Artist Information
Mike Reid received his degree in music from Penn State University in 1970. But that achievement was considerably overshadowed by his reputation on the football field.
At Penn State he was an All-America selection and won the Outland Trophy as the country's outstanding collegiate lineman. He was the first-round draft pick of the Cincinnati Bengals that year and at the end of his first season in the NFL, was named Defensive Rookie Of The Year.
Reid's success continued when he was voted NFL All-Pro in 1972 and '73. In spite of these honors, Reid decided he would rather play music than football for a living. He retired from the Bengals and in 1980, moved to Nashville to pursue song writing.
Since 1983 when Mike Reid scored his first number one country hit song "Inside" by Ronnie Milsap, he has composed more than 30 top ten country and pop hits. Twenty-one of those records have gone all the way to number one on the charts.
He has been the recipient of ASCAPS' "Songwriter of the Year" award and one of the many songs that Milsap recorded, "Stranger In My House", has earned a Grammy award.
In addition to Milsap, Reid has had his songs recorded by Bonnie Raitt, Anita Baker, Bette Midler, Prince, George Michael, Nancy Wilson, Etta James, Kenny Rogers, Ann Murray, Wynonna Judd, Alabama, Joe Cocker, Tanya Tucker, Willie Nelson, Collin Raye and Tim McGraw. Among the songs that Mike has composed are "I Can't Make You Love Me" (Raitt, Michael and Prince), "My Strongest Weakness" and "To Be Loved By You" (Judd), "In This Life" (Raye and Midler), "Sometimes I Wonder Why" (Baker), "Forever's As Far As I'll Go" (Alabama) and "Everywhere" (McGraw).
