Mike Baker (singer)

Mike Baker (September 2, 1963[1] – October 29, 2008) was the lead vocalist for the American progressive metal band Shadow Gallery.

Mike Baker
Birth nameMichael Allen Baker
Born(1963-09-02)September 2, 1963
DiedOctober 29, 2008(2008-10-29) (aged 45)
Genresprogressive rock, progressive metal
Occupation(s)Singer-songwriter
InstrumentsVocals, bass
Years activeearly 1980s – 2008
LabelsMagna Carta, InsideOut Music
Associated actsShadow Gallery, Ayreon

Biography

Baker was an integral part in the formation of Shadow Gallery in 1985 when the band was known as Sorcerer at the time of their inception. Heavily influenced by singers Alice Cooper, Ronnie James Dio of Black Sabbath, Rob Halford of Judas Priest and Bruce Dickinson of Iron Maiden, he integrated the musical attributes of these bands and vocalists into his style of singing.[2]

Baker was primarily a self-taught vocalist, originally starting out as bass player during high school. Finding it difficult to sing and play bass simultaneously, he dropped the bass and switched over to lead vocal duties. Before forming Sorcerer, in the early 1980s he performed vocals on demos with local bands, including Nasty Nasty and Axxis.[3]

Baker also performed guest vocals on the second single Day Sixteen: Loser from Ayreon's 2004 album The Human Equation and on the Original Cast of Leonardo: The Absolute Man amongst others.

According to an email sent to the Shadow Gallery News email list on October 31, 2008, Baker died after suffering a heart attack on October 29, 2008, at the age of 45.[4]

gollark: ```rust// randomly increase/decrease one of the channels in a color by `range`fn mod_channel(rng: &mut WyRand, range: u16, n: u16) -> u16 { let rand = rng.generate_range(0, range * 2 + 1); let o = ((n as u32) + (rand as u32)).saturating_sub(range as u32); o as u16}```
gollark: This is basically just meant to increase/decrease a `u16` by a randomly generated `u16` amount.
gollark: I *think* I wanted to avoid having to convert to signed integers, so it does some weird stuff where it does subtraction instead?
gollark: I'm not actually entirely sure why and I don't understand what this is doing.
gollark: I use `saturating_sub` and stuff is converted to `u32`s.

References
  1. Mike Baker @ metalstorm.ee
  2. "Mike Baker 2000 Interview". Archived from the original on August 6, 2009. Retrieved 2010-10-11.CS1 maint: BOT: original-url status unknown (link) Accessed July 13, 2008
  3. Mike Baker 2005 Interview Accessed July 13, 2008
  4. Mike Baker's Death Blabbermouth.net Archived 2008-11-03 at the Wayback Machine Accessed October 31, 2008
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