Michael James Cuccione was born in Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada on
January 5th, 1985, to Domenic and Gloria Cuccione. In 1994, when he was
only 9 years old, he was diagnosed with 2A Hodgkin's Disease. He
recovered from two bouts of the cancer, but was left with permanent
damage to and around his heart and lungs due to the massive doses of
treatment he received.
He then began to go on radio, television, and made many in-person
appearances at schools, hospitals and other fund raising events, to
tell people who were, or had suffered with cancer and to spread the
knowledge of the deadly cancer. But more importantly, to inspire other
people not to give up and to remain strong. Michael even met the Prime
Minister of Canada.
He later co-wrote a book with his grandmother, "There Are Survivors."
He also wrote his own music and later released 5 songs on his first CD,
"Making a difference". In 1999 Michael tried out for the role of 'Jason
"QT" McKnight.' Michael and 4 other guys (Noah, Even, Chris and Alex)
were found and formed into the boy band spoof, '2gether.' A lot of
debate went back and forth about whether all of the 5 group members
were the ones that were really singing. But later it was proved to the
world that all 5 guys could sing and were the ones in fact singing.
The movie 2gether (2000) was released in February 2000 and the soundtrack to
the made-for-TV movie also made Billboard's Top 100 Album Charts. In
August 2000 the movie became a weekly series, airing on Mondays at
10:00pm ET, on MTV. '2gether' also released another album titled
"2gether Again". A soundtrack of the 2gether: The Series (2000) show series was released
in August 2000. The album, "2gether Again", also made it to Billboard's
Top 100 Albums Charts.
The boy band spoof, had made such a hit with fans that other famous
singers and artists began to take notice of the group, and in the fall
of 2000, 2gether went on tour with Britney Spears and was her opening
act. During this time the group was also filming the 2nd season of
"2gether, The Series".
Michael began to suffer from breathing problems and had to have an
oxygen tank on the '2gether' set. His breathing problems increased and
he was forced to miss tapings of the show and group appearances. On
December 4th, 2000, he was admitted to the hospital with pneumonia. He
spent a month in the hospital, celebrating what turned out to be his
last Christmas, New Years and birthday there with his family. On
January 13th, 2001, his lungs collapsed and he died in Vancouver, with
his family by his side, just 8 days after his 16th birthday.
