Mike Pinera

Mike Pinera
Background information
Birth name Carlos Michael Pinera
Born (1948-09-29) 29 September 1948
Tampa, Florida, United States
Genres Hard rock, heavy metal, blues-rock, rock and roll, folk rock
Occupation(s) Musician, singer, songwriter, producer
Instruments Guitar, mandolin, dulcimer, theremin, bass, banjo, harmonica, dobro, sitar, keyboards, tambourine, tamboura, hurdy-gurdy, pedal steel guitar
Years active 1969–present
Labels Atco
Associated acts Blues Image, Iron Butterfly, Alice Cooper, Ramatam
Notable instruments
Gibson ES-335[1]
Gibson Les Paul
Gibson EDS-1275
Fender Telecaster
Danelectro Shorthorn
Gibson J-200
Gibson RD
Gibson Hummingbird

Mike Pinera (born September 29, 1948) is an American guitarist who started professionally in the late 1960s with the group Blues Image, which had a #4 hit in 1970 with their song "Ride Captain Ride". After the breakup of that group, he joined Iron Butterfly, and later formed the group Ramatam. Pinera was then the founding member of the band New Cactus, a later incarnation of the band Cactus. He was the lead guitarist for Alice Cooper from 1980 to 1982. He is currently performing with the Classic Rock All Stars.[2] Pinera met the band Renegade through their manager, Kim Richards, who also managed Pinera at the time.[3] They remained close friends and appear together in the television special "Renegade Live @ The House of Blues", which was filmed before a sold out audience at the Hollywood House of Blues.[4]

Career

Early years

Mike Pinera and his group Blues Image were co-founders and house band at Thee Image, a Miami Beach concert venue they opened and co-headlined on weekends.[5] Blues Image soon signed with Atlantic Records where they scored the major hit "Ride Captain Ride" which Pinera co-wrote and sang.

Pinera later joined the band Iron Butterfly in 1970 (whose Blues Image had previously opened for Iron Butterfly on their Vida tour), and featured on their fourth studio album, Metamorphosis. The album also featured guitarist Larry "Rhino" Reinhardt. The album reached the top 20.[6]

Solo career

In 1978, Pinera's first solo album, Isla, was released. It was followed by Forever in 1979. Neither album achieved considerable sales, though Forever did give birth to the single "Goodnight My Love", which reached No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.[7]

References

  1. ↑ Video on YouTube
  2. ↑ Mike Pinera interview in St. Petersburg Times http://www.classicrockallstars.com/biography/mike.html
  3. ↑ See Richards Bio http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3249319/bio
  4. ↑ IMDb http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1343396/
  5. ↑ Mike Pinera Biography, Official Mike Pinera website.
  6. ↑ ≈WikipediaIron Btterflypage
  7. ↑ Mike Pinera in the Charts, AllMusicGuide.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Friday, March 11, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.