Michael Heart (born Annas Allaf, Arabic: أنس علاف‎) is a Syrian American singer-songwriter, recording artist, guitarist, Oud player, producer and audio engineer based in Los Angeles, CA. He was born in Syria and raised in Europe (Switzerland and Austria) and the United States. He started playing piano and guitar at age 10. Shortly thereafter, he began songwriting and eventually progressed towards recording. After earning his audio engineering degree from Full Sail University, he moved to Los Angeles in 1990 and began working on the local studio circuit as a session guitarist and a recording engineer. In 2008, he independently released his debut solo album "Unsolicited Material". The album is a collection of Pop/Rock songs with lyrical content covering such topics as adultery ("Living In Sin"), war ("Damaged World"), domestic violence ("Finally Free") and the challenges of making a living ("Life Goes On"). He has worked with such artists as Brandy, Will Smith, Toto, Natalie Cole, The Temptations, Phil Collins, Patty LaBelle, The Pointer Sisters, Earth Wind & Fire, Ricky Lee Jones, Lou Rawls, Jesse McCartney, Hilary Duff, Jessica Simpson, Jennifer Paige, Al Jarreau, K-Ci & JoJo, Deborah Cox, Monica, Taylor Dayne, Keiko Matsui, Steve Nieves, Luis Miguel and Tarkan ... he also worked in the studio with French artists like Calogero (Les Charts), Marc Lavoine and Véronique Sanson. Other projects also included work with producers Rodney Jerkins, Philippe Saisse and David Foster. ... most of Michael’s work has been in the recording studio, he has also done some touring (notably back in the early 90’s, when he toured as a Flamenco guitarist in a guitar trio with Juan Manuel Canizares, opening for Dire Straits) ... also recorded and toured with the smooth jazz band Jango. On most of these recording credits, Michael is credited with his real name as “Annas Allaf". Heart has also done some work as a musician for various Film & Television projects. The most recent such project involved him playing Oud on the soundtrack of American Odyssey, an NBC TV drama directed by Peter Horton, with music composed by John Debney.