26 Facts About Mickey Hart

Mickey Hart was born on Michael Steven Hartman, September 11,1943 and is an American percussionist.

Mickey Hart is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead.

Mickey Hart was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 1971, and again from October 1974 until their final show in July 1995.

Mickey Hart was raised in suburban Inwood, New York by his mother, Leah, a drummer, gown maker and bookkeeper.

Mickey Hart's father Lenny Hart, a champion rudimental drummer, had abandoned his family when the younger Hart was a toddler.

Mickey Hart attended Lawrence High School in Cedarhurst, New York.

Mickey Hart served as a drummer in The Airmen of Note, an elite big band unit in the United States Air Force Band modeled after Glenn Miller's celebrated Army Air Forces Band.

Founder Remo Belli facilitated an introduction before Mickey Hart was reassigned to Spain, but the elder Mickey Hart soon disappeared.

At the concert, Mickey Hart fulfilled Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann's request to meet Basie Orchestra drummer Sonny Payne, leading to an informal tutorial between Mickey Hart and Kreutzmann and his eventual introduction to the Grateful Dead.

Mickey Hart was getting really spacey and just getting so far out there that he wasn't able to deliver the music.

Mickey Hart's home recording studio proved to be a haven for the more idiosyncratic endeavors pursued by various band members, and he continued to collaborate with his former bandmates on various projects, most notably Robert Hunter's Tales Of The Great Rum Runners and Ned Lagin's Seastones.

Mickey Hart returned to the Dead for their final pre-hiatus concert in October 1974 and was formally reinstated by the beginning of the group's 1976 tour.

Mickey Hart remained with the group until their official dissolution in 1995.

Alongside his work with the Grateful Dead, Mickey Hart has performed as a solo artist, percussionist, and the author of several books.

Mickey Hart was influential in recording global musical traditions on the verge of possible extinction, working with archivists and ethnomusicologists at both the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress and the Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage at the Smithsonian Institution.

Mickey Hart is on the Board of Trustees of the American Folklife Center and has been a spokesperson for the "Save Our Sounds" audio preservation initiative.

Mickey Hart serves on the Library of Congress National Recorded Sound Preservation Board and is known for reissues and other recordings with historical and cultural value.

Mickey Hart has written books on the history and traditions of drumming throughout history.

In 1994, Mickey Hart was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead.

Mickey Hart was a judge for the 3rd annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers.

In 2010 Mickey Hart debuted "Rhythms of the Universe," a composition based on a variety of astrophysical data.

In November and December 2011, the Mickey Hart Band did a 17-date tour with a slightly modified lineup.

Mickey Hart plays, or has played, drum set, RAMU, gong, tubular bells, tambourine, timpani, bongos, timbales, maracas, bass drum, snare drum, triangle, guiro, djembe, castanets, didgeridoo, glockenspiel, cymbals, surdo, saron, beats, tar, berimbau, kalimba, cowbell, rattle, shekere, rainstick, agogo bells, bells, wood block, taragat, balafon, tarang, gourd, clacker, bombo, dumbek, tom-toms, caxixi, water gong, talking drum, blaster beam, theremin, and even pan flute.

Mickey Hart has been married since 1990 to lawyer, environmental activist and former Sonoma County Regional Parks Director Caryl Mickey Hart, with whom he has had two children, Reya and Taro.

Mickey Hart had Taro's heartbeat recorded in utero and used as the basis for the album Music to Be Born By.

Mickey Hart is the only Jewish member of the Grateful Dead.