Mike Dearborns interview from Equal
Michael James Dearborn was born October 7th, 1972 in Chicago Illinois, USA. There he lived on the South side in a modest apartment with his parents and his older brother.
Mike first became fascinated with music at the age of 8 years old. He would sit in his bedroom and pretend to have a radio show. Some of his favorite artists and groups were Men at Work, The Fixx, Kurtis Blow and Quiet Riot.
Mike's interest in music took a turn when he began listening to a radio station called WBMX (which is no longer in existence). On that station, he would listen to programs like the Hot Lunch Mixes as well as the Friday and Saturday night mix shows. On these shows, you could here the likes of Farley ‘JackMaster’ Funk, Steve ‘Silk’ Hurley, and Frankie Knuckles. This is when Mike's interest in DJ'ing was sparked.
It was not long after that
Mike became interested in producing. He and his brother would
experiment with a Roland TR-505 and a Casio sampler. Mike began
producing on a more serious note in 1988. In mid 1989, he released his
first 12’inch with a schoolmate named George titled
“Make the Music” and “Uninhibited
Desire” on the legendary Chicago Trax/Housetime label. The
exuberance in releasing his first record soon turned into frustration
from dealing with a ‘shady’ label.
I grabbed this bit from Mike Dearborn's Bio on the DJAX
website. Hop on over to read the rest of the article.