Mike Heidorn (born 1967 in

Belleville, Illinois Belleville is a city in St. Clair County, Illinois, United States, and its county seat. It is a southeastern suburb of St. Louis. The population was 42,404 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the most populated city in the Me ...

), is a former drummer and founding member of

alternative country Alternative country (commonly abbreviated to alt-country; also known as alternative country rock, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative) is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that diffe ...

bands

Uncle Tupelo Uncle Tupelo was an alternative country music group from Belleville, Illinois, active between 1987 and 1994. Jay Farrar, Jeff Tweedy, and Mike Heidorn formed the band after the lead singer of their previous band, The Primitives, left to attend ...

and

Son Volt Son Volt is an American rock band formed in 1994 by Jay Farrar after the breakup of Uncle Tupelo. The band's current line-up consists of Farrar (vocals, guitar), Andrew DuPlantis (bass guitar), John Horton (guitar), Mark Patterson (drums), and ...

. Heidorn also played with the Uncle Tupelo precursors the Primitives (or ) and the one-off band Coffee Creek with

Jay Farrar Jay Stuart Farrar (born December 26, 1966) is an American songwriter and musician based in St. Louis. A member of two critically acclaimed music groups, Uncle Tupelo and Son Volt, he began his solo music career in 2001. Beyond his talent as ...

and

Jeff Tweedy Jeffrey Scot Tweedy (born August 25, 1967) is an American musician, singer songwriter, author, and record producer best known as the lead vocalist and guitarist of the band Wilco. Tweedy, originally from Belleville, Illinois, began his music care ...

of Uncle Tupelo and

Brian Henneman Brian Henneman (born July 17, 1961) is an American musician best known as the frontman of the alt-country/ roots rock band the Bottle Rockets, with whom he has been active as lead singer, guitarist and songwriter. Artists such as John Prine, Nei ...

The Bottle Rockets The Bottle Rockets were an American rock band formed in Festus, Missouri in 1992, and based in St. Louis. Its founding members were Brian Henneman (guitar, vocals), Mark Ortmann (drums), Tom Parr (1992–2002, guitar, vocals) and Tom Ray (19 ...

Career

Heidorn joined high school band The Primitives in the early 1980s. He was introduced into the band by their lead singer Dade Farrar, who was dating Mike's older sister. They went on hiatus in 1986 when Heidorn broke his collar bone. They reformed a year later as

. Heidorn left Uncle Tupelo after the recording of their third album, '' March 16–20, 1992''. He intended on leaving the band before the recording of the album but wanted to work with

Peter Buck Peter Lawrence Buck (born December 6, 1956) is an American musician and songwriter. He was a co-founder and the lead guitarist of the alternative rock band R.E.M.; he played the banjo and mandolin on several R.E.M. songs. Throughout his caree ...

so postponed his departure to the albums release in August. Heidorn left for personal reasons, including distaste of touring and his recent marriage. After the breakup of Uncle Tupelo in 1994, Heidorn joined Jay Farrar in the first lineup of

, but was not involved in the reformation of the band in 2005 and is no longer active as a professional musician.

Personal life

As of 2003 he had been working for Legal and Business News, a newspaper print in

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

since high school. In 2015, Heidorn and his four siblings, Craig, Carol, Susan and Kelly, started a charity for their father, Leonard "Len" Heidorn who died on December 27, 2014 after suffering a stroke on Christmas eve.https://www.bnd.com/living/magazine/article49380550.html They originally wanted to make a non-profit charity around five years earlier when mother Eileen Heidorn had died of cancer in August 2005 aged 66, but with the death of their father decided that now was the time, and created "ElevenEleven Organization", a non-profit organization whose name comes from the date the parents had gotten married, November 11th (11/11) 1958.

References

* 1967 births Living people American rock drummers People from Belleville, Illinois Drummers from Illinois Son Volt members Uncle Tupelo members 20th-century American drummers American male drummers 20th-century American male musicians {{US-rock-drummer-stub