[citation needed] Michael Hasted was expelled from school at the age of 16 for spending more time backstage at his local repertory theatre, The Everyman in Cheltenham, than on his studies.

He became involved in the music business in the mid 60s and was one of the in-crowd at Les Cousins in London's Soho from 1965-1968 and supplied some of the decor.

He continued working in the record industry as a photographer and sleeve designer photographing Hawkwind, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ravi Shankar, Tiny Tim, Canned Heat, Free, Robert Palmer and did sleeves for The Groundhogs "Scratchin the Surface",[4] Mike Batt "Schizophonia" and classical guitarist John Williams "The Height Below".

[6] His paintings have been exhibited in Europe, Japan and America and are in public collections in England, France, Greece and the United States.

In October 2014, he produced and directed John Mortimer's play The Dock Brief[11][12] at the Everyman starring Tweedy the Clown and Mark Hyde.