Big Mike Geier is a performer and song stylist. Jokes Big Mike as he charms his audience between tunes "I wrote this song after I heard it on the radio". Big Mike is known for taking popular songs like ABBA's "Dancing Queen" to Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds" and infusing a style that is hip and fresh. It's not about sounding better than the original artist; it’s about sounding different and making it interesting in my own way, from my own experiences, with my own voice" says Geier. One of the greatest challenges of a song stylist is to take familiar songs that have been recorded by hundreds of other artists and make the listener excited to hear them again. Big Mike has perfected this art in a performance career that now spans two decades.
Raised in Richmond, Virginia, Mike was the fifth of seven children. “My Dad was a huge music fan, always playing records in his man-cave. From Sinatra to The Supremes, Big Oz always had a great soundtrack accompanying his martini in the evening. The Geiers was a houseful of giants, with the kids growing at least 6 feet tall. Mike, the tallest of them all at 6'8", became affectionately known as "Big Mike". Obviously fitting for a man his size, but some may argue that it’s the big sound of his baritone voice and larger than life stage presence that earned him this name.
His career started in the early 90’s as he fronted the "Swing Noir" band The Useless Playboys. Ushering in the Swing revival, The Useless Playboys toured for years with the likes of Reverend Horton Heat, Southern Culture on the Skids and El Vez. In 1995, Big Mike moved to Atlanta and started the band Kingsized. This high-energy, 13-piece band covers all of Geier’s favorite genres from swing to soul to rock ‘n roll. Big Mike and Kingsized are well-loved favorites in Atlanta and beyond. They have entertained throngs of music lovers from Nantucket to San Francisco, New Orleans to Berlin. Big Mike has performed concerts, festivals and conventions all over the world.
Big Mike fronts his Kingsized rock ‘n roll orchestra in their hugely popular Elvis Presley memorial show dubbed "Elvis Royale". Geier has been producing his Elvis celebration for 15 years and each time the production grows more spectacular with dozens of showgirls, a parade of Elvis’ and video projection. From its humble beginnings at The Star Community Bar in 1996 to its current residence at the Variety Playhouse, Big Mike Geier’s Elvis Royale has become a highly anticipated event that sells out the eleven-hundred-seat theater twice a year (celebrating Elvis’ birthday in January and commemorating his death in August).
Big Mike’s other projects include Tongo Hiti, Atlanta’s only Polynesian-pop band that’s been a fixture at Trader Vic’s since 2004, the Dames Aflame variety shows which he performs in and produces with his wife, Shannon Newton, and Puddles Pity Party, Geier’s cabaret clown act that recently toured with Aqua Teen Hunger Force Live. Big Mike’s Holiday Jubilee & Toy Drive is another of his spectacular productions that sells out annually at Variety Playhouse. Geier also has a fondness for Big Band Jazz and Swing and enjoys crooning the classics in front of various orchestras throughout the Southeast. His talent goes beyond the stage and onto the screen with TV appearances on FOX, ABC, NBC, Cartoon Network, Adult Swim, Turner South, MTV, Playboy TV and PBS. Geier also writes and records music for Cartoon Network and Adult Swim.
Ultimately, it’s Big Mike’s live performances that separate him from the rest as music critics and fans will attest.
"Seriously, is there a better musical entertainer in this city than Geier? I jotted that question in my notes under the influence of strong Mai Tais. Even today, under sobriety's bright light, I still think there isn't."
- Andishee Nouree, Creative Loafing
“Mike Geier and his Kingsized Orchestra, along with the Dames Aflame…put on a show that kept the audience laughing and dancing at every minute…the troupe exuded energy and excitement for three straight hours… the circus-like stage atmosphere, with dancers entering and exiting at every song, culminated in a grand finale of all performers in the best and brightest outfits of the evening."
- Kristen Shaw, Paste Magazine
“The standout performance of the night. Some of the notes he hit had the audience roaring with applause, and his antics had the crowd in stitches. Puddles (Geier) received the lone standing ovation of the entire night, which says something on a night of such diverse talent. We can't say this enough: go to his Facebook page, like it, and buy his stuff."
- Andrew Goodman, PhillyList.com
“The show stealer…The crowd was pretty much floored by that voice as he ripped through huge power ballads including (Celine Dion’s) “My Heart Will Go On“.
- Patrick Rapa, Philadelphia City Paper
“I saw your act last night at the Nokia Theater and I just have to say it was one of the best musical performances I ever saw!“
- new fan Saryta in NYC
