Michael Utley | |
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 Utley Performing With The Coral Reefer Band, June 2009 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Michael Edward Utley |
| Born | 1947 (age 75–76) Blytheville, Arkansas |
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Michael Edward Utley (born 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, and musical director for Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band.
Utley was born in Blytheville in Mississippi County, Arkansas. In 1969, he graduated from the University of Arkansas 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. [1]
In college, he was a member of the Sigma Chi Fraternity. He was recognized by Sigma Chi as a Significant Sig in 2017. [2]
In 1970, Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler invited Utley to work at Criteria Studios. [1] Utley worked with the house band for Atlantic Records in Miami, Florida's Criteria Studios backing performers such as Aretha Franklin, Jerry Jeff Walker, and the Allman Brothers and in California playing with Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson.
In 1973, Jerry Jeff Walker recruited Utley to play keyboard instruments 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 record with fellow Coral Reefer Band member Robert Greenidge titled Mad Music.
Utley has produced or co-produced several of Buffett albums beginning with One Particular Harbour in 1983. Since 1981, he has toured with the Coral Reefers. [3]
Utley's son, Mick, is married to the daughter of Mac McAnally, also a member of the Coral Reefer Band. [4]
During Jimmy Buffett's 1979 song "Volcano," Utley's name is mentioned. Right before the first solo, Jimmy Buffett says "Mr. Utley." This leads into the solo. [5]
Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes is the seventh studio album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. This is his breakthrough album, which remains the best-selling studio album of Buffett's career, and contains his biggest single, "Margaritaville". It was initially released in January 1977 as ABC AB-990 and later rereleased on its successor label, MCA.
License to Chill is the twenty-fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett and was released on July 13, 2004, by Mailboat and RCA Nashville.
A White Sport Coat and a Pink Crustacean is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was released on June 4, 1973, as his first album for Dunhill.
The Coral Reefer Band is the touring and recording band of American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. The band's name alludes to both coral reefs and "reefer".
Live at Fenway Park is a live album by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It is one of a number of Jimmy Buffett sound board live albums recorded directly from the mixing console without further editing, in this sense resembling bootleg recordings.
Volcano is the ninth studio album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett and is his 11th overall. It was released on August 1, 1979 as his first album for MCA after its absorption of ABC Dunhill.
Live in Auburn is a live album by the American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett and is one of number of Jimmy Buffett sound board live albums recorded directly from the mixing console without further editing, thus resembling bootleg recordings.
Margaritaville Cafe: Late Night is the name of a series of three compilation albums by singers and bands that performed at various Margaritaville Cafes, commercial ventures of American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. The first two albums, Margaritaville Cafe: Late Night Menu and Margaritaville Cafe: Late Night Gumbo feature studio recordings including three and two songs respectively by Buffett. The third album, Margaritaville Cafe: Late Night Live, was recorded live at Margaritaville Cafe New Orleans and is credited to Club Trini, a duo of Michael Utley and Robert Greenidge, two members of Buffett's Coral Reefer Band, with other Coral Reefers such as Nadirah Shakoor. Buffett also appears on the album.
Robert Greenidge 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 with artists such as Robert Palmer, John Lennon and Yoko Ono, Taj Mahal, Ringo Starr, Earth, Wind & Fire and Carly Simon.
One Particular Harbour is the twelfth studio album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was released in September 1983 as MCA 5447 and was produced by Buffett and Michael Utley. It was Buffett's first involvement producing an album. "Stars on the Water" was a minor hit for its original writer, country music songsmith Rodney Crowell and was later covered by Texan country music singer George Strait on his 2001 album, The Road Less Traveled.
Riddles in the Sand is the thirteenth studio album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was released in September 1984 as MCA 5512 and was produced by noted country music producer Jimmy Bowen and represented a concerted shift toward a more country sound by Buffett. He appeared on the album's cover in typical country singer garb and promoted the album at Fan Fair country music festival in Nashville, Tennessee. The album was originally to have been titled Gulf and Western Music reflecting the fusion of musical styles seen in much of Buffett's music often called Gulf and Western music. In the album's liner notes, Jim Harrison says, "This album has a musical range expanding in an arc from Bob Wills to Bob Marley with the Gulf somehow always there."
Last Mango in Paris is the fourteenth studio album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was released in June 1985 as MCA 5600 and was produced by Buffett and noted country music producer Tony Brown. The album represented continuation of Buffett's shift toward a more country sound begun with 1984's Riddles in the Sand. The title of the album is a play on the title of the 1972 movie Last Tango in Paris.
Floridays is the fifteenth album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was released in June 1986 as MCA 5730 and was produced by Coral Reefer Band member Michael Utley and recorded and mixed by Jay Rifkin. The title of the album is taken from the 1941 poetry collection of the same name by Don Blanding. The album marks the end of Buffett's shift toward a more country sound that characterized his previous two releases and a return to a sound closer to that of his late 1970s and early 1980s output. The album features a wider variety of musical instruments than was typical for Buffett's previous works, notably several songs with strings and horns. His daughter Savannah Jane Buffett is credited for playing mini-conga on the album. It was also his last studio album to feature Jimmy Buffett's trademark mustache, before he shaved it off for the next album Hot Water in 1988.
Hot Water is the sixteenth studio album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was released in June 1988 by MCA 42093 and was produced by Coral Reefer Band members Michael Utley, Russell Kunkel, and Ralph MacDonald. The album was engineered and mixed by Jay Rifkin. The album was Jimmy's first album recorded at his new studio in Key West, Florida called Shrimpboat Sound. The LP continues Buffett's use of a wide variety of musical instruments than was typical for Buffett's earlier works, notably horns and percussion. Buffett shaved off his trademark mustache for the album.
Off to See the Lizard is the seventeenth studio album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. Initially to be called Stranger than Fishing, it was released in June 1989 as MCA 6314 and was produced by Elliot Scheiner and Buffett. The album is the first to feature much of the Coral Reefer Band. Following the release of this album, Buffett paused his normal output of one album every year or two and did not release another album until 1994's Fruitcakes.
Feeding Frenzy: Jimmy Buffett Live! is a live album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was initially released in October 1990 as MCA 10022. It is the second of Buffett's many live albums.
Fruitcakes is the eighteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. Initially to be called Quietly Making Noise, the album was released in May 1994. It was Buffett's first studio recording since Off to See the Lizard (1989), with its five-year gap being the longest between two albums in his career. Buffett had used the hiatus to focus on writing books such as Tales from Margaritaville (1989) and Where Is Joe Merchant? (1992).
Barometer Soup is the nineteenth studio album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. The album was released on MCA and Margaritaville Records on August 1, 1995.
Buffett Live – Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays is a live album by American popular music singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. It was released on November 9, 1999. The album's material was culled from several concerts during the Don't Stop That Carnival Tour (1998) and Beach House on the Moon Tour (1999). It was the first live album by Buffett since Feeding Frenzy was released in October 1990 and Mailboat Records' debut release.
Songs from St. Somewhere is the twenty-eighth studio album by American singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett. The album was released on August 20, 2013, by Mailboat Records.
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