Michael Edward Utley (born 1947) is an American

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates 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 genre and film scoring. ...

record producer A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensu ...

, and was the musical director and keyboard player for

Jimmy Buffett James William Buffett (December 25, 1946 – September 1, 2023) was an American singer-songwriter, author, and businessman. He was known for his tropical rock sound and persona, which often portrayed a lifestyle described as "island escapis ...

Coral Reefer Band The Coral Reefer Band is the touring and recording band of American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett (until Buffett's death in September 2023). The band's name alludes to both coral reefs (in line with Buffett's tropical-themed music) and "reefe ...

. After Buffett's death he retired from touring and was replaced by his son Mick who had been in the band in a part-time role for a few years.

Early life and education

Utley was born in Blytheville in Mississippi County,

Arkansas Arkansas ( ) is a landlocked state in the West South Central region of the Southern United States. It borders Missouri to the north, Tennessee and Mississippi to the east, Louisiana to the south, Texas to the southwest, and Oklahoma ...

. In 1969, he graduated from the

University of Arkansas The University of Arkansas (U of A, UArk, or UA) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Fayetteville, Arkansas, United States. It is the Flagship campus, flagship campus of the University of Arkan ...

with a degree in zoology. He then debated either taking pre-med lab exam or going to Memphis and help Tony Joe White record his second album and chose the latter. In college, he was a member of the

Sigma Chi Sigma Chi () International Fraternity is one of the largest North American social Fraternities and sororities, fraternities. The fraternity has 244 active undergraduate chapters and 152 alumni chapters across the United States and Canada and has ...

fraternity. He was recognized by Sigma Chi as a Significant Sig in 2017.

Career

In 1970,

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 the course of its first two decades, starting from the release of its first recor ...

executive

Jerry Wexler Gerald Wexler (January 10, 1917 – August 15, 2008) was a music journalist turned music producer, and was a major influence on American popular music from the 1950s through the 1980s. He coined the term "rhythm and blues", and was integra ...

invited Utley to work at

Criteria Studios Criteria Studios is a recording studio in North Miami, Florida, founded in 1958 by musician Mack Emerman. Hundreds of gold, platinum, and diamond singles and albums have been recorded, mixed or mastered at Criteria, for many notable artists and ...

. Utley worked with the house band for

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

backing performers such as

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Roll ...

Jerry Jeff Walker Jerry Jeff Walker (born Ronald Clyde Crosby; March 16, 1942 – October 23, 2020) was an American country and folk singer-songwriter. He was a leading figure in the progressive country and outlaw country music movement. He also wrote t ...

, and the Allman Brothers and in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

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 (June 22, 1936 – September 28, 2024) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was a pioneering figure in the outlaw country movement of the 1970s, moving away from the polished Nashville sound and toward a m ...

. In 1973, Jerry Jeff Walker recruited Utley to play

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

s on Buffett's first major label album, '' A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean''. 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 or instrumental song is music without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through Semantic change, semantic widening, a broader sense of the word s ...

record with fellow Coral Reefer Band member

Robert Greenidge Robert Greenidge (born 28 April 1950 in Success Village, Laventille, Trinidad) is a steelpan player. He is a member of popular music singer Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band and the instrumental group Club Trini. Greenidge has also collaborated ...

titled ''Mad Music''. Utley has produced or co-produced several of Buffett albums beginning with ''

One Particular Harbour ''One Particular Harbour''The album title is spelled with the British spelling ''harbour'' even in U.S. releases. is the twelfth studio album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was released in September 1983 as MCA 5 ...

'' in 1983. From 1981-2023, he toured full-time with the Coral Reefers.

Personal life

Utley's son, Mick, is married to the daughter of Mac McAnally, also a member of the Coral Reefer Band. After Buffett's death Michael retired from touring and his son Mick took over the role of playing the keyboards fulltime in the Coral Reefer Band.

In popular media

During Jimmy Buffett's 1979 song "

Volcano A volcano is commonly defined as a vent or fissure 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 oft ...

," 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 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). ''Margaritaville Cafe: Late Night Live''. (2000).

References