Chicago Mike Beck - Chicago Mike Beck (2011)

“Chicago” Mike Beck is an ASCAP-award-winning songwriter and recording artist who has been touring full-time in the USA and Europe since 2001 as a solo performer and with his band Chicago Mike’s InterGalactic Brother & Sisterhood of Big Eyed Beans. Mike has held a residency several weeks each year at the historic Bright Angel Lodge on the south rim of the Grand Canyon and has toured Europe over 30 times, performing in Switzerland, The Netherlands, Germany, Italy, France, Ireland, Belgium, Greece, Spain, Portugal, Estonia, Bulgaria and Luxembourg.

In December 2015, Mike completed his first tour of Asia, performing shows in Japan and Thailand. He has personally brought over 30 musicians on their first overseas tours and coached hundreds more. His debut self-titled album, released in 2002, has received radio airplay in the USA, Germany, Holland, Denmark, Transylvania, Romania, Macedonia and Japan.

In addition to his performing and recording endeavors, Mike is the founder of Access Film Music LLC, an organization dedicated to helping independent recording artists expose their music to directors, producers and music supervisors working in film, television, video games and advertising. Since 2004, Access Film Music has presented showcases during Film Festival Week in Park City, Utah each year during the Sundance and Slamdance Film Festivals featuring platinum selling recording artists, hit songwriters, music legends as well as exceptional as-of-yet unknown artists. Access Film Music is also the Official Music Partner of the ÉCU Film Festival in Paris, France each Spring, where Access showcase events further their mission to connect music-makers with filmmakers on an international stage.
Mike has been on the faculty of the Planet Bluegrass Rocky Mountain SongSchool in Lyons, Colorado since 2005 and has been a featured speaker and mentor at numerous music industry events and educational institutions, including AmericanaFest in Nashville, Tennessee, South-by-Southwest in Austin, Texas, Folk Alliance International, and several other songwriting camps and retreats, music conferences and film festivals throughout North America and Europe. He has also presented his music business workshops at UCLA, Berklee College of Music in Boston and Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. He is a founding partner of Song Camp Italy, a songwriting retreat that takes place in Illasi, Italy in the vineyard-covered hills about 30 minutes outside of Verona. Mike loves empowering and inspiring musicians to pursue their dreams and enjoys sharing practical ideas, methods and information to help make them real.

Mike's latest album "LOVE! It's About Time" featuring Grammy-winning harmonica virtuoso Sugar Blue has been mixed and mastered and is scheduled for release later this year.