Michael Patrick “Mikey” Cobban (born March 22, 1996) is an English singer, YouTuber, and manager. He was a member of RoadTrip, being part of the original lineup before announcing his departure in May 2019. He set up his own YouTube channel that same month, which attained 35K.
Michael Patrick Cobban was born to Jacqueline Cobban from Bristol, England. He has two siblings: Jon Cobban and Vicky Cobban.
When he was around sixteen years old, his first job was working with children with disabilities. He did it for about three years, and it has also influenced his decision to working with Mencap. He always thought about being a teacher and working with kids, but then the opportunity of joining a boy band was presented, and his mother was supportive of his decision. There was a college in Bristol called St. Brendans that his friends went to, and he would’ve studied health and social care there.
2014-2019: State of Mind and RoadTrip
Mikey along with former bandmate Rye Beaumont were part of the British boy band State of Mind (later renamed AddiXion), that disbanded in 2015. In the summer of joining RoadTrip, he was going through a rough time, two weeks in particular, which were really bad. In the second week, Rye contacted him, asking if he wanted to trial. They reunited, and on November 22, 2015, he officially became part of the group. Since then the band released cover songs and vlogs over their YouTube channels. They dropped two demo EPs in 2017 once becoming a five-piece by the arrival of Jack Duff. On August 2, 2018, RoadTrip’s debut single “Take This Home” was released. Around October later that same year, it was discussed between Mikey and the band’s manager, Blair Dreelan, about leaving due to time being spent away from his family, as well as his mental state.
2019-present: Solo career
On May 7, 2019, it was publicly announced of Mikey’s departure from the band, leaving at the end of April. He set up a YouTube channel the day before and posted his first video on June 5th. Deciding to remain in London, he met up with John Reavey, moving into his flat, and travelled to Croatia at the start of summer, then to Morocco. He additionally hosted the Ultimate Xmas Tour, which visited across four cities in the United Kingdom. From July 31st – August 2nd, he will be attending as a guest at Social in the City, making it his third time. In August 2020, he will host The Ultimate Boyband Tour (which was initially planned to begin in March, but due to COVID-19 was rescheduled), and is planning to run the London marathon.
On July 4, 2020, he announced of creating a new four-piece boy band that he would be the manager of, something he has worked on the past few months. The members were eventually announced, the name revealed to be ‘Let Me Know’. Mikey also announced of starting music again after releasing his first cover as a solo artist, “Nobody Knows” in August.
While in RoadTrip, he went through a period in the beginning where he wouldn’t eat, and regularly exercised to burn off calories. He also mentioned that life before the band was difficult. Around the “Cold Water” cover, at that point he was on a diet, which caused his body to go into a state called ketosis. He was extreme with it, his body not reacting well. He essentially didn’t eat any carbs and he did it for about six weeks, achieving the results he wanted, but was lethargic, not knowing what was going on, and his friends said he needed to get off of it.
While going on tour with the band to America, it fell on the same date as his brother’s wedding, ultimately leading him to choose RoadTrip over it, making him regret his decision. Later in 2018 his niece was born, and he would visit his family occasionally on his days off. Eventually it questioned his mental health, as well as inability to be there for his family, causing him to make the decision to leave. He elaborated in 2020 of how the band financially couldn’t keep going, with the low income and the manager stealing from them.
On May 12, 2020, his grandfather passed away, fighting with dementia. Mikey made a post over his Instagram two days later.
In September 2019, he announced of being an ambassador for Mencap, a UK charity organization for people with a learning disability. He also made the promise that if the Mencap fundraise reached £3000, he would dye his hair pink (the colour of the charity) up until the marathon. It ended up attaining £10,000 and in October, he dyed it. In December 2019, he along with fellow representatives from the organization released their holiday charity single, “It’s Christmas”.