Michael Austin "Mic" Murphy (born January 9, 1958) is an American musician, lead singer of the successful 1980s synth R&B duo the System. He is well known for singing the group's biggest hit, " Don't Disturb This Groove," a 1987 US #4 Pop and #1 R&B hit.

Career

Murphy was born in

Raleigh Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the seat of Wake County in the United States. It is the second-most populous city in North Carolina, after Charlotte. Raleigh is the tenth-most populous city in the Southeas ...

, North Carolina, but he moved to

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

, New York at an early age. As a young musician, he was an early advocate of MIDI music technology. Murphy was road manager for the band

Kleeer Kleeer was an American New York City–based funk, disco and post-disco band, which was formed in 1972 under the name The Jam Band, as a backup group to different disco bands and vocalists. Members * Woodrow "Woody" Cunningham (lead vocalist an ...

in the early 1980s, and through them he met his future System bandmate, David Frank. The two joined forces and made an immediate impact with their first album as the System. The single "You Are in My System," helped to usher in a new era of electronically based pop music. Several years later, the group scored its major breakthrough with "Don't Disturb this Groove."

Solo career and beyond

After The System went on hiatus at the end of the 1980s, Murphy briefly pursued a solo career. In 1991, he released his debut solo album, ''Touch'', which featured a minor R&B hit, "Fit to Be Tied." His 2004 remix with writing partner

Tim K Tim K, born Timothy John Kvasnosky, is a Los Angeles-based music producer and film composer who was born in Seattle, Washington (state), Washington, United States. Tim K composed the score (along with collaborator Jake Shears of the Scissor Sist ...

(of

Lucy Woodward Lucy Woodward is an English-American singer-songwriter. She has recorded for Atlantic, Verve, and GroundUP and has sung background vocals for Rod Stewart, Barbra Streisand, Snarky Puppy, Celine Dion, Pink Martini, Gavin DeGraw, Joe Cocker, Cha ...

's "Blindsided"), reached #1 on the Billboard Club Play Chart. He was a featured vocalist on Home & Garden's 2007 album ''Domesticated'', which was released on

Om Records Om Records is an American record label, established in 1995, which releases electronic music, dance music and hip hop. The label was founded in San Francisco in 1995 by Chris Smith. Om Records releases both artist albums and compilations, incl ...

and produced by Tim K and Timothy Shumaker.''no title''
; OM-Records on-line

Discography

Solo albums

*''Touch'' (1991)

with The System

* ''

Sweat Perspiration, also known as sweating, is the production of fluids secreted by the sweat glands in the skin of mammals. Two types of sweat glands can be found in humans: eccrine glands and apocrine glands. The eccrine sweat glands are distrib ...

'' (1983) * ''

X-Periment ''X-Periment'' is the second studio album by American band the System, released on Mirage/ Atlantic Records in 1984. The album was produced by band members David Frank and Mic Murphy. It entered the ''Billboard'' pop albums chart in 1984. T ...

'' (1984) * '' The Pleasure Seekers'' (1985) * '' Don't Disturb This Groove'' (1987) * '' Rhythm & Romance'' (1989) * ''ESP'' (2000) * ''System Overload'' (2013)

References

External links

Interview
*

''Billboard bio''
Billboard on-line
''MTV Biography''
MTV on-line
''The System (David Frank) – 2012 Audio Interview''
Soul Interviews {{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Mic The System (band) Living people Musicians from Raleigh, North Carolina American contemporary R&B singers 1958 births African-American guitarists American rhythm and blues guitarists American soul guitarists American rhythm and blues singer-songwriters American soul musicians African-American songwriters Singer-songwriters from North Carolina