Micki Free

Micki Free is a Grammy-winning Native American guitarist and singer, and a two-time Native American Music Award winner. Free, a Comanche and Cherokee mixed blood Native American, was discovered by Gene Simmons of KISS. He joined Shalamar in 1984, just in time for some of that band's big successes and with Shalamar, he was nominated for a Grammy three times. Most recently, his manner of dress and appearance during the late 1980s was parodied in the Chappelle's Show sketch Charlie Murphy's True Hollywood Stories: Prince. After Shalamar, Free and Jean Beauvoir (of The Plasmatics) founded AOR band Crown of Thorns. He later founded (and still tours with) "The Micki Free Electric Blues Experience," with Jon Brant (formerly of Cheap Trick) on bass, Curly Smith (formerly of Boston) on drums, and Terry Manning on keyboards. Recognition for his musical career after Shalamar came from the Native American Music Awards, where he won Male Artist in 2002 and Pop Rock artist in 2004. He is scheduled to appear as part of an all-star cast of Native American musicians at the American Indian Inaugural Ball in Arlington, Virginia, on the occasion of president Barack Obama's inauguration. The event, "Native Music Rocks," is sponsored by Hard Rock International and the Seminole Tribe of Florida.