Michael Lee Firkins is an American musician born in 1967 in Omaha, Nebraska. His father was a lap steel guitarist and his mother a pianist, leading him to embrace music at the age of eight, starting with the acoustic guitar. Self-taught for the most part, he took additional lessons at an Omaha music store.

By 1979 Michael had shifted to electric guitars, playing in local bands and in church until the age of 18. In 1985 he started touring the US with cover tune bands, but quit after becoming frustrated with playing cover tunes. He returned to his home town and started giving music lessons, until he recorded a 5-song demo tape which came to the attention of Guitar Player Magazine talent scouts. As a result, in 1990 he released his self-titled debut album, which sold an impressive 100,000 copies in the US and Europe, where he even garnered an Edison Award (the Dutch equivalent of the Grammy Award).

Firkins has a unique style blending rock, country, blues and jazz, and a hybrid picking technique which combines fingerpicking and using the plectrum at the same time. He is also able to "shred" (play very fast sequences of notes, most often in solos) impressively.


Discography:

* 1990 - Michael Lee Firkins
* 1994 - The Howling Iguanas
* 1995 - Chapter Eleven
* 1996 - Cactus Cruz
* 1999 - Decomposition
* 2007 - Blacklight Sonatas
* 2008 (expected) - Since 1967

He has also worked with other artists and appears on various projects, such as Perspective (he played many of the guitar solos since Becker was unable to play the guitar because of his condition).

Firkins' official home page
Unofficial fan page
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