{{Short description|Danish blues and soul songwriter, guitarist, singer}} {{distinguish|Michael Andersen|Mike Anderson (disambiguation){{!}}Mike Anderson}} {{Use mdy dates|date=October 2014}} {{BLP sources|date=May 2014}} {{Infobox musical artist | name = Mike Andersen | birth_name = Mikkel Dybdal Andersen | image = mike-andersen_DSC06997.jpg | image_size = 260px | caption = | years_active = 1997–present | alias = | birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1977|02|25|mf=y}} | birth_place = Rødekro, Denmark | death_date = | instrument = Vocals, guitar | genre = Blues, soul, rhythm & blues, blue-eyed soul | occupation = Musician, songwriter, bandleader | label = Black & Tan Records<br>Custom Records | current_member_of = Mike Andersen Band<br>Mike Andersen Duo | website = http://www.mikeandersen.com] | current_members = Mike Andersen: vocal, guitar<br>Johannes Nørrelykke: guitar, vocal<br>Kristian Fogh: Keyboards<br>Kristian Kold: Bass guitar<br>Jens Kristian Dam: Drums }}
'''Mike Andersen''' (born '''Mikkel Dybdal Andersen''', February 25, 1977, Rødekro, Denmark) is a Danish songwriter, singer and guitarist and bandleader of the Mike Andersen Band.
==Musical career== Already at 12 years of age, blues, rhythm & blues and African-American music had taken a firm grip on Andersen. While everyone around him in Denmark was listening to a mix of Wham!, Duran Duran and Madonna, he practised guitar along with the LPs of Lightning Hopkins, B. B. King, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Albert King, Otis Rush and many more. Later, as Andersen focused on voices and words he ventured into the soul stars and Al Green, Donny Hathaway and Marvin Gaye were added to his collection of vinyl.
At 20, Andersen met the blues guitarist Otis Grand.<ref name="danskmusik.com">{{cite web|url=http://www.danskmusik.com/dmfbook/blues/html/mike_andersen_band.html |title=Musikformidlingen DMF – Mike Andersen Band |publisher=Danskmusik.com |date= |access-date=2014-05-28}}</ref> Otis and his six piece band perfectly framed the music Mike had listened to his whole life, from raw urban blues to 1960s soul. Grand invited the young Andersen to one of his major shows in England where he participated as a guitarist in ''The Otis Grand All Star Revue'' at 'The Great British R & B Festival in Colne, England.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bluesfestival.co.uk/ |title=The Great British R&B Festival 2014 – HOME |publisher=Bluesfestival.co.uk |date= |access-date=2014-05-28}}</ref> When Andersen returned home to Denmark he had a firm resolve to form a six piece blues and soul band of his own.
Knocking around the blues and soul scene of Aarhus, Andersen soon cranked up his 'Blues Crew' band and quickly caught the attention of older, more established Danish musicians.<ref name="danskmusik.com"/> Soon he formed 'The Mike Andersen Band' whose first album, ''My Love for the Blues'' was released in 2002 as one of the last 15 years most striking Danish blues albums. It was imprinted with the relentless uncompromising attitude which has characterized his career since. Another significant studio album, ''Tomorrow'' released in 2004 and ''The Mike Andersen Band'' EP of 2006 followed along with hundreds of concerts across Europe. These included opening for The Fabulous Thunderbirds and three times for B. B. King.<ref>[http://www.vigfestival.dk/artist.php//3/12] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110719132735/http://www.vigfestival.dk/artist.php//3/12 |date=July 19, 2011 }}</ref>
The 5th Annual Independent Music Awards (2005) winner in the blues songs category was Mike and the band's ''Stuck With Me''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.independentmusicawards.com/ima_new/jukebox2006.asp |access-date=July 28, 2009|title=The 5th Annual independent Music Awards |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090501182833/http://www.independentmusicawards.com/ima_new/jukebox2006.asp |archive-date=May 1, 2009 }}</ref>
During the last half of the decade, while honing his skills working with a variety of Danish local and international musicians, Andersen was busy creating a new CD to show off his band's new sound. Two plus years in the making, when ''echoes'' was released in early 2010, Andersen was heralded as "an original interpreter of the old qualities" by the music editor of the nation's second largest newspaper, Politiken.<ref>[http://ibyen.dk/musik/cd-jazz/article988970.ece ] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610233605/http://ibyen.dk/musik/cd-jazz/article988970.ece |date=June 10, 2010 }}</ref> GAFFA, a leading publisher of music news in Denmark for almost thirty years wrote that ''echoes'' "is so far his best. Perhaps because . . . he dares to mix his interest in and enjoyment of the blues with his interest and pleasure in soul music."<ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://gaffa.dk/anmeldelse/40246 |title=Mike Andersen Band : Echoes – Anmeldelse |publisher=Gaffa.Dk |date= |access-date=2014-05-28}}</ref> Three days later the countries leading pop radio station DR P4 named the new CD their Album of the Week.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.dr.dk/P4/Programmer/Madsen/UgensAlbum/2010/06/04155642.htm|title=Mike Andersen Band: Echoes |access-date=July 9, 2010 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100610055621/http://www.dr.dk/P4/Programmer/Madsen/UgensAlbum/2010/06/04155642.htm |archive-date=June 10, 2010 }}</ref> Then the music journalist Peter Widmer wrote in the Odense Music Library's news about "Mike Andersen's voice that has evolved ... with great range, and is primarily in the center of ''echoes'', with lyrics about love, jealousy and passion as the main themes.<ref>[http://musikbibliotek.dk/sektioner/jazz_og_world/anbefalinger/mike_andersen_band_echoes] {{dead link|date=May 2014}}</ref> In a bluesinthenorthwest.com review, Grahame Rhodes reviewed thus: "''Echoes'' comes highly recommended for those who like their music soulful and full of good grooves and top notch songs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bluesinthenorthwest.com/index.php/2010/10/03/review-mike-andersen-band-echoes/ |title=Review: Mike Andersen Band – Echoes – |publisher=Bluesinthenorthwest.com |date=October 3, 2010 |access-date=2014-05-28}}</ref>
In ''Trumpet Magazine'', a Danish Music Union publication, Andersen told how he was able to connect with the Grammy Award winning producer and mixer Russell Elevado who finally mixed ''echoes''.<ref>{{Cite news | author = Mike Andersen | author2 = Mikkel Fisker | title = Mike og dragen | url=http://issuu.com/dmf-aarhus/docs/basunen_2010_02?mode=embed&layout=http%3A%2F%2Fskin.issuu.com%2Fv%2Fdark%2Flayout.xml&showFlipBtn=true | work = Basunen 2010 nr. 2 | publisher = Dansk Musiker Forbund Aarhus afdeling | pages = 18–19 | date = 2010 | access-date = 2017-09-03 | language = Danish}}</ref>
==Discography== * 2002: ''My Love for the Blues'' <small>(Five Star CD released by Black & Tan Records)</small><ref>{{cite web|author= |url=http://gaffa.dk/anmeldelse/18940 |title=Mike Andersen Band : My Love for the Blues – Anmeldelse |publisher=Gaffa.Dk |date= |access-date=2014-05-28}}</ref> * 2004: ''Tomorrow'' (CD) * 2006: ''Mike Andersen Band - EP'' (CD/EP) * 2010: ''Echoes'' * 2012: ''Mike Andersen'' * 2014: ''Home'' * 2015: ''Live'' * 2017: ''Devil is back'' * 2018: ''There she was'' * 2019: ''One Million Miles'' * 2021: ''Raise your Hand''
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== * [http://www.mikeandersen.com/ Official website]
{{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Andersen, Mike}} Category:1977 births Category:Living people Category:Contemporary blues musicians Category:Soul musicians Category:Electric blues musicians Category:Independent Music Awards winners Category:People from Aabenraa Municipality Category:Musicians from the Region of Southern Denmark