Michael "Mike" McCready (born April 5, 1966, in Pensacola, Florida, U.S.) is the lead guitarist and, along with Jeff Ament and Stone Gossard, a founding member of the American rock band, Pearl Jam.

McCready was born in Pensacola, Florida, but his family moved to Seattle shortly after his birth. As a child, his parents played Hendrix and Santana, while his friends listened to KISS and Aerosmith; McCready would frequently play bongo drums.[1] At the age of 11, McCready purchased his first guitar and began taking lessons.

In eighth grade, McCready formed his first band, Warrior, whose name soon changed to Shadow. Originally a cover band playing during free periods at Roosevelt High School, the band eventually began writing original material.

Shadow split up soon afterwards, and McCready lost interest in playing guitar for some time. After being inspired by Stevie Ray Vaughan, McCready gradually began to pick it up again and finally joined another band called Love Chile.[1] A friend, Stone Gossard, heard the band, appreciated McCready's work, and asked if he wanted to join a band he was forming with fellow Mother Love Bone alum Jeff Ament. Together with drummer Dave Krusen and Eddie Vedder, the group formed the band Pearl Jam (originally known as Mookie Blaylock).

It was during this time that McCready took a central role in the Temple of the Dog project, combining members of Soundgarden and Pearl Jam. McCready's first recording studio experience was recording the Temple of the Dog album, including an epic 4-minute-plus solo for "Reach Down." According to drummer Matt Cameron, McCready's headphone monitors flew off halfway through the recording of the solo, and he played the rest without being able to hear the backing track. McCready still considers this track to be his greatest achievement.

By the end of 1991, Pearl Jam became one of the most famous modern bands with the release of Ten. McCready frequently soloed, and added a blues touch to the music (influenced by Stevie Ray Vaughan). McCready's guitar style is usually an aggressive bluesy nature, and he never plays the same solo twice. His live renditions of songs have slightly different solos due to his fondness of improvisation, and sometimes he treats the crowd to a full-on improv. He is extremely energetic live, and is commonly found dashing around the stage, playing to the crowd, throwing plectrums and soloing with the guitar behind his head.

In a review of Pearl Jam's 2006 self-titled album, Rolling Stone editor David Fricke mentioned that both McCready and Pearl Jam rhythm guitarist Stone Gossard were erroneously excluded from the publication's 2003 feature "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."[2]

In 2007, his guitar solos from "Alive" and "Yellow Ledbetter" were featured on Guitar World's "100 Greatest Guitar Solos" list.[3]

Drug Addiction

Mike McCready has had two different bouts with substance abuse. The first came in the early 1990s, when McCready was fighting drug and alcohol addiction:

McCready's second bout came during the sessions for Pearl Jam's 2000 album Binaural:

The Pearl Jam songs "Habit" and "Save You" are believed to be about McCready's struggle with addiction.

Other work

During the production of Vitalogy, McCready eventually went to rehab in Minneapolis, where he formed a side band, The Gacy Bunch, with Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley. After several live shows, they changed their name to Mad Season. They released the album Above in 1995.

McCready has also played with another side band called The Rockfords, named after one of McCready's favourite TV shows The Rockford Files. The band features McCready's former high school friends from Shadow, plus vocalist Carrie Akre from Goodness. Their self titled debut was released in 2000.

Personal life

In May 2005 McCready married Ashley O'Connor in a private ceremony in Maui. Their first child, a daughter named Kaia, was born on April 12, 2007. The couple currently resides in Seattle, Washington.

McCready was born on April 5, the same date Kurt Cobain died.

He suffers from Crohn's Disease and has worked to bring awareness of the disease.

Discography