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.