Biography
California-born guitarist Mike Deasy, Sr. maintained an ever-present role across rock recordings—with occasional excursions into jazz—beginning in the mid-1960s. Through countless studio dates and film-score contributions, his playing reached listeners and viewers in ways that often went unnoticed yet accumulated into thousands of exposures. As an occasional participant in Phil Spector’s Wrecking Crew, Deasy contributed to surf-instrumental projects such as the Road Runners’ 1964 album The New Mustang & Other Hot Rod Hits, while his association with producer Curt Boettcher yielded the guitarist’s early arranging efforts on Friar Tuck & His Psychedelic Guitar, later reissued on the Fallout label more than four decades afterward.
Session credits also placed him on the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and Smiley Smile, throughout Elvis Presley’s output, and on releases by the Monkees, the Association, Johnny Rivers, the Fifth Dimension, Rick Nelson, Randy Newman, Spanky & Our Gang, Tommy Roe, and Fats Domino’s Fats Is Back, alongside dates with Irene Krall, Mel Torme, and Chet Baker. Although his name remained less familiar to the general public than those of certain other session players, the likelihood remains high that any West Coast–recorded example of classic rock ’n’ roll, pop-rock, folk-rock, gospel, or jazz contains his distinctive guitar work.
Deasy began playing guitar in childhood and reached such proficiency that, still in high school at the close of the 1950s, he secured positions in the bands of Ricky Nelson and the Everly Brothers. Subsequent road and studio work brought collaborations with the Coasters, Ritchie Valens, Eddie Cochran, and Duane Eddy before the burgeoning Los Angeles music industry of the early 1960s drew him fully into session activity, where he met reedman Jim Horn’s sister Kathie, who became his wife. Together they established the Saltmine Recording studio and production company.
Beyond the rock sphere, Deasy recorded with Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand and contributed to numerous motion-picture and television soundtracks as well as an extensive catalog of commercials spanning several decades. In later years he has also served as an inspirational speaker.
Session credits also placed him on the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds and Smiley Smile, throughout Elvis Presley’s output, and on releases by the Monkees, the Association, Johnny Rivers, the Fifth Dimension, Rick Nelson, Randy Newman, Spanky & Our Gang, Tommy Roe, and Fats Domino’s Fats Is Back, alongside dates with Irene Krall, Mel Torme, and Chet Baker. Although his name remained less familiar to the general public than those of certain other session players, the likelihood remains high that any West Coast–recorded example of classic rock ’n’ roll, pop-rock, folk-rock, gospel, or jazz contains his distinctive guitar work.
Deasy began playing guitar in childhood and reached such proficiency that, still in high school at the close of the 1950s, he secured positions in the bands of Ricky Nelson and the Everly Brothers. Subsequent road and studio work brought collaborations with the Coasters, Ritchie Valens, Eddie Cochran, and Duane Eddy before the burgeoning Los Angeles music industry of the early 1960s drew him fully into session activity, where he met reedman Jim Horn’s sister Kathie, who became his wife. Together they established the Saltmine Recording studio and production company.
Beyond the rock sphere, Deasy recorded with Frank Sinatra and Barbra Streisand and contributed to numerous motion-picture and television soundtracks as well as an extensive catalog of commercials spanning several decades. In later years he has also served as an inspirational speaker.
Albums