Michael Urbano (born March 19, 1966 in

Sacramento, California ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento C ...

, USA) is a musician, programmer, and record producer.

Career

One of Urbano's first gigs was as a member of Bourgeois Tagg, a 1980s band that was fronted by

Brent Bourgeois Brent Thomas Bourgeois (born June 16, 1958) is an American rock musician, songwriter, and producer. He was co-leader of the band Bourgeois Tagg with Larry Tagg, and has released several solo albums. His later work has been classified in the gen ...

and Larry Tagg and included

Lyle Workman Lyle Dean Workman is an American guitarist, composer, session and touring musician, and music producer. His music has been widely distributed since his debut on the eponymous '' Bourgeois Tagg'' album in 1986, and is known for his work as compos ...

as the guitarist. They had moderate success with their second album, ''Yo-Yo'', which was produced by

Todd Rundgren Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, multimedia artist, sound engineer and record producer who has performed a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the band Ut ...

, and featured the Top 40 hit, "I Don't Mind At All." When Bourgeois Tagg split, Michael, Larry, and Lyle recorded and toured with Todd Rundgren for his '' Nearly Human'' Tour. While with

John Hiatt John Robert Hiatt (born August 20, 1952) is an American singer-songwriter. He has played a variety of musical styles on his albums, including new wave, blues, and country. Hiatt has been nominated for nine Grammy Awards and has been awarded ...

(1995–1999), Urbano toured extensively as one of Hiatt's "Nashville Queens" that included bassist Davey Faragher (

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer-songwriter and record producer. He has won multiple awards in his career, including a Grammy Award in ...

) and guitarist

David Immergluck David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

(

Counting Crows Counting Crows is an American rock band from San Francisco, California. Formed in 1991, the band consists of guitarist David Bryson, drummer Jim Bogios, vocalist Adam Duritz, keyboardist Charlie Gillingham, David Immerglück, bass guitarist Mil ...

). The Nashville Queens also worked with Hiatt in the studio, recording '' Walk On'', '' Little Head'' and ''

Crossing Muddy Waters ''Crossing Muddy Waters'' is singer-songwriter John Hiatt's fifteenth album, released in 2000. A raw album recorded with no drummer, it was a purely acoustic album that brought elements of bluegrass music into his Americana sound. It was nomin ...

''. Urbano is perhaps best known today for being drummer for pop rock group

Smash Mouth Smash Mouth is an American rock band from San Jose, California. The band was formed in 1994, and was originally composed of Steve Harwell (lead vocals), Kevin Coleman (drums), Greg Camp (guitar), and Paul De Lisle (bass). With Harwell's depar ...

. He originally joined the band briefly in mid-1999, replacing original drummer Kevin Coleman, and performed during the first portion of their ''

Astro Lounge ''Astro Lounge'' is the second studio album by American rock band Smash Mouth, released on June 8, 1999, by Interscope Records. It includes the single " All Star", arguably the group's most well-known song, which nearly topped the US ''Billboard ...

'' tour, though was soon replaced by touring drummer Mitch Marine. When Marine departed, he joined Smash Mouth permanently in early 2000. He stayed for six years and departed on February 14, 2006. Before Smash Mouth, Urbano had played drums with The Spent Poets, The Kinetics,

Deathray Deathray (1998–2007) was a band from Sacramento, California, formed by former Cake members Greg Brown and Victor Damiani, and Dana Gumbiner, a musician formerly of the Sacramento indie band Little Guilt Shrine. After leaving Cake, Brown an ...

Third Eye Blind Third Eye Blind is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California, in 1993. After years of lineup changes in the early and mid-1990s, the songwriting duo of Stephan Jenkins and Kevin Cadogan signed the band's first major-label recor ...

Black Lab Black Lab is an alternative rock band founded by Paul Durham in Berkeley, California and currently based in Los Angeles and Montana. They released their debut album on Geffen Records, entitled '' Your Body Above Me'', and scored two rock radio ...

, Cracker,

Paul Westerberg Paul Harold Westerberg (born December 31, 1959) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for the Replacements. Following the breakup of the Replacements, Westerberg launched a solo career that saw him re ...

, Red House Painters,

Willy DeVille Willy DeVille (born William Paul Borsey Jr.; August 25, 1950 – August 6, 2009) was an American singer and songwriter. During his thirty-five-year career, first with his band Mink DeVille (1974–1986) and later on his own, DeVille created orig ...

Camper Van Beethoven Camper Van Beethoven is an American rock band formed in Redlands, California in 1983, later based in Santa Cruz and San Francisco. Their style mixes elements of pop, ska, punk rock, folk, alternative country, and world music. The band init ...

, and

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, pop, country, folk, and blues. She has released eleven studio albums, five compilations and three li ...

. In 2006 Urbano left Smash Mouth due to creative differences. He recorded with

Fischerspooner Fischerspooner were an electroclash duo and performance troupe formed in 1998 in Chicago after meeting in school. The name is a combination of the founders' last names, Warren Fischer and Casey Spooner. Career Originally a duo formed by classi ...

and played live with

Cake Cake is a flour confection made from flour, sugar, and other ingredients, and is usually baked. In their oldest forms, cakes were modifications of bread, but cakes now cover a wide range of preparations that can be simple or elaborate, ...

as well as leading Artist Development at fuzz.com. In July 2007, he worked with

Luciano Ligabue Luciano Riccardo Ligabue (born 13 March 1960), commonly known as Ligabue or Liga, is an Italian singer-songwriter, film director and writer. Biography Ligabue was born in Correggio, in the province of Reggio Emilia (Emilia-Romagna egl, Emig ...

for recording a new song, "Niente paura". In early 2008 he became a band member with Luciano Ligabue, playing drums for the European Tour, and through mid-2008 in the main stadiums of Italy for the ElleSette tour. He was also in the band for the seven dates at

Verona Arena The Verona Arena ( it, Arena di Verona ) is a Roman amphitheatre in Piazza Bra in Verona, Italy built in 30 AD. It is still in use today and is internationally famous for the large-scale opera performances given there. It is one of the best p ...

in September and October 2008 with the Arena's orchestra, and during the same months of 2009 for ten concerts. Urbano rejoined Smash Mouth in June 2009, but was replaced by

Randy Cooke Randy Cooke is a Canadian drummer, percussionist, session musician, and touring musician. Biography Influenced by his drummer father, Cooke picked up the drums as a child, learning and playing as part of a local drum corps before starting his ow ...

in 2010. Urbano reportedly will be playing at least one show with newly formed XEB on Dec 31, 2016. XEB is formed from ousted original members from Third Eye Blind. XEB consists of Kevin Cadogan, Arion Salazar and Tony Fredianelli. As of 2022, Urbano is the touring drummer for

Lindsey Buckingham Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born October 3, 1949) is an American musician and record producer, best known as the lead guitarist and male lead vocalist of the band Fleetwood Mac from 1975 to 1987 and 1997 to 2018. In addition to his tenure with Fl ...

References

External links

Michael Urbano radio interview on Rundgren Radio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Urbano, Michael Living people 1960 births American rock drummers American session musicians Smash Mouth members Third Eye Blind members Musicians from Sacramento, California 20th-century American drummers American male drummers Camper Van Beethoven members Black Lab members Cracker (band) members