Michael Erlewine

Michael Erlewine
Background information
Birth name	John Michael Erlewine
Born	July 18, 1941 (1941-07-18) (age 70)
Origin	Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA
Genres	folk music garage rock blues rock proto-punk
Occupations	musician, astrologer, entrepreneur
Years active	1950s – 1970s
Associated acts	The Prime Movers, Iggy Pop, Gene Tyranny
Website	Matrix Software Company

Michael Erlewine (born July 18, 1941 in Lancaster, Pennsylvania) is an American musician, astrologer, and Internet entrepreneur who founded All Music Guide (now known as allmusic) in 1991.

Background

Erlewine has had several careers. As a musician, he was active in the Michigan folk scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s. In 1961 he hitchhiked with Bob Dylan, and had traveled to Greenwich Village, Venice, California) and San Francisco.^[1] He and his brother Dan founded a blues band called The Prime Movers, which regularly played Chicago; other members included "Blue" Gene Tyranny (Robert Sheff), and when the drummer left, they replaced him with Iggy Pop (James Osterberg), then 18. It was the Prime Movers who gave him the nickname "Iggy", because he had played in the band the Iguanas. According to biographer Jim Ambrose, the two years Osterberg spent in the band made him aware of "art, politics, and experimentation".^[1]

In 1977 Erlewine founded Matrix Software. He was the first person to program astrology on microcomputers and make astrological programs available to the astrological community. Today Matrix Software ([1]) is the second oldest software company still on the Internet, the oldest being Microsoft. Erlewine has published more than forty books on astrology and related topics.

Today Erlewine lives in Big Rapids, Michigan, with his wife. They have four children. He is the uncle of AMG critic Stephen Thomas Erlewine.

All Music Guide

In the 1990s, Erlewine founded the All Music Guide (allmusic.com), the All Movie Guide (allmovie.com), and the All Game Guide (allgame.com). The first site in particular has become an important popular music reference that licenses its content to numerous other websites. Erlewine regained control of Matrix Software in November 2008 and continues as director of that company.

Publications

• Erlewine, Michael, 1992, “All-Music Guide,” Editor,(Miller-Freeman)
• Erlewine, Michael, 1999, “All-Music Guide to the Blues,” Editor,(Miller-Freeman)
• Erlewine, Michael, 1999, “All-Music Guide to Rock,” Editor,(Miller-Freeman)
• Erlewine, Michael, 1997, “All-Music Guide to Country,” Editor,(Miller-Freeman)
• Erlewine, Michael, 1996, “All-Music Guide to Jazz,” Editor,(Miller-Freeman)
• Erlewine, Michael, 1976, “The Sun is Shining,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 1976, “Astrophysical Directions,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 1976, “Interface: Planetary Nodes,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 1981, “Local space: Relocation Astrology,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, “Tibetan Earth Lords: Tibetan Astrology and Geomancy ,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 2007, “Astrology’s Mirror: Full-Phase Aspects,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 1998, “Our Pilgrimage to Tibet ,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 1980, “Burn Rate: Retrogrades in Astrology,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 2005, “Mother Moon: Astrology of ‘The Lights’,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 2007, “Interpret Astrology: The 360 3-Way Combinations,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 2007, “Interpret Astrology: The House Combinations,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 2007, “Interpret Astrology: The Planetary Combinations,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 2008, “Astrology of the Heart: Astro-Shamanism,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 2008, “The Astrology of Space ,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 2008, “StarTypes: Life-Path Partners ,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 2008, “How to Learn Astrology,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 2008, “The Art of Feng Shui ,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 2008, “Tibetan Astrology,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 2010, “Experiences with Mahamudra,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael, 2010, “Nature in the Backyard,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael,2010, “Dharma Poems,” paperback,(Heart Center Publications)
• Erlewine, Michael and Stanley Livingston "Blues in Black & White: The Landmark Ann Arbor Blues Festivals," 2010, paperback, (University of Michigan Press)

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Jim Ambrose (2004). Gimme Danger: The Story of Iggy Pop. 

External links

• Michael Erlewine at Allmusic
• Michael Erlewine at I-94 Bar Interview
• Michael Erlewine by Barbara Flaska Interview
• Michael Erlewine Biography Interview
• Michael Erlewine A.C.T. Dialogs Dialogs
• Matrix Software Company
• Biography All-Music Guide Biography of The Prime Movers by Terry jenkins
• The Prime Movers Rusted Chrome profile
• [2] Audio Track] 12 Tracks fromThe Prime Movies Blues Band

Persondata
Name	Erlewine, Michael
Alternative names
Short description	Archivist of popular culture
Date of birth	July 18, 1941
Place of birth	Lancaster, PA
Date of death
Place of death