Mike Gallagher began his music career on the South side of Chicago. At the age of five, he began to toy with the drums and piano. His father, who was a performing drummer in Chicago, taught him many of the fundamentals of rhythm. At the age of 8, Mike began playing the trumpet and at 11, tried his hand at guitar. Mike continued to play trumpet through to high school, however the guitar and piano began to consume most of his time.Throughout his high school and college years, Mike collaborated and performed with many artists and bands in many diverse styles. While studying jazz at DePaul University he began writing and conceptualizing a vision of what his style would consist of. When the time came for putting together an album, Mike approached engineer/producer Tom Miller about a recording project. The result of their collaboration was the album "Endless Motion". The album had great success and in 2003, "Endless Motion" placed 2nd in the national Shure microphone songwriting competition.After Endless Motion was completed, Mike began to search for a new direction in his music. He decided to spend some time in New York and hone his songwriting craft. When he returned from New York, Mike took some of his new works to his friend and engineer John Doyle. The two decided to record a three song demo in which Mike performed all of the instruments and sang all of the vocals. This was something Mike had always wanted to do and was a phenomenal feat.Currently Mike is performing as a guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist for Zzaje', Walt Cunningham and the Dartmouth/One Accord gospel choir and Lauren Frost.Other notable artists and groups Mike has performed with include R. Kelly, M.C. Lyte, Rhymefest, Kindred and the Family Soul, The Roots, Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), James Young (Styx), J. Ivy and Tarrey Torae, Eric Roberson, Brian McKnight, Roy Ayers, Malik Yusef, Rachel Yamagata, Umphrey's McGee and Darius Brooks. In performing alongside these many great artists, Mike has gained much depth in his playing style as well as his writing. Mike will be releasing his next album "Traveler" in 2008.
