Michael Furlong is a native of Carson City, Nevada,
and a Carson High graduate from the class of 1971.

From 1980 – 1987, his music career brought him to Hawaii and then Sacramento, where he was managed by The Bruce Cohn Management Company while signed to Atlantic Records.

During that time, he released four records:
 

•  Use It Or Lose It (Atlantic Records),  USA, 1984)

• Head On Rock 'N’ Roll (Roadrunner Records, UK/EU & Japan,1984)  

• Breakaway (Music For Nations, UK/EU, 1987)

• Reign Of Terror (under the name 'Wild Dogs,' Enigma Records, internationally, 1988)  
   

As a solo artist, he performed on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand," Showtime, VH-1, and various other music video programs internationally. 
The video for the titular single off of his Atlantic release, "Use It Or Lose It," appeared in regular rotation on MTV.  "Use It Or Lose It" also charted in Billboard Magazine, with 176 radio stations playing the track coast to coast. 
His "Head On Rock 'N’ Roll" album was the #2 import record to England, where two singles were also released off of the "Breakaway" record.

 

Michael has appeared in Creem, Rolling Stone, Kerrang!, Hit Parader, and other publications.
 

In more recent years, Michael Furlong has been recognized as the United States' premier tribute to Tom Petty.  He has been performing his Petty Theft show throughout the United States since 1990, appearing at festivals, state fairs, and casino showrooms. Tom Petty himself made mention of Michael’s show in a 1996 Rolling Stone Magazine interview, on the internationally syndicated radio show "Rock Line" and on "MTV's Top 20 Countdown." Petty Theft performed in 2008 at Disneyworld Florida’s Epcot Center with Tom Petty’s written permission.