Michael Yonkers (1947-2026)

[clifford_thornton]

Heard from some mutual friends/collaborators that the Minneapolis-based guitarist, improviser, songwriter, and left-field artist Michael Yonkers has died. I don't have a birthdate handy but he was born in 1947, making him 78-79.

He performed and recorded with Michael & The Mumbles and the Michael Yonkers Band (garage rock, psych-rock), as a solo singer-songwriter/performer with 'experimental leanings,' and improvised music with Milo Fine/Blue Freedom's New Art Transformation. Many of his records and CDs were self-released starting in the early 1970s. I believe that his health kept him from public performance in recent years.

Fascinating character; glad to have seen him perform solo a few times, though that was many years ago. RIP.