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Mike Finnigan
Mike is an overwhelmingly powerful lead vocalist, blues being his specialty; as well as a back-up vocalist and a master of the keys, favoring the Hammond B3. He has a strong stage presence and is clearly a leader. A close friend of Stills, as a confidant, he has been there for the many phases of Stills and CSN’s career.
He has a multitude of recording credits, having worked with among others; Jimi Hendrix, Dave Mason, Rod Stewart, Les Dudek, David Crosby, Stephen Stills and CSN.
Finnigan’s signature organ shuffle can be found, and is prominent on Jimi Hendrix’ "Electric Ladyland" recording sessions in 1968. "Rainy Day Dream Away" and "Still Raining Still Dreaming" are two songs on that album, that were actually recorded as one song, and then later split into two separate works.
He has released his own records; Finnigan and Wood 1972, Mike Finnigan 1976, Black and White 1978, and with longtime friend, (now deceased) guitarist Jim Krueger, who played with Finnigan in Dave Mason's group; he released DFK, Dudek, Finnigan and Krueger in 1980.
In the 70’s Finnigan, Krueger and Bob Glaub (bass) (another CSN alumni ); steadily played the road with Dave Mason. When Bob Glaub left the group, Gerald Johnson, replaced him on bass.
Since 1978 Finnigan, has steadily been touring and recording with Stephen Stills and CSN. His first recording with Stills was for the Thoroughfare Gap lp in 1978, (which still has not been released by Columbia Records on CD.)
In 1979 Finnigan appeared on the Havana Jam LP (now only available on CD as a Japanese import), which was a recording of the Festival at the Karl Marx Theatre in Cuba, March 2-4 1979; in which Stills, Kristoferson, Coolidge, Weather Report, etc participated. It was the first time that Cuba had such an event on it’s shores.
Finnigan most frequently accompanies Stills when he does solo tours as well as CSN on the road, always adding vocal subtlties and has the ability to always fill in the vocal gaps where necessary at the shows. In 1979 and 1980, he toured with Stills and in 1982 he hit the road for his first big nationwide CSN tour, the Daylight Again tour. The resurgence that CSN had in 1982, well relied upon the musicality of Finnigan and the rest of the extended band.
His work on Stills underrated “Right By You record is tremendous. Stills and Finnigan promoted RBY during the CSN tour in the summer of 1985.
Finnigan has also toured solo with Crosby and appears on the live “It’s All Coming Back To Me” album recorded at the Whiskey A Go Go, as well as the King Biscuit recording of Crosby's live performance from 1989 in PA, called "King Biscuit Presents: David Crosby". Finnigan has also done many television appearances with CSN, Crosby and Stills.
My favorite mode to see Finnigan shine is during Stills solo shows; where Finnigan takes the spot light for several songs (blues being his forte); allowing Stills to stretch out and jam on his guitar, while Finnigan takes the helm for the lead vocal.
Joe Vitale
Joe a native Ohian, has had a long recording and touring career heavily surrounding his two main men in his life; Joe Walsh and Stephen Stills. Looking at his discography, you can see that he has played on nearly every solo Joe Walsh release, as well as being an integral part of the Stills and CSN family.
He met Walsh in Colorado in 1972 and formed their band "Barnstorm". They released two efforts as Barnstorm in 1972 and 1973, and Vitale subsequently worked with Walsh writing and performing on mostly all of Walsh's solo efforts. (One could speculate that perhaps Walsh and Vitale may have met up with Stills in 1972, because during this period Stephen had acquired a home in Colorado with his 1st wife Veronique Sanson; although Stills could have known Walsh from his James Gang days.)
Later on Barnstorm actually played bills with Stills and Co. including the CSNY '74 gigs in Oakland CA. The Stills Vitale Walsh connection, would rear its head often in the many years unfoldings in the 70's thru the 90's.
Besides his work with Walsh, Joe Vitale put out two solo records, Rollercoaster Weekend (1976) and Plantation Harbor (1982). Joe Walsh played guitar on both of these efforts.
Starting in 1976, Vitale began his long relationship with Stills, working on the Stills/Young effort "Long May You Run". He also toured with the infamous Stills/Young tour in 1976 that was cut short abruptly by Young's departure.
He was fortunate to work on the stellar CSN 1977 album, (the boat record). He along with Finnigan and Johnson would collaborate on this record, on the Stills song "Run From Tears" unknowing then, that the future would hold many more Stills collaborations down the road.
In 1980 Walsh invited Vitale to tour with the Eagles in what would end up being their final tour, until the 1990's reunion. From that tour was released a record called "Eagles Live", in which Vitale is listed as a player.
Joe went on to steadily tour with CSN and Stills. He like Finnigan, also played on the Daylight Again record and tour in 1982 and worked on the subsequent CSN/Y releases "American Dream" and "Live it Up".
Joe's time in the 80's and 90's was interspersed with Stills and Walsh work. In 1996, he worked on guitar virtuoso Zakk Wylde's (formerly of Ozzy Osborne's band) first solo release called "Book of Shadows". It was a widely acoustic album, with strong vocals and in-depth lyrics. It was hyped as something CSN fans would like, and I myself enjoy the album immensely. I got to see him perform songs from the album at his gig at the Bottom Line in NYC in 1996. At the time Gerry Tolman, CSN and Stills manager was handling Zakk's career, and that is how Vitale got the gig. Unfortunately Joe did not tour with Zakk to promote this effort.
Joe Vitale is a great player who I have enjoyed over the years in both Walsh and Stills work. His timing is immpecable and he is a reliable and dedicated drummer and friend.
This past year Joe Vitale's son, Joe Jr. has joined his dad on percussion for gigs with CSN and Stephen Stills. Joe Jr., shares the same musical passions as his dad.
http://joevitaleondrums.com/
Gerald Johnson
Gerald Johnson: bass player, born in Washington DC. One of his earliest credits is working with the Sweet Inspirations, the female group (in which Cissy Houston was a founding member) that at one time, backed up Elvis Presley. He has toured with and appears extensively on Steve Miller's record catalog. In the 70's he went on to play with Dave Mason, along with Mike Finnigan as part of Mason's steady touring troupe. In 1977 Gerald worked on the CSN record. In 1978 he worked with Stills on his last Columbia records release Thoroughfare Gap". He also toured with Stills in 1979, and was present at the now famous Havana Jam shows in March of 1979. He has also played with and appears on several records of both Les Dudek and Carl Wilson. He went on to tour with Stills solo in 1995, and has been working with him and CSN since then, for the 1996 and 1997 tours, as well as Stills and CSN gigs in 1998 & 1999. Currently residing in Los Angeles, he is also the bass player for The Jones Boys R&B Band.
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