Michael Kelly Finnigan (April 26, 1945 – August 11, 2021) was an American keyboard player and vocalist, his speciality being the B3 Hammond organ. Working primarily as a freelance studio musician and touring player, he played with a wide variety of musicians in pop, rock, blues and jazz.
Finnigan recorded Early Bird Cafe with the Serfs in the late 1960s, with Tom Wilson producing. The Serfs were the house band at a nightclub in Wichita, Kansas at the time. He then toured and cut an album with Jerry Hahn, The Jerry Hahn Brotherhood released in 1970. He recorded two solo records in the 1970s, one with Jerry Wood. He later collaborated with two other Columbia artists, Les Dudek and Jim Krueger, with whom he formed the DFK Band (Dudek, Finnigan, and Krueger) in 1978. Subsequently, his work featured on a CD by the Finnigan Brothers (NashFilms Records), a collaboration with his younger brother Sean and founding member of Bread, Robb Royer.
Finnigan was twice a winner of a Blues Music Award (formerly W.C. Handy Award) for his work with Taj Mahal as a member of the Phantom Blues Band.[2][3] He was always active politically and was, for several years, a regular contributor to the weblog Crooks and Liars.[4] In 2013 and 2014, he was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the 'Pinetop Perkins Piano Player' category.[5][6]
Personal lifeedit
He was married for 50 years to Candy Finnigan, an intervention counselor who appeared on the television show Intervention. They have two children: a daughter, Bridget, and a son, Kelly.[7] Finnigan was an active blogger, with a fondness for liberal/progressive causes and commentary.[8]
Deathedit
Finnigan died from liver cancer on August 11, 2021, in Los Angeles at the age of 76.[1]
Partial discographyedit
1969: The Serfs – The Early Bird Cafe, Capitol Records
2018: Jay-Bee & the Ultratone Allstars – Life Ain't Got No Shortcuts
2020: The Phantom Blues Band – Still Cookin'
Referencesedit
^ abWriters, CelebrityAccess Staff (2021-08-11). "Legendary Keyboardist & Session Player Mike Finnigan Dead At 76". CelebrityAccess. Retrieved 2021-08-12.
^"Past Blues Music Awards (2001) – 22nd W.C. Handy Blues Awards". Blues.org. Archived from the original on 2009-06-16. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
^"Past Blues Music Awards (1994) – 15th W.C. Handy Blues Awards". Blues.org. Archived from the original on 2009-02-11. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
^Amato, John. "Crooks and Liars". Crooks and Liars. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
^"Blues Music Awards Nominees – 2013 – 34th Blues Music Awards". Blues.org. Retrieved 2013-03-21.
^"2014 Blues Music Awards Nominees and Winners". Blues.about.com. Retrieved 2014-05-16.
^"Intervention's Candy Finnigan – the last drink's on her". Archived from the original on 30 January 2010. Retrieved 13 March 2010.