Taken from Michael Franti (Apr 24, 2016)

From a very young age, Michael showed a passion for music. One of his earliest musical influences growing up was having access to his father's vast record collection consisting of various genres of music. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Michael began taking piano lessons at the age of 7 and continued studying throughout his high school years. By the age of 18, he was performing local gigs on a regular basis while studying jazz theory in college. Michael was coveted by many scholarship programs for jazz studies across the country, but opted to stay local and study Business Marketing at San Francisco State University. During that time, he continued to gig regularly, quickly developing a strong reputation as one of the Bay Area's finest musicians.

Michael has now been performing professionally for 15 years. Known for being an exceptional talent and an accomplished musician, Mike continues to be one of the most sought after musicians from the San Francisco Bay Area. Mike is trained extensively in jazz styles and well versed in many styles such as Gospel, R&B, Afro-Cuban, Funk and Reggae. In addition to his own musical accomplishments, Mike has made a name for himself traveling the world touring for high profile recording artists such as six-time Grammy winner Lauryn Hill and grammy nominated artists Sheila E, Michael Franti & Ledisi. Michael released his critically acclaimed debut album Living for the Future in 2015.