Michael Coleman (blues musician)

{{Infobox musical artist

| name = Michael Coleman

| image =

| caption =

| image_size =

| birth_name =

| birth_date = {{birth date|1956|6|24|mf=y}}

| birth_place = Chicago, Illinois, United States

| death_date = {{death date and age|2014|11|2|1956|6|24|mf=y}}

| death_place =

| genre = Chicago blues, electric blues, soul blues, funk, soul

| occupation = Musician, singer, songwriter

| instrument = Guitar, vocals

| years_active = Mid 1970s–2014

| label = Delmark

| associated_acts =

}}

Michael Coleman (June 24, 1956 – November 2, 2014) was a Chicago blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He was voted one of the top 50 bluesmen in the world by Guitar World magazine.{{cite web |url=http://www.bluessearchengine.com/bluesartists/c/michaelcoleman.html |title=Funky Michael Coleman: Funkiest of the Chicago Bluesmen |author= |date= |publisher=Bluessearchengine.com |access-date=November 17, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923192436/http://www.bluessearchengine.com/bluesartists/c/michaelcoleman.html |archive-date=September 23, 2015 |url-status=dead }} He released five solo albums and worked with James Cotton, Aron Burton, Junior Wells, John Primer and Malik Yusef.

Biography

Coleman was born in 1956 in Chicago, Illinois. He began his musical career at a young age, playing alongside his father, Cleother "Baldhead Pete" Williams.{{cite web |url=http://www.oldies.com/artist-biography/Michael-Coleman-Blues.html |title=Michael Coleman (Blues) Biography |author=Colin Larkin |date= |publisher=Oldies.com |access-date=November 17, 2011}} As a teenager he played with the Top 40 showband Midnight Sun and with the blues musicians Aron Burton and Johnny Dollar on Chicago's North Side. In 1975 he became a full-time professional musician. He toured Europe with Eddy Clearwater four years later. This led to work for James Cotton, in whose band Coleman played for almost ten years. Coleman backed Cotton on three albums, including Live from Chicago: Mr. Superharp Himself, released by Alligator Records.

Coleman backed Junior Wells, Buster Benton, and Jimmy Dawkins and also worked with Syl Johnson in the 1980s. He embarked on a solo career in the early 1990s. His 1987 song "Woman Loves a Woman" contained a controversial lyric, in which he confessed he was in love with a woman, but "She's in love with a woman too".{{cite book

| first= Keith

| last= Boykin

| year= 2005

| title= Beyond the Down Low: Sex, Lies, and Denial in Black America

| url= https://archive.org/details/beyonddownlow00keit

| url-access= registration

| edition= 1st

| publisher= Carroll & Graf

| location= New York

| page= [https://archive.org/details/beyonddownlow00keit/page/60 60]

| isbn= 978-0-7867-1704-0}} Coleman formed the Backbreakers as his backing ensemble in 1991. His album Shake Your Booty was released by the Austrian label Wolf Records in 1995.

His U.S. debut album was Do Your Thing!, issued by Delmark Records in 2000. It featured a mixture of material encompassing blues, soul and funk, with cover versions of songs previously recorded by Jimmy Reed, Otis Redding and Isaac Hayes. It was noted that the quality of his guitar playing compensated for a lightweight vocal accompaniment.{{cite web|author=Jason Birchmeier |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/michael-coleman-mn0001609729/biography |title=Michael Coleman | Biography |publisher=AllMusic |date=1956-06-24 |access-date=2014-01-27}}

In 2006, Coleman led a group of Delmark musicians on the album Blues Brunch at the Mart.{{cite web|url={{AllMusic|class=album|id=blues-brunch-at-the-mart-r826706/review|pure_url=yes}}|title=Allmusic ((( Blues Brunch at the Mart > Michael Coleman > Review )))}}

Coleman was overweight and had diabetes, which severely affected his health. His doctor advised a change in lifestyle, and Coleman subsequently lost 150 pounds. He started his 2010 Chicago Blues Tour by performing at Rosa's Lounge in Chicago.{{cite web |url=http://www.chicagobluestour.com/bluestour/index.php/winter2011/updates/michael-coleman-rosas-lounge |title=Michael Coleman @ Rosa's Lounge |author= |date= |publisher=Chicagobluestour.com |access-date=November 17, 2011 |archive-date=March 3, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303233204/http://www.chicagobluestour.com/bluestour/index.php/winter2011/updates/michael-coleman-rosas-lounge |url-status=dead }}

Coleman died in November 2014, aged 58.{{cite web|url=http://www.chicagoblues.com/michael-coleman-dies-58/|title=Michael Coleman Dies at 58|work=Chicago Blues|access-date=3 November 2014|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923203047/http://www.chicagoblues.com/michael-coleman-dies-58/|archive-date=23 September 2015}}

Discography

=Albums=

Year \|\| Title \|\| Record label
class="wikitable sortable"
1990	Back Breaking Blues (Chicago Blues Sessions Vol. 18)	style="text-align:center;"\|Wolf (Austria)
1995	Self-Rising Blues	style="text-align:center;"\|SAAR (Italy)
1995	Shake Your Booty	style="text-align:center;"\|Wolf Records (Austria)
1997	You Can't Take What I Got	style="text-align:center;"\|SAAR (Italy)
2000	Do Your Thing!	style="text-align:center;"\|Delmark
2002	Chicago Blues Festival 1991	style="text-align:center;"\|Black & Blue
2006	Blues Brunch at the Mart	style="text-align:center;"\|Delmark
2008	Harmony Mill	style="text-align:center;"\|Minefield

{{cite web|author= |url=http://www.allmusic.com/artist/michael-coleman-mn0001609729/discography |title=Michael Coleman | Discography |publisher=AllMusic |date=1956-06-24 |access-date=2014-01-27}}

=Selected work with other musicians=

High Compression, James Cotton (1984)
Live from Chicago Mr. Superharp Himself, James Cotton (1986)
Harp Attack!, James Cotton (1990)
Poor Man Blues, John Primer (1991)
The Great Chicago Fire: A Cold Day in Hell, Malik Yusef (2003)
"Wouldn't You Like to Ride", Malik Yusef (2005){{cite web |url={{AllMusic|class=artist|id=michael-coleman-p207360/credits|pure_url=yes}}|title=Michael Coleman > Credits |author= |publisher=Allmusic |access-date=November 17, 2011}}