Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York, the only son in a family of five  children, Mike was introduced to the guitar at 13 years of age by his brother in-law Tommy, but only began to take it seriously in college. After spending two years living away at school, he returned home to work towards being a part of the local music scene in Bay Ridge, and to finish his degree closer to home.
 

Like many young people living in the area at the time, he gravitated to the canyons of lower Manhattan to seek employment and independence. While holding down a full-time job, he cut his teeth musically in the vibrant live music scene in Brooklyn, Manhattan and the surrounding areas, performing with numerous popular local acts. He continued to hone his playing and singing, and began to perform with more seasoned musicians in the area, including the Bennett Brothers. Jimmy and Peter Bennett were established players in their late teens and helped to push him to improve in all aspects of performing, as well as encouraging him to write his own music.

 

In 1999, after years playing the club circuits in and around New York City, they put out their debut record under the name Bennett McLaughlin Band, which had strong local success, but left them each hungry to get back in the studio and improve upon their freshman effort. Around this same time ,they did numerous openers for national acts including a multiyear collaboration with the great Levon Helm of The Band, spending priceless hours playing music with him in his Woodstock barn, while he was recovering from throat cancer. They also performed numerous live shows with Levon behind the drums, as well as with Rick Danko and Garth Hudson, also of The Band fame.

After taking some time to raise families, Mike and the Bennett Brothers recently reunited, and teamed up with drummer Carmine Diorio and keyboardist/producer John Ginty (Allman Betts Band, Robert Randolph and the Family Band) to create a record of new material written by Mike during the pandemic. Shake My Soul contains 10 new original songs, proving that it's never too late to create something special...

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