Roots Archives Forum

Hi,

Does anybody knows what happend to Mike Dorane?

Thanks

Ziggy

i think i read somewhere that he fell upon hard times and is still on the edge of things... but hopefully not

That is sad. Great (reggae) music he produced.

Thanks Ites

I'm afraid Mike died a few years back, suddenly at home with his lady. I worked with him at our studio in Murray Street, Camden Town, together with Ray Roberts back in the '70's. Mike was a great guy, and a great songwriter and musician. Sadly missed.

Further to my last post, if anyone can find Mike's partner, or relatives, please let me know. It would be great at some stage to create a web-site of his music.
Thanks. MelT.

I'm sorry and embarrassed to admit to not knowing who Mike Dorane was. Since googling his name it came back as he was involved with the cimarons.
Now that his passing has come to light,what were the other members of the cimarons called? Apart from Winston Reedy - I think that most music lovers from a certain age know that he sung with the cimarons.

where did you see his involvement with the cimarons? mike dorane was a member of the uk reggae band merger, as far as i know, and previous to this he produced for his own label, incidentally called rockers... nothing to do with pablo though. this was back in the middle 1970's. never heard of his involvement with the cimarons

That info came up when I typed his name in a search engine (it dragged up a lot of music for the cimarons - I presumed that he was a singer with them, despite hearing that they performed with winston reedy) My mistake there, sorry for any offence. The web is only as good as the info that is put in. I've heard of Merger - a good band that deserved to reach a larger audience than they did. I remember reading rave reviews about them in Black Echoes magazine. Who and what happened with the other members of Merger?

don't know what became of them, but i believe they are loosely involved in the uk scene in one form or the other, still. makasound out of france reissued what was probably the best and strongest moment merger had on record, the 'exile in a babylon lp, there might be some further info for you there. mike dorane was a prolific player on the uk scene from the late 1960s, working with people like rico and laurel aitken i think. then he had his crossover label rockers for a while. he was a multi-instrumentalist and producer from what i recall, very talened. he played in soul bands in the mid to late sixties too, before being involved with reggae. he had native indian/american roots actually, but settled in england from the 1960s sometime

There have been a few of his songs that have been posted up on youtube. And very nice they are as well, fitting nicely into the style of the time.
I will have a look at the weekend for material for merger. I remember the rave reviews for exile ina babylon but can't remember a single track.
Wasn't a guy going under the name of militant barry a member?