Michael Edward Utley is an American

musician A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who w ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

, and

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

for

Jimmy Buffett James William Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and businessman. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffe ...

's Coral Reefer Band. He is the musical director of the band. Born in

Blytheville Blytheville is the county seat and the largest city in Mississippi County, Arkansas, United States. It is approximately north of West Memphis. The population was 13,406 at the 2020 census, down from 15,620 in 2010. History Blytheville was found ...

in Mississippi County,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the South Central United States. It is bordered by Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, and Texas and Oklahoma to the west. Its name is from the ...

, he graduated from the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a public land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas. It is the flagship campus of the University of Arkansas System and the largest university in the state. Founded as Arkansas ...

where he was initiated into the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He was recognized by Sigma Chi as a Significant Sig in 2017. Early in his career, Utley worked with the house band for

Atlantic Records Atlantic Recording Corporation (simply known as Atlantic Records) is an American record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegun and Herb Abramson. Over its first 20 years of operation, Atlantic earned a reputation as one of the most ...

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

's Criteria Studios backing performers such as

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the "Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

, Jerry Jeff Walker, and the Allman Brothers and in

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

playing with

Rita Coolidge Rita Coolidge (born May 1, 1945) is an American recording artist. During the 1970s and 1980s, her songs were on '' Billboard'' magazine's pop, country, adult contemporary, and jazz charts, and she won two Grammy Awards with fellow musician and th ...

and

Kris Kristofferson Kristoffer Kristofferson (born June 22, 1936) is a retired American singer, songwriter and actor. Among his songwriting credits are "Me and Bobby McGee", " For the Good Times", "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down", and " Help Me Make It Through the Ni ...

. Jerry Jeff Walker recruited Utley to play

keyboard instrument A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument played using a keyboard, a row of levers which are pressed by the fingers. The most common of these are the piano, organ, and various electronic keyboards, including synthesizers and digital pianos ...

s on Buffett's first major label album, '' A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean'', in 1973. Utley continued to work with other performers in the mid-1970s while appearing on Buffett's subsequent albums until Buffett's 1977 breakout '' Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes'' when he joined the Coral Reefer Band full-time. Utley has title credit on several albums, the first being an

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instr ...

record with fellow Coral Reefer Band member Robert Greenidge titled ''Mad Music''. Utley has gone on to produce or co-produce a number of Buffett albums beginning with '' One Particular Harbour'' in 1983. He has toured with the Coral Reefers ever since. During the song "

Volcano A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates ...

," Utley's name is mentioned. Right before the first solo, Jimmy Buffett says "Mr. Utley." This leads into the solo.

Discography

*Robert Greenidge & Michael Utley (as Club Trini). ''Mad Music''

MCA MCA may refer to: Astronomy * Mars-crossing asteroid, an asteroid whose orbit crosses that of Mars Aviation * Minimum crossing altitude, a minimum obstacle crossing altitude for fixes on published airways * Medium Combat Aircraft, a 5th gene ...

5695. (1986). re-released on CD (11/05). *Robert Greenidge & Michael Utley (as Club Trini). ''Jubilee'' (1987). re-released on CD (12/05). *Robert Greenidge & Michael Utley (as Club Trini). ''Heat'' (1988). *Robert Greenidge & Michael Utley (as Club Trini). ''Club Trini''. (1996). *Robert Greenidge & Michael Utley (as Club Trini). ''Back in Town''. (1999). *Robert Greenidge & Michael Utley (as Club Trini). ''Margarita Cafe: Late Night Live''. (2000).

References

*Steve Eddington
"His Attitude about Music Hasn’t Changed."
''Front Porch Magazine''. July 2007. Accessed 1 October 2007. *Brian Berusch
"Passing Through Town... Jimmy Buffett's Longtime Keyboardist, Michael Utley"
''Bon Hawaii''. September 2009. Accessed 30 June 2016.
"Michael Utley"
Arkansas Entertainers Hall of Fame. Accessed 30 June 2016.

References

1947 births Living people People from Blytheville, Arkansas Record producers from Arkansas American session musicians Songwriters from Arkansas University of Arkansas alumni American rock keyboardists American rock pianists American male pianists American organists American male organists 21st-century American keyboardists 20th-century American pianists Coral Reefer Band members 21st-century American pianists 21st-century organists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians 20th-century American keyboardists American male songwriters {{US-keyboardist-stub

Discography

See also

References

References