Mike Murphy (musician)

Michael James Murphy was born 5 February 1946 in Aurora, Illinois, the son of James Owen Murphy and Mary Donna Gilman. His father was a musician and his mother was a singer and dancer with the Red Stocking Review. He began making music as a youngster with his father's band (The Jimmy Murphy Band). During high school he was a drummer in the Vaqueros Drum and Bugle Corps. The Vaqueros disbanded in 1963 but he was a major influence in their drum section. He was in the band at East Aurora High School and was a quarterback on their football team, graduating in 1964. After a year at Doan College in Nebraska, he joined the U.S. Navy and served as an instructor in the Navy School of Music. He returned to Aurora in the early 1970s, married, had three children and became an instructor at the Fox Valley Raiders Drum And Bugle Corps and was on their board of directors [1]

He was a professional musician in both Chicago and Los Angeles as a studio drummer, jingle producer, educator, live performer, and manufacturer, serving as Operations Director for DW drums. He toured five years with the Grammy Award-winning band Chicago as a drum and computer technician, bridging the gap into digital technology, developing protocol for use of sequencing in live performance; executing the same for Yanni and Manhattan Transfer.

Murphy moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1994, to support his wife as caregiver for her mother. He became a custom integrator of audio, video, lighting, and security systems. He died from a lung complication on April 11, 2006.[5][6][7] He was buried at Knollwood Cemetery in Mayfield Heights, Ohio, on April 18, 2006.[8]