1961 Dec. 20 Born in Long Island, New York.
1966 Hijacks older sister’s Beatles albums, absorbs data contained therein.
1966 Takes up keyboards.
1970 Moves to San Diego.
1971 Hears Frank Zappa for the first time (the song was Help, I’m A Rock); takes up guitar.
1971-85 Rampant musical experimentation: recording, composing, band-forming and dissolving, learning.
1985 Forms band Drop Control, achieves cult hero status in San Diego.
1987 Is auditioned and hired by Frank Zappa as guitarist/keyboardist/ vocalist in Zappa’s last touring band. Four-month world tour with Zappa, resulting in albums Broadway the Hard Way, Make A Jazz Noise Here, The Best Band You Never Heard In Your Life, and several tracks from You Can’t Do That On Stage Anymore (FZ calls MK "the best new guy I ever had in the band") – MK sings lead on Elvis Has Just Left The Building.
1988-90 Shellshocked from sudden disbanding of Zappa group, MK returns to Drop Control; compiles and markets the limited edition MK Tar Tapes series (unavailable for years, these tapes have achieved the patina of legend amongst a certain breed of fanatic; in 1997 and 1998 selected tracks were released on the Tar Tapes Vols. 1 and 2 CDs); SD cult hero status deepens.
1990 An effort is made to forge a studio career of sorts: records with Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, Andy Prieboy, and Dweezil Zappa and others; MK bites the bullet and moves from SD to LA. Wide-eyed.
1991 Tours US and Europe with the Dweezil Zappa Band, which will eventually be renamed Z – MK will tour and record with Z until 1996; all pretense to forging a session career is dropped but nonetheless records and performs with famed Indian violinist Shankar; leads the rock band for the Grammy-winning Zappa's Universe performances, from which a CD and a home video (which the Bravo Network used to show all the time) are derived.
1992 A solo career is launched in earnest; records and releases kaleidoscopic debut hat.; album receives glowing press reception; fan base increases exponentially, begins spreading around the globe.
1993 Pens column The Murk for Guitar Player magazine; MK forms new live band and supports hat. with gigs whenever there’s time; Andy Partridge of XTC says of MK: "He’s so good he makes you want to spit;" a lot of time spent with Z (including making Shampoohorn).
1994 MK records and releases moody second solo album Boil That Dust Speck, an album influenced by the passing of both his father and Frank Zappa; MK’s live band is renamed Mike Keneally & Beer For Dolphins (MK/BFD) and frequency of live performances is stepped up; MK’s website <www.keneally.com> comes into being and soon becomes a means for much more intimate interaction between MK and listeners; yet more Z (the album Music For Pets).
1995 MK/BFD perform rampantly; Z activity much less rampant; MK produces The Mistakes, which features a lineup consisting of MK, Henry Kaiser, Andy West, and Prairie Prince (Guitar Player: "Consider this all-star aggregate the new Traveling Wilburys – roaming the underground and armed with automatic weapons"); records tracks with the very great Kevin Gilbert.
1996 MK leaves Z; MK/BFD tour the US and release Half Alive in Hollywood (a live double-CD) and Soap Scum Remover (a live home video); MK joins the Steve Vai band and tours the US, both with the G3 summer tour and, with MK/BFD, as the opening act on an arduous five-week Vai jaunt with virtually no days off; between the two bands MK is on stage for the better part of four hours a night; exhaustion.
1997 Blows minds regularly; G3 reconvenes for a North American tour – in addition to playing in the Vai band, MK also performs with Robert Fripp, improvising over Fripp’s Soundscapes (Fripp later says, "Mike Keneally was able to solo over [Soundscapes] in a way I have never been able to achieve for myself … he gave me answers to questions I had felt for myself, but never had the courage or capacity to find an answer;" the G3 Live In Concert album and video are released; Vai says of MK, "Mike is by far one of the most stellar musicians I’ve ever had the good fortune to play with. I would have to say, besides Frank, he’s probably my favorite;" acoustic guitar master Adrian Legg proclaims Keneally "one of the most spectacularly overqualified musicians ever to take the rock stage;" MK finds the time to write and record a new album, Sluggo!; MK fans growing rapidly in number and enthusiasm.
1998 Regular club appearances in LA gain devoted following, as Mike’s performances become probing and purging emotional explorations; MK/BFD takes to the road in earnest, using the internet in unprecedented ways to bridge the distance between artist and audience; Full Sail Real World Education signs on as official sponsor for the tour; laudatory press notices continue to pile up – Time Out New York: "This band, with such a peculiar genius leading it, is a thing to savor;" recording for Vai and Mullmuzzler; For The Love Of God from the G3 live album is nominated for a Grammy – MK on electric sitar. He got a plaque.
1999 Keneally and business partner Scott Chatfield introduce their new label Exowax Recordings; their first release is Nonkertompf, a stream-of-consciousness instrumental album featuring Keneally on instruments, which receives the most widespread attention (including admiring reviews in Rolling Stone and Down Beat) of any MK album thus far; MK makes a yet unreleased album with Palace Of Love (MK, Henry Kaiser, Michael Manring, Alex Cline and Raoul Bjorkenheim) and records with The Loud Family; music scoring for Court TV; arranges and records a solo piano album of Vai music, yet to be released; MK/BFD take up residence through the summer at The Baked Potato on Sunset Blvd., to the delight of a still-expanding following; another Vai US tour.
2000 The year kicks off with Vai tours in Asia, Australia and Europe; immediately after getting off the road, MK convenes his now eight-piece Beer For Dolphins to rehearse and record the new album Dancing; in early August a heartfelt batch of Keneally fans from all across the country (and two other countries as well) congregate in San Diego to pay tribute to MK and his music at a fan gathering dubbed Nonkerstock 2000, which culminates in a performance by MK/BFD; MK takes part in five days of recording sessions for the Yo Miles! project, a band of highly respected avant rock and jazz musicians helmed by Wadada Leo Smith and Henry Kaiser, climaxing in a joyous gig at San Francisco’s Fillmore; the long awaited new BFD album Dancing is released.
2001 MK signs with Taylor Guitars to do a series of intimate acoustic performances across the country; an exciting improvisational performance series, Mike Keneally's Circus of Values, begins in downtown San Diego venue Dizzy's, featuring MK and a revolving cast of experimental musical visionaries; the Dancing album is beautifully received, charting on three separate Billboard charts and garnering copious attention in international publications, on the radio and the internet. Leads seven-piece Beer For Dolphins on a U.S. tour.