Michael Stewart (musician)

Michael “Mike” Stewart (April 19, 1945 – November 13, 2002) was the co-founder and guitarist for We Five.

Life and Career

Stewart was the brother of John Stewart (1939–2008), a one-time member of The Kingston Trio and later a very successful singer/songwriter, and the father of Jamie Stewart, frontman of popular avant-garde group Xiu Xiu. Stewart eventually became a successful record producer, with one of his biggest successes being Billy Joel's Piano Man.

He left the music industry in the early 1990s and became a computer programmer. He later played bass in his son's band The Indestructible Beat of Palo Alto (IBOPA).[1]

Stewart died on November 13, 2002, reportedly a result of "a long illness."[2] However, Jamie Stewart has acknowledged that his father's death was, in fact, a suicide.[3]

The track "Mike" from Xiu Xiu's album Fabulous Muscles concerns Jamie's reaction to his father's death.

Wounds to Bind: A Memoir of the Folk-Rock Revolution, a reminiscence by We Five co-founder Jerry Burgan incorporating Burgan's childhood friendship with Stewart, ponders Stewart's death, life and creative drive.[4]

References

  1. ↑ Espe, Erik (May 31, 1996), "They got the Beat", Palo Alto Weekly, retrieved February 25, 2010
  2. ↑ "Michael Stewart". Variety. November 18, 2002.
  3. ↑ "Jamie Stewart: Where Xiu Xiu's New Album 'Always' Really Came From". Huffington Post. March 29, 2012. Retrieved August 26, 2013.
  4. ↑ https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780810888616