English pop musician Mika first made a splash in 2007 with surprise hit Life in Cartoon Motion. The former Simon Cowell reject, who was bullied through school by his classmates, proved his critics wrong with a sugary blast of positive tunes like “Big Girl (You Are Beautiful),” “Grace Kelly,” “Lollipop”…

MIKA performs at The Fillmore in San Francisco on Sept. 18, 2019. Photos: Joaquin Cabello SAN FRANCISCO — MIKA brought his Tiny Love Tiny Tour to the Fillmore Wednesday, giving longtime fans a preview of his forthcoming fifth album, My Name Is Michael Holbrook. The show was also a great excuse to put…

Clockwise from top left: Laces, Electric Youth, Cat Clyde, Madi Sipes and the Painted Blue, DYGL and Mika. Madi Sipes & The Painted Blue, “Heavy Heart” — Madi Sipes’ soulful vocals against the trio’s rich, slow-burning synthpop are to your ears what satin sheets are to your skin. It’s invigorating…

Mika, courtesy. British singer-songwriter Mika was traumatized when his sister Paloma, one of four siblings in a close-knit family, fell 50 feet from a window and was critically injured. Paloma, who designed the covers to Mika’s first two albums, was expected to die. The accident took place in 2010,…

Mika, courtesy. This story originally appeared in the Oakland Tribune. Despite taking Europe by storm the last two years with an infectious mix of glam-pop — he went from singing radio jingles to selling out arenas, winning awards and being compared to David Bowie and Freddie Mercury — Mika isn’t…