MIKE SANCHEZ
Boogie woogie piano is becoming something of a lost art, but the rollicking good-time music that came out of New Orleans and the West-coast after WWII provided an important cultural springboard for young kids who wanted their own kind of music. The magic lives on however, as pianists like Jools Holland and Mike Sanchez keep the flame alive for new generations of Blues lovers.
Mike Sanchez was born in Hackney, London to Spanish parents in 1964. They moved to the West Midlands when Mike was 11, and he started learning guitar as a teenager, playing with local Rockabilly band The Rockets.
Mike plays some Boogie-woogie on ‘Down the Road Apiece’;
When Mike left in 1999, The Playboys continued with singer Big Joe Louis, and they are still around today. A solo album ‘Just a Game’ had been released a couple of years earlier, and Mike set up his own Doopin Records to issue his own material, recorded by his 7-piece band with Andy Silvester on guitar, and introducing the talented Irish singer Imelda May to the club scene. Around the same time, Mike was asked to join Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, featuring Andy Fairweather Low, Eddie Floyd and Georgie Fame. They released three albums in the four years Mike was with them, and they later called him back to help open the show in December 2007 when Led Zeppelin played their historic London reunion gig. Mike also teamed up with Swedish outfit Knockout Greg and Blue Weather and came up with the ‘Women and Cadillacs’ album. This frenetic activity led to Mike being voted Best UK Keyboard Player four years running, but he also played some guitar in his live shows. For the rest of the decade Mike led his R&B band around the clubs and Festivals, and also performed with a four-piece boogie band called ‘The Portions’.

Mike Sanchez Discography
This 2003 album has a genuine 50s feel, with honkin’ horns, jangly guitars as Mike hammers the 88s and sings his heart out on this collection of rockers.