Michael "Mike" Viola is an American singer-songwriter best known as singer, songwriter and "musical architect" of a team he called the "Candy Butchers", a pop-rock band from New York City that recorded three critically acclaimed albums for Sony. A native of Stoughton, Massachusetts, Mike began his musical career in the 1980s. No recordings of his earliest musical work, however, were known to have been officially released as of September 2009. His biggest musical influences include The Beatles, Paul McCartney, Roy Orbison, The Beach Boys, Elvis Costello, Randy Newman, Elton John, Big Star, Squeeze , Crowded House, Cheap Trick, XTC and Jellyfish .