Mike McCready was born on April 5, 1965 in Florida, but was raised in the
Seattle. He grew up surrounded by the music of
Jimi Hendrix and
Eric Clapton. His parents were rockers. When his tastes began to branch out he began listening to bands like
KISS and
Aerosmith. He wanted to create his own music, and fulfilled that desire through the guitar. While still in junior high, McCready founded a band called Warrior, who changed their name to Shadow when they started playing school functions and birthday parties. They were a
metal cover band, playing the music of KISS,
Iron Maiden, and
Def Leppard. Soon, though, Mike began writing his own songs, and his influences shifted towards riff-heavy bands like
Van Halen and
Black Sabbath.
After high school, Shadow moved to
Los Angeles. McCready took a day job at a
record store while the band began gigging. Unfortunately, the L.A. club scene was sinking fast, and they wound up shipping back home, where they almost immediately split. Disillusioned and unsure about a career in music, Mike elected to go to college to obtain a degree. For a while he gave up
guitar entirely, until a friend convinced him to get back into it. He had soon formed a blues band dubbed
Love Chile, and was once again playing out in the Seattle club scene.
It was at a party one fateful night that Mike was playing along with an
SRV album, and guitarist
Stone Gossard heard him. Gossard was at that time a member of
Mother Love Bone, who were just about to break through into the national
mainstream. The two hit it off well, and so it was that when
Andrew Wood, the lead singer of MLB died soon afterward, Gossard called up Mike to ask him to start a new band. Mike said yes.
And so it was that
Pearl Jam was assembled. Gossard brought along MLB bassist
Jeff Ament, and the three of them scored vocalist
Eddie Vedder and drummer
Jack Irons. When their debut album
Ten was relesed only a few months later, Pearl Jam was thrown instantly to the forefront of the alternative music scene. McCready also worked on several side projects and collaborations, the most notable of which are
Layne Staley’s
Mad Season, and
Temple of the Dog with
Chris Cornell and
Matt Cameron of
Soundgarden.
http://www.xtrememusician.com/info/artists/profiles/351.html