Records. His latest contribution to the arts was "Side By Side With Angels", a moving collaboration of SA musicians for the TSUNAMI disaster fund, which Michael wrote and produced with Verny Scholtz of Just Ginger fame. The song and video featured a host of leading SA artists like Malaika, Dr. Victor, Watershed, Dawnay and others. In 2000 he was given his own weekly radio show on Cape Talk radio that dealt with science, innovation, technology and success stories. In 2001 Michael developed an educational TV show for the SABC which resulted in him staring a publishing company, writing a number of children's educational story books, developing a literacy programme, and a range of games and AV products. He has written a number of screenplays but "Slave Species of god" is his first published non-fiction book, as a result of a 25-year obsession with science and the cosmos. - www.slavespecies.com