‘I met my wife in kindergarten’: The secret to this happy marriage

Michael Paynter is a musician best known for his 2010 hit single Love the Fall. Here, the 38-year-old shares his first celebrity crush, touring with Miley Cyrus in 2011 and how his mum inspired his love of music.

I’ve had attention from girls just because I was in the high school band, so you realise it’s just part of the job.Credit: WireImage

My maternal grandmother, Valerie, was a fantastic, powerful woman. She worked as a dairy farmer in NSW before she married my pa. She was a gifted British cook who, in her older years, became very entrepreneurial.

Her days were spent baking and then freezing – an entire bedroom of her Melbourne retirement home was full of chest freezers. Then, every Thursday, she’d go to one of her four children’s high school staff rooms and sell chicken pies to the teachers so they didn’t have to go home and cook. She did that until she was about 85.

My grandmother died in her early 90s. I still miss her. In her honour, my six-year-old daughter Presley has Valerie as her middle name.

My parents, Rick and Marcy, are pastors at a church in Frankston [in south-east Melbourne] where I was christened. Mum is unlike anyone I’ve ever met – able to do a million things at a time and not looked frazzled. She runs a successful independent theatre company out of the church, paints daily and puts on arts shows. Mum is also very kind. A lot of what I’ve achieved in my life I put down to her.

I’d watched Mum play piano in church and while I was in primary school she asked if I wanted to try. She said if I didn’t want to do it after a year, I could quit. I fought it tooth and nail the entire year, but then somewhere around 11 months and 29 days, I decided I loved it and kept going.

I had unrelenting energy as a teenager and was hyper confident. Maybe that energy was what allowed me to get signed to Sony Records at 19 and feel like I could sing around the world. That youthful confidence comes in handy sometimes.

My first celebrity crush was Teri Hatcher. When I saw her in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, I remember thinking, “That woman is pretty.”

I met my wife, Keinzley, when I was in kindergarten. We met again at high school and started dating when I was 17. She was legitimately the prettiest girl in school and carried herself with this air of ease. She’s also extremely wise. We’ve been married 10 years this November and have three daughters: Presley, 6, Denver, 4, and Rhodes, eight months. I am the luckiest man in the world.

I toured with Miley Cyrus in 2011. She is a phenomenal singer who is chronically underrated. I remember hearing her perform Sheryl Crow’s If It Makes You Happy at sound check. My band and I were knocked off our feet by how well she sang it. She is a pop star, but she can really wail.

After competing in The Voice in 2013, I didn’t notice any additional attention from women. I’ve had attention from girls just because I was in the high school band, so you realise it’s just part of the job. I’ve noticed a lot more middle-aged women liking my Facebook page. Playing guitar in Jimmy Barnes’ band and with Icehouse probably helped that a bit.

Straight out of high school I played guitar for Michael Gudinski’s daughter, Kate, in her band. Michael introduced me to Jimmy Barnes, so I’ve known Mahalia Barnes since I was 17. She is an absolute warrior and a world-class singer.

Just after COVID, Mahalia asked me to take her place as a backing singer and guitarist in Jimmy’s band. Then she put my name forward to the producers of Jesus Christ Superstar. I’d never done theatre, nor spoke about doing it, but Mahalia said she wanted me to and that I’d be great as Jesus. She has championed me behind closed doors, and I am eternally grateful.

Mahalia sent me her audition tape of I Don’t Know How to Love Him. It wasn’t one of my favourite songs from the production, but after seeing her sing it, it became my favourite. Mahalia, as Mary, is going to pull a depth and soul out of that song that I don’t think people know is in it. She is going to do some powerful sonic damage when she sings it, and I look forward to seeing that happen.

Jesus Christ Superstar is on at Sydney’s Capitol Theatre before heading to Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane.

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