Mike Pinera

Mike Pinera
Background information
Birth name	Carlos Michael Pinera
Born	(1948-09-29) 29 September 1948 Tampa, Florida, United States
Genres	Hard rock, heavy metal, blues-rock, rock and roll, folk rock
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer, songwriter, producer
Instrument(s)	Guitar, mandolin, dulcimer, theremin, bass,banjo, dobro, sitar, keyboards, tambourine, tamboura, hurdy-gurdy, pedal steel guitar
Years active	1969–present
Labels	Atco

Mike Pinera (born September 29, 1948) is an American guitarist, singer,songwriter and producer, who started professionally in the late 1960s with the group Blues Image, which had a #4 hit in 1970 with their song "Ride Captain Ride". After the breakup of that group, he joined Iron Butterfly, and later formed the group Ramatam. Pinera was then the founding member of the band New Cactus, a later incarnation of the band Cactus. He was the guitarist for Alice Cooper from 1980-1983. He is currently performing with the Classic Rock All Stars and Iron Butterfly, as well as a solo artist.

Career

Early years

Mike Pinera and his group Blues Image were co-founders and house band at Thee Image, a Miami Beach concert venue they opened and co-headlined on weekends. Blues Image soon signed with Atlantic Records where they scored the major hit "Ride Captain Ride" which Pinera co-wrote and sang.

Pinera later joined the band Iron Butterfly in 1970. Iron Butterfly released their fourth studio album, Metamorphosis with two new members, guitarist/vocalist Mike Pinera (whose Blues Image had opened for the Butterfly's Vida tour) and guitarist Larry "Rhino" Reinhardt. The album reached the top 20.

Solo career

In 1978, Pinera's first solo album, Isla, was released. It was followed by Forever in 1979. Neither album achieved considerable sales, though Forever did give birth to the single "Goodnight My Love", which reached No. 70 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart.