	Mike Whiteley began his songwriting career, while bored, in a High School English class: Cleburne, Tx, 1985. His earliest influence was Sonny Burgess, also from Cleburne. Mike says, “In Junior High I used to pay 50 cents, to get out of home room, to go watch Sonny and his band play in the auditorium. He was Great !! I remember telling my best friend, “Shut up !! I wanna hear Sonny !!”” 
	Mike had written around 50 songs by 1989, and somehow arranged a meeting with legendary songwriter Hal Bynum. (Lucille – Kenny Rogers, There Ain’t No Good Chain Gang – Johnny Cash & Waylon Jennings,  Chains – Patty Loveless, and more) Mike spent what little money he had driving to Nashville from Ft. Worth.  Hal listened to his songs, mostly while on the telephone, and told him to quit writing immediately. “Don’t set yourself up for heartache, kid.” he said.
	That meeting has always stuck in his craw. “I hope that I have some success someday, so that I can influence up and coming songwriters. I would never do what Mr. Bynum did to me. Maybe he thought he was doing me a favor, but if so, it backfired and just made me want it more !!” Mike is still a hopeful, passionate, yet unpublished, songwriter. “If I never make a nickel from my songs, I’ll never stop writing. It is what I was born to do. I love it and I’ll never stop. I plan to get better with every song.” He chuckles and says, “Of course, I started off writing pretty bad. So, the sky’s the limit !!”
 Mike has worked mostly as a nightclub manager/supervisor for the last 20+ years. He still writes every single time the feeling hits him. Most recently, after entering his first ever songwriting contest, Mike won both 1st and 2nd place in the Fort Worth Songwriter’s Association Songwriting Contest in December of 2014. (1st place – Lonely Over You, 2nd place – Too Wrong To Write) You can hear some of his demos at his website: mikewhiteleysongs.com  Feel free to let him know what you think about his songs. He has broad shoulders, he can take it. 


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