Paul Mirkovich
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Paul Mirkovich (born March 20, 1963) is an American musician from
Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, largest city in the U.S. state, state of California and the List of United States cities by population, sec ...
. He has been the band leader, keyboardist and duet singing partner for Cher for the last 16 years. He has also been the band director for Janet Jackson and Anastacia and a member of the multi-platinum bands
Whitesnake Whitesnake are an English hard rock band formed in London in 1978. The group was originally put together as the backing band for singer David Coverdale, who had recently left Deep Purple. Though the band quickly developed into their own en ...
and
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. Mirkovich played a role in
Brett Garsed Brett Edward Garsed (born 20 April 1963) is an Australian musician and songwriter, best known for his work as a guitarist with John Farnham and T. J. Helmerich, as well as being a former member of the American band Nelson. Garsed was featu ...
and T. J. Helmerich's albums Quid pro quo (1992) and Exempt (1993). Paul has also performed and recorded with Peter Gabriel and
Shawn Colvin Shawn Colvin (born Shawna Lee Colvin, January 10, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter and musician. While Colvin has been a solo recording artist for decades, she is best known for her 1998 Grammy Award-winning song " Sunny Came Home". Early ...
, among many others. Paul and the House Band toured the United States with
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(from
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) in October/November 2006 as well as Australia in April 2007. Mirkovich currently serves as musical director of NBC's talent competition, "
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", which is produced by Mark Burnett. For "The Voice" he has arranged over 2000 songs and over 1000 iTunes recordings for the show. In addition to playing for coaches Adam Levine,
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, Usher, Pharrell Williams,
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and Gwen Stefani on "The Voice", he has also played with many other artists including
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, Ellie Goulding,
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, Ariana Grande, and Cher. Mark Burnett was also executive producer of Rock Star, on which Mirkovich also served as musical director. Mirkovich is of Croatian descent. Mirkovich also serves as a record producer. In November 2021, singer-songwriter
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released her second re-recorded album ''
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''. Mirkovich co-produced three songs of the album with Swift and Christopher Rowe, including "Sad Beautiful Tragic", "Starlight", and "The Moment I Knew".


Musical Director of the Rock Star House Band

Paul received a call from the music producer of Rock Star, Clyde Lieberman, and was asked to audition for the role of musical director for the show. He competed against 11 other musical directors who had also put bands together (a total of 75 - 80 musicians auditioned). Paul got the gig. Two of his band members,
Rafael Moreira Rafael Moreira is a Brazilian-American guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and record producer, best known as the lead guitarist / vocalist on the hit CBS television shows '' Rock Star: INXS'' and '' Rock Star: Supernova'', MTV's ''Rock The Cradle ...
(lead guitar) and
Sasha Krivtsov Alexander Sasha Krivtsov, (born June 6, 1967) is a Russian bassist, best known as the bass player for the house band on the TV reality shows '' Rock Star: INXS'', '' Rock Star: Supernova'' and ''The Voice''. He has played with singer-songwriter Van ...
(bass), were also hired. Jim McGorman (rhythm guitar, keyboards) and
Nate Morton Nate Morton (born December 30) is an American drummer. He is the drummer for the house band on NBC's TV show ''The Voice''. In 2005 and 2006 Morton appeared on the Mark Burnett's '' Rock Star: INXS'' and '' Rock Star: Supernova'' reality shows, ...
(drums, percussion) were hired from the other auditioning bands. Paul has also served as musical director/keyboardist for Pink from 2006 till the present. Besides Cher and Pink he has served as musical director for Janet Jackson, Christina Aguilera,Hilary Duff and others. ''Alongside
Paul Shaffer Paul Allen Wood Shaffer (born November 28, 1949) is a Canadian singer, composer, actor, author, comedian, and multi-instrumentalist who served as David Letterman's musical director, band leader, and sidekick on the entire run of both ''Late Ni ...
, Paul Mirkovich is arguably the most visible keyboardist on the planet. As musical director and keyboard player for the Rock Star INXS House Band, Paul is seen no less than three nights a week on prime time TV by millions of viewers. And he makes it look like cake, as he and his ace band mates springboard from genre to genre with the greatest of ease. But, as you might expect, the gig is anything but smooth behind the scenes. ''


Early Influences

''"I don’t remember a specific moment in which I made a conscious decision that music would be it for me. It’s all I’ve ever really known." It started when I was four years old. One day I was watching a cartoon show. I think it was ‘Casper the Ghost’. The theme song stuck in my head. I went over to the piano and started playing it. Over time, I took lessons and got into bee-bop and jazz along the way. Being from Los Angeles, music is simply all around you. Just as the steel mills may be for folks in Pittsburgh… Entertainment and music is for the folks in Los Angeles." ''


Education

Graduated Providence High School (Burbank, California) in 1981.
Attended the Dick Grove School of Music.


References


External links


Paul Mirkovich (MySpace) Web Site

Paul Mirkovich on ROCKBANDLOUNGE.COM
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mirkovich, Paul American keyboardists American male singers American bandleaders Singers from California Living people 1963 births American people of Croatian descent