About Michael Porter

There are 2 things you should know about Michael Porter:

1)  Michael was once hugged and kissed on the cheek by one of the Beatles because Michael did something that Beatle really liked.  Ask him and he will tell you the story. 

2) Michael is a fifth cousin to Johnny Cash. This is a kinship he suspected (his great-grandmother was a Cash with a Cherokee heritage), but could not confirm until 2023 through Ancestry.com. Sadly, Michael never met Johnny, who passed in 2003. 

Michael Porter began as a jingle writer for the William B. Tanner Company of Memphis (the world's largest jingle companies at the time). In 1989, his first cut "Thinking About You Again" (co-written by Stephony Smith) was on Shelby Lynne's album "Sunrise" on Epic Records. 

In 1985 Michael was signed as a staff songwriter for Chips Moman Music when the famous “American Sound Studios and 827 Thomas Street Band” writer/producer returned to Memphis and set up a new state-of-the-art facility in the old fire station at 3rd Street and Linden. During this period Moman produced the “Class of ’55″ Sun Records 30th anniversary reunion album with Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison and Carl Perkins. It was also during this time Chips produced a very controversial and ultimately unreleased album with Ringo Starr. 

In 2001, Michael was American Songwriter Magazine's Grand Prize Lyric Winner for "The Knowers of Things." 

He is the co-writer (with Stephony Smith) of the Memphis holiday classic “Christmas in Memphis.”  The song was written in 1985 and performed by The Media General Singers (Staff Vocalists: Kelli Bruce, Bruce Wermuth, Bill McMath, David Mayo, Michelle Amato and Stephony Smith), with special guest Reba Russell. https://youtu.be/wlg-icJJfBU?list=RDwlg-icJJfBU

In 1998, Memphis radio station WRVR-FM 104.5 “The River” produced a special promotional version of “Christmas in Memphis.” It was produced by Jim Brickman, with piano/arrangements by Brickman and vocals by Memphian Clay Crosse and Anne Cockran. CD singles were released and sold at local record stores with proceeds going to Porter-Leath Children’s Hospital.

In 1995, Michael and master guitarist Phil Black wrote a full-length Broadway style stage musical, “The Book of Esther.” Based on the Old Testament story, Michael wrote the libretto and lyrics, and Black composed and arranged the score. The musical held its world premiere in March 1995 at the Memphis Jewish Community Center Theatre. The production (which featured 21 songs and more than 50 cast members) enjoyed a highly successful two-week run to excellent reviews and sold-out houses.

In 2008 his song “Lone Star Flag” (co-written with Wake Eastman) was released as a single by Pauline Reese and her High Country Band on their album “Too Texas: Live At Cherry Ridge” http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nr0rNZXrRI which won “Album of the Year” by the Texas Music Awards. 

Michael was a professor of communication at the University of Memphis from 2000 - 2018. He retired from academia, and moved to Nashville to resume songwriting and publishing. He calls himself a "musipreneur."