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| Birth Name(s) : Michael Kenji Shinoda |
Date of Birth: N/A |
| Status:
Single
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Partner:
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| Profession:
Musician |
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Full Mike Shinoda Biography
Michael Kenji Shinoda (born February 11, 1977) is an American musician, record producer, and artist from Agoura Hills, California. He is best known as the rapper, keyboardist, backing vocalist and rhythm guitarist of Linkin Park, and his side project, Fort Minor. He also provides artwork, production and mixing for both groups.
Shinoda's band (at this point called Hybrid Theory) brought in second vocalist Chester Bennington, replacing Mark Wakefield. Only one six-track EP would be released under the new name before legal issues forced them once again to change it - and thus it came to pass that Shinoda and his bandmates were to call themselves "Lincoln Park". However, the domain name lincolnpark.com was already taken, so it was ultimately changed to Linkin Park.
Throughout 1999, Linkin Park continued to expand their following amongst L.A. club patrons. This growth in popularity made a record contract an even more urgent concern for the band, and Shinoda was forced to juggle his college finals with talent showcases for various major labels; while the former went well for him, Mike and the band failed to accomplish any positive results until the year was nearly over. Several labels had passed on the privilege until, finally, Warner Bros. Records made the decision to add the young band to its long list of artists. The first fruits of this union surfaced in the Fall of 2000 as Hybrid Theory, sporting a cover designed by Shinoda himself; before long the album had found its way high into the charts, launching Linkin Park as the most popular exponent of the rap-metal crossgenre.
From the start Shinoda was closely involved in the technical aspects of the band's recordings, and over the subsequent releases that role continued to expand, with the singer tackling a fair amount of the production duties for the Hybrid Theory remix album Reanimation (2002). On the second Linkin Park release Meteora (2003) Shinoda continued his multiple duties as a musician and studio technician. In May 2003 he married children's author Anna Hillenger.
By the release of the Linkin Park and Jay-Z 'mash-up' album Collision Course in 2004, he had his hands in every aspect of the release, from performing and producing to mixing and graphic design. Production and remix work for various other performers including The X-Ecutioners.
Shinoda formed a side project named "Fort Minor" between 2004 and 2005 because he couldn't demonstrate as much of his hip-hop background in Linkin Park. He explained the name of his project in an interview:“'Fort' represents the more aggressive side of the music. 'Minor' can mean a few things: if you're talking about music theory, the minor key is darker. I wanted to name the album rather than having my name on the cover, because I want people to focus on the music, not me.”
The debut album from Fort Minor, titled The Rising Tied, was released on November 22, 2005, and includes guest appearances from Styles of Beyond, Lupe Fiasco, Common, Black Thought of The Roots, John Legend, Holly Brook, Jonah Matranga and features Jay-Z (Shawn Carter) as an executive producer.
For the NBA 2006-2007 season, "Remember the Name", the second single from The Rising Tied, became the soundtrack for NBA Overtime on TNT. It was an NBA remix version, and remains the staple song for NBA on TNT to this day. Furthermore the Big East used "Remember the Name" as its theme song for the Big East Basketball Tournament in 2006.
He also scored a Top 10 smash with the surprise hit single "Where'd You Go", which peaked at #4 on Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Shinoda has also produced tracks for albums by Lupe Fiasco and Styles of Beyond, as well as producing or co-producing several of Linkin Park's albums, including Reanimation, Hybrid Theory EP, the collaborative EP with Jay-Z, Collision Course, and most recently Minutes to Midnight. He has also produced all of Linkin Park's Linkin Park Underground CDs. Some notable production credits include:
- Styles of Beyond - Marco Polo (from the album 2000 Fold)
- The X-Ecutioners - It's Goin' Down (from the album Built from Scratch)
- Depeche Mode - Enjoy the Silence (Remixed and Produced)
- Lupe Fiasco - The Instrumental (from the album Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor)
- Styles of Beyond featuring Celph Titled - You Cannot Fuck With This (from the Razor Tag mixtape)
- Styles of Beyond - Hard (from the Razor Tag mixtape)
- Styles of Beyond - Second To None (from the upcoming album Rocket Surgery)
Shinoda also produced a song named "The Awakening", featuring The Used guitarist Quinn Allman, for the movie Chapter 27. When asked by the New York Times, in an unpublished article about the movie, Mike Shinoda stated, "John Lennon was a legend, and to be involved in this project is amazing." The song was eventually pulled from the movie.
Mike Shinoda has been married to Anna (Hillinger) Shinoda since May 2003. She is now a children's author. The song Where'd You Go, according to Shinoda, was dedicated to his wife, Anna. The couple currently resides in Agoura Hills, California. In 2004 he found his way on an episode of Punk'd in which a fire hydrant was placed next to his car during a pretend fire. In 2005 he was interviewed by Ike Barinholtz & Bobby Lee of MADtv at the 2005 Billboard Music Awards which was later aired on the series. He has also revealed that he has asthma. |
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