Michael J. Kouri is still a diverse person as he was when he attended Verdugo Hills School. Today, Michael has many titles including a professional classical soloist, Antique appraiser and dealer, and he is most famous as the world's first and only Paraphsychological Investigator. Michael is the published author of 25 books to date about his adventures with the spirits of both the living and the dead. He is also a world renowned, Psychic-Medium. He has appeared on dozens of international Television and Radio shows including the Barabara Walters daytime talk show The View, the History Channel, the Travel Channel, Home and Garden Channel, ABC, CBS, NBC and many more. Michael offers tours into the haunted places he'd investigated for his books in Pasadena, Hollywood, the San Gabriel and San Fernando Valley's and Orange County, too. He currently is the producer and host of his own television show called: Investigating The Unknown With Michael J. Kouri on cable Michael Kouri is still quite the accomplished singer having appeared in several Broadway Touring Shoews including The of the Opera, Les Miserables, The Secret Garden, The King And I as well as numerous weddings, funerals and parties. He actually sang for both Kathy Valadez and Renee Keener's weddings as well as Presidents, Royalty, Diginitaries alike. Yes, Michael J. Kouri is just as busy a guy today as he was back in the 1980's. Check out the year book supplement and you'll see Michael posing in one of the amazing miniature houses he used to build. I wonder if he still enjoys that hobby? Yes, he does and has been featured in Miniature Magazines, has spoken on collecting antique doll houses and is an appraiser/expert in antique toys. If you'd like to learn more about Michael of just get in touch with him, he currently hosts a web site where he provides information and so much more... Visits: http://icghosts.com/ He can also be contacted here for seminars, personal appearances, fund raisers Private Consultations, tours, Metapsychical Classes and much more. Do you have a Ghost in your house?

I have to admit that sometimes I really miss High School, like today I was shooting a segment of my new Television Show; Investigating The Unknown with Michael J. Kouri at Monrovia High School in Monrovia, Ca., It seems that the Beaux Arts and Spanish Revival buildings are haunted. As I climbed the steep ladders up to the top of the bell tower along with several interested seniors, I experienced Dejavu, remembering the times my friends and I climbed the tower at Verdugo Hills High School in search of the ghost of someone said to have taken their own life from the flagpole way back when…

Barry Manilow and Michael J. Kouri when they both appeared on the Mark & Kim Morning Show Kost 103.5

Ah, those were the good ole days. No worry of house payments or business dealings, yes, while we thought our lives were hectic, no one could prepare us for the realities of real life in the real world, no matter how wonderful a teacher they were. When I attended Verdugo Hills High School, my favorite teachers included Mr. Windsor of English, who inspired me with his clever wit and sense of humor. He knew of my interest in the entertainment industry and gave me some advice. He told me “always follow your heart and never give up no matter how many times you’re rejected, if you Believe in You, you can have anything you reach for.” I thought of him during my auditions for the Phantom of the Opera, and especially when I was auditioning for the 3rd time.

And, you know what they say: the third times the charm,” because that audition was the one that helped me become one of the most important understudies in the cast. I knocked those judges over with my own rendition of a bi-lingual Sandy Patti song called “The Villa Dolorosa.” Though I had to learn all 4 of the major male leads, working in that show was one of the most amazing experiences in my career as a professional opera singer and one I’ll never forget. Although I had to take a stage name in the process, I learned so much about the Biz, which prepared me for the other shows I would audition for and sing in as well including Les Miserables, The Secret Garden, The King and I and the Sound of Music as well as many, many others… I’ve also had the privilege to sing and perform for many amazing people in my life including Nelson Mandela, Princess Diana, in fact I was asked to dance with the Princess that night, too. She was truly a gorgeous person inside and out. I still sing today here and there in between television appearances with my books. I was hired to sing and play at two of my Verdugo Hills High School pals weddings: Kathy Valadez and Renee Keeners and have recorded 17 albums to date, some of these are Meditation CD’s. Today I not only play the piano and organ, but the harp and violin as well. All of my professional skills have come in handy while working in the studio…

Another of my favorite teachers were: Ms. Browski & Mrs. Knapp in P.E., and Mrs. Crossley my Ceramics teacher who taught me so much more about life than just mooshing my hands in wet clay, though I made some unique things and won numerous awards in later years as a sculptor. I’m still multi tasking these days and still get my hands wet in slip casting once in awhile. But through her distinct vision, her lectures and slide presentations, I learned lessons about beauty in all forms of art from French and California Impressionist painters the human body, modernism to Victorian architecture and even in the colors of the mountains behind our campus and through the mixture of both dense and vivid differences in the leaves from the giant sycamore trees that covered the lawns of our Ivy League looking quad in front of the school. I stayed in touch with many of the teachers and counselors who helped me become who I am today, but unfortunately many of them have passed on now.

I was elected to sing both the National Anthem at my graduation and the Barbra Streisand song The Way We Were in June of 1982. I always enjoyed our campus with its cool green grassy quad providing warm California breezes and shade for those who wanted to relax, read, have lunch or just hang with their friends. I remember that most of the people who signed my yearbook wrote future great actor, but I was aiming to be a professional soloist specializing in Opera. I had a fantastic boy soprano voice in elementary school, which blossomed into a Lyric Baritone voice in High School and won many competitions in the Opera field before, during and after High School. I won several scholarships and at the age of 16, I was offered the prestigious job of music director at Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Church in Sun Valley, Ca., and by age 20 became one of the first cantors at Saint Francis Xavier Parish in Burbank, Ca., I’ve sung and/or played the piano and organ for over 300 weddings and funerals in over a dozen parishes throughout the Los Angeles Arch Diocese and was one of the soloists for 2 Papal visits and continue to work in the religious communities of Los Angeles and Orange Counties to this day as a musical minister and or soloist. Christmas and Easter are my busiest times for church work.

Throughout my early career in the entertainment industry I appeared in such television shows as L.A. LAW, That’s Incredible, Unsolved Mysteries, and performed in charity events to benefit The Make A Wish Foundation and APLA where I also volunteered as an impromptu counselor to lend support to those diagnosed or dying from AIDS. This was long before they had actually formed in the huge way they are today. I also worked as a buddy for the next 4 years and helped many people learn how to heal themselves through prayer and meditation with the help of an amazing woman named Louise Hay founder of Hay House. I also helped many people through the transition of life into death and It was here that I was encouraged to start using my Psychic gifts and musical talents creating Meditation Seminars, which later became Tapes and CD’s and will soon be available on DVD, too. I believe that anyone can do anything if they put their mind to it. Healing ones self isn’t impossible at all. I’m living proof of that.

It was at the age of 8 years old, after being run over by a car in my neighborhood in Sun Valley, that my psychic abilities kicked into high gear. I could see colors around every human being, animal and plant and knew things about people when I shook their hands or just being around them. I always knew when things weren’t right but still just thought I was no different from any other child, until one day at the age of 15 or 16 as an altar boy at church I noticed a woman on the altar during the mass who was transparent. I later asked our pastor about her and he simply said; “oh that’s just the ghost of Mrs. Carpenter, nothing to be worried about.” It seems that Mrs. Carpenter was the head of the altar society for many years and after her death she still cared for the altar in her dimension. I remember how stunned I was to hear this older Irish Catholic Priest talking about the ghost as if it were nothing. And that’s the attitude I’ve always had about it ever since. To me, ghosts are as normal as you and I are in our own dimension. But on the way home from church that Sunday, my mom asked me why I didn’t receive communion and I told her because I hadn’t seen the colors in the priests hands. She asked me what colors I was talking about and I replied: “The colors I always see in the hands of the priests during the consecration of the Eucharist.” She didn’t understand what I was talking about and yet I’d always thought that this was the Holy Spirit making its presence known to everyone in the church and that it was a normal thing. Since I felt so comfortable working in the church as a musician, teaching CCD (Religious Education) on weekends and helping out wherever I was needed, I’d contemplated becoming a priest, but one day at the seminary was all I needed to see that this wasn’t the life for me!

Along the road of life I studied and worked alongside many important people including Dr. Thelma Moss Ph.D. head of the Parapsychological Studies at UCLA. It was with Thelma that I was invited to take part in a study of psychic people and it was through these studies I learned about the science of Parapsychology. I wanted to know how I could do what I could with my own psychic abilities and it was through her teaching and investigations, that I learned more about my gifts and the important ways I could use them in helping others learn about their paths as well as those spirits who are trapped on the earth plane. Other spiritual leaders I’ve studied with: Maryann Williamson of the Course of Miracles in Santa Monica, Ca., the philosophical Research Society in Los Feliz, the Alice Bailey Institute and Dr. Kenny Kingston. Through Thelmas introductions I met many movie stars and actually acted as the Psychic-Medium at Mae Wests Ravenswood Apartment house in Hollywood. There I read for Roddy Mc Dowell, Loretta Young, and many others, some of whom are now in the spirit world. I’ve truly lived an exciting life in the short time I’ve been on the earth plane. One of my friends likes to say that she’s in her 4th incarnation in this lifetime and perhaps that’s what I’m doing as well.

Back then, I read everything I could get my hands on to help me understand why I could do what I could psychicly and how I saw images flashing in front of me or felt things around others without having known them first. I didn’t understand, but somehow I knew this was my life’s quest.

Michael J. Kouri in a haunted recording studio in Glendale recording musical and meditation CD's

Many of my friends in high school knew I was psychic and often came to ask questions about their lives instead of consulting the Ouji Board. We all laughed about it and took it in jest on the outside, but on the inside I knew I had to know how this was possible. I rarely saw negative things around people because I chose not to see that part but always knew when someone was high or pregnant or near death, ( one of my classmates and I were supposed to go and shop for Prom clothing one rainy night, but I was called into work. I had a sick feeling in my stomach that night as I flipped burgers at Carls Jr. in Burbank and that night I had a dream that I was with Eva and her boyfriend and our car went off the road. The next morning I was so shocked to find out that my dream was true and both Eva and her boyfriend were killed on impact. I wondered why my life had been spared that night and now know that God had other plans for me in this lifetime.

I welcomed the challenge of the study of psychics and enjoyed every moment I spent with Dr. Moss and her colleagues for the next several years while attending school during the day, working a part time job at night, attending spiritual classes and practicing my music all at the same time. Today nearly 20 years later, I still have as busy a schedule and it is this drive that allows me to stay young. No gray hairs yet at 41 - Hooray!

I was a member of the drama club and performed in several plays including This Town (a modern version of the classic Our Town), A Christmas Carol and several talent shows. I still remember one of those talent shows where I played the piano and sang Elton Johns Your Song. During my solo, one of my fellow students (who shall remain nameless) pulled the microphone plug out of the socket so it was virtually impossible for the student body to hear me (he wanted his buddy to win the competition) though when I was finished I received a standing ovation for my efforts. No one knew I had the ability to cross over from Opera to Rock N Roll and I thank my friends Julianne Richardson, Laurie Davis, Lori Spilka and Scott Sharpe for encouraging me to try this. That little prank hurt my feelings at the time, but through the years it also gave me the strength to persevere through the encounters with other negative people who are jealous of talented people like myself. I remember being interviewed for the Los Angeles Times once and the reporter said I’d done more in my short life than most do in an 80year lifetime.

It’s true - I love knowledge. Somehow the memory of this experience made me push myself harder to strive for the things I wanted out of life. Since those early days I’ve had the privilege of meeting and/or working with some of the greatest names in show business and the entertainment industry including: Liberace (who called me a musical genius when he learned I’d taught myself to play the piano and organ and sing at the same time) Loretta Young, Jane Wyman, Bob Hope, Julie Andrews, Loyd Auerbach, Richard Senate, Phyllis Diller, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Elton John, Dee Wallace-Stone, Harold Gould, Barry Manilow, Princess Diana of Whales, Johnny Mathis, Barbra Streisand, Whoopi Goldberg, George Clooney, Cher, Oprah, Barbara Walters, Meredith Vieira, Lisa Ling, and motion picture veterans Anne Miller, Marian Ross, Betty Garrett, Marni Nixon, Shirley McLane, and many more. I’ve sung and or provided psychic readings for four presidents, two popes, royalty, sports greats and other world-renowned dignitaries including Nelson Mandela and the Dali Lama.

My friends and colleagues in both the entertainment and the Parapsychological world always tell me how down to earth, I am and how proud they are to know me and or call me friend. I feel honored by this but credit my parents for raising my siblings and I to honor all people always. I have a personal philosophy I live by and that is simply this: I live today, look forward to tomorrow and leave the past behind. I accept all people the way they are & encourage everyone who reads this to live your life to the fullest each and every day, enjoy all the wonders that God has created and given to us and remember that whatever you put out into the world or set into motion will come back to you at some point in your life. Everything we say and do reflects who we are. Today, I’m the published author of 13 books related to my personal experiences with life, history, the paranormal, real haunted houses, and teaching others how to meditate, see Auras and get in touch with their own psychic abilities.

When I was in high school and college people who met me were always astounded as to my abilities to know and try to understand how things work. They often referred to me as Michael Levi in reference to Dolly Levi of the musical Hello Dolly, the magical character who could do anything. She had business cards showcasing all of her talents. My Levi-esque business cards would read: Professional Soloist, Pianist, Organist & Harpist, Michael’s Miniature Mansions (my first business was building doll houses and the miniature accessories that went in them and was featured in our high school year book – I got my business license at age 13) Antique Dealer, Certified Appraiser, Voice and Piano Teacher, Recording Artist, Background Vocalist, Studio Musician, Music Director, Producer, Actor, Lecturer, Television Director, Published Author, Psychic-Medium, Parapsychological Investigator, Editor, and Cameraman. Whew!

Today, I still build miniature houses for special clients, and my work appears in museums and private collections around the world. I collect antique toys and have one of the largest collections of Antique dollhouses in California. I’m the president of Questers El Molino a non-profit international Antique Appreciation Club who believes in the importance of historic Preservation/Restoration, a member of the Los Angeles Conservancy, The Art Deco Society, and the Monrovia Old House Preservation Group. I’m also the founder of Antique Toys for Girls and Boys, an antique collectors research club, am a member of the Schoenhut Collectors Club and U.F.D.C.

I’ve lectured around the country for universities, elementary schools, libraries and service clubs alike and have won many prestigious awards from my books. I’m currently the producer and host of a new television show called: Investigating the Unknown with Michael J. Kouri and have appeared on hundreds of international television and radio shows that repeat year round including: The Barbara Walters daytime talk show: The View, 20/20, Warner Bros. Television production of: Ghost Ships-aboard the Queen Mary in Long Beach, Ca., French Televisions: Ghost Hunters of the World, British Television: BBC &Two Four’s: Dead Famous (Haunted Hollywood segment where I conducted séances in the homes of Jim Morrison of the Doors and Marilyn Monroe now airing on the Discovery Channel), The History Channel: Haunted Alcatraz, The Travel Channel: America’s Most Haunted Places, ABC Televisions: America’s Scariest Ghosts Caught on Videotape, Unsolved Mysteries where I conducted a Séance aboard the Queen Mary), Discovery Channel’s: Mystic Journey’s–Haunted Hollywood, FOX Family Channel’s: Exploring the Unknown (where I lead a team of psychic investigators through the Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego, Ca.), the Home and Garden Channel, the History Channel, CBS, KTLA, Fox Family Channel, Japanese, European and Australian Television and International Radio Shows: KROQ Love-Lines with Adam Corolla and Dr. Drew. Pinsky, Starr 98.7 with Jason Lewis and Lisa Fox, Coast to Coast with George Noory, Kost 103.5 with Mark and Kim, KBIG, KROQ with Kevin and Beane, KLAC with Michael Jackson, KPCC-Talk of the City with Kitty Felde, The Mother Love Show, Canadian, Japanese and Korean radio, KFI, and many more.

Some of my book titles include: Haunted Alcatraz, Haunted Houses of Pasadena, Haunted Houses of Monrovia, Haunted Houses of Glendora, Haunted Houses Within the Azusa Township, True Ghost Stories of the San Gabriel Valley, Journey Beyond the Rainbow Bridge–Animal Spirits, Haunted Houses of Orange County, Haunted Houses of Monrovia, Haunted Glendora and soon to be released: True Hauntings of the American Wild West, Bay Area Hauntings, Haunted Los Angeles, Ghost Stories of the California Missions, Historical Haunts of the San Fernando Valley, Antique Toys for Ghouls and Boys, Haunted Houses of Hollywood and Religion Has Nothing To Do With It – the truth behind the myths of Metapsychics and Parapsychology. My books are only available on my websites WWW.ICGHOSTS.COM, WWW.MICHAELJKOURI.COM and in select stores nationwide and some of my friends have found them on abebooks.com too.

The list of Musical CD’s I’ve recorded include: Musical Dreams, As If We Never Said Goodbye, American Dreams, Christmas with Michael J. Kouri, It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas, Michael J. Kouri’s Ultimate Broadway Album, and Meditation CD’s: Relaxing with Michael J. Kouri a series of 10 teaching the values of healing for men and women, Coping with Autism, Meditating, Learning to see the Human Aura, Understanding Spirituality and many more.

I want to thank those of you who nominated me for this honor in representing Verdugo Hills High School class of 1982 as an Alumni Hall of Fame member especially Renee Keener, Alex Campbell and Kathy Valadez-Sloan. I welcome anyone interested in communicating with me to visit my website at the addresses above.

Many Blessings to you always, Michael J. Kouri

Michael J. Kouri in front of a Victorian Angel Headstone in a Pasadena Cemetery