Michael Stephen Portnoy (born April 20, 1967) is an American drummer primarily known as the drummer and backing vocalist for the progressive metal band Dream Theater. Known for his drumming prowess and technical skill, Portnoy has won 23 awards from the Modern Drummer magazine. He has co-produced the last five Dream Theater albums with guitarist John Petrucci, starting from Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. From A Change of Seasons onwards, Portnoy has been writing a substantial amount of Dream Theater's lyrics, filling the void left by Kevin Moore, who left the band after the band's release of Awake. He is the second youngest person (after Neil Peart) to be inducted into the Modern Drummer's Hall of Fame (at 37 years of age).

Pre-Dream Theater history

Mike Portnoy was born April 20, 1967 and raised on Long Island in Long Beach, New York. According to a post made by Jordan Rudess on his forum, Mike is ethnically Jewish but does not practice Judaism religiously. His father worked as a DJ at a local radio station, helping Portnoy gain an appreciation for music at an early age particularly, as Portnoy has pointed out, because he had access to his father's collection of LPs. He developed a preference for bands including Rush, Queen, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Iron Maiden, and The Beatles, among many others. Although Portnoy claims to be self-taught as a drummer, he did take music theory classes in high school. During that period he began playing in local bands, two of which (Rising Power and Inner Sanctum) recorded and released an independent album. He left Inner Sanctum (the last high school band) after being awarded a scholarship to attend the Berklee College of Music in Boston; however, he left Berklee soon afterward. There, he met John Petrucci and John Myung. They formed a band, initially taking name "Majesty" before changing the name to Dream Theater.