Mike Shinoda

Shinoda got married to Anna Hillinger in 2003. The couple has two children together and their eldest son is Otis Akio Shinoda.

Mike Shinoda was born in Los Angeles to a Japanese-American father and European mother. He was brought up in the suburban area of Agoura Hills in Los Angeles.

His mother wanted him to learn classical music, which is why he was given professional piano lessons since the age of 6. By the time he turned a teenager, he wanted to play jazz, blues and hip-hop.

He attended Agoura High School, along with his future Linkin Park bandmates—Brad Delson and Rob Bourdon. After finishing high school, Shinoda went to the Art Center College of Design in the pursuit of studying graphic design and illustration.

After graduation, Shinoda got a job as a graphic designer while working on his band —‘Xero’. The band was in need of a singer therefore Jeff Blue was called from Arizona and the band was renamed—‘Linkin Park’.

With the band’s first album ‘Hybrid Theory’ in 2000, Shinoda involved himself with the technical aspects of the band and the albums it released in the beginning. The album sold over 10 million copies alone in the United States.

For Linkin Park’s first remix album, ‘Reanimation’ in 2002, Shinoda directed, structured and administered the whole creative process. The album helped many underground hip hop artists that it featured to reach a larger audience.

Shinoda persistently expanded as a musician and studio engineer with band’s second album, ‘Meteora’ in 2003. He also teamed up with graffiti artist DELTA, graphic designer Frank Maddocks and Joe Hahn to work on the artwork of the album.

In 2004, Linkin Park’s ‘mash-up’ with Jay-Z, ‘Collision Course’, was released. Shinoda produced and mixed the album, which went on to win a Grammy Award for ‘best rap/song collaboration’.

Further exploring his talents in art and graphics, Shinoda’s first public art show ‘Diamonds Spades Hearts & Clubs’ was showcased in 2004. It included a series of ten paintings, which later became ‘The Rising Tied’s’ artwork.

Shinoda with his artistic abilities is a multifaceted artist and is best known as the rapper, guitarist, keyboardist and producer of the American rock band Linkin Park. His vocals on ‘Minutes to Midnight’ in 2007 established him as a vocalist.