Michael "Mike" Lombardo is an American piano rock musician. He was known for writing piano-driven rock songs and posting them on YouTube under the username "MikeLombardoMusic", until his 2013 conviction on child pornography charges. He was previously signed to DFTBA Records through which he released one LP, Songs for a New Day, and one EP, The Alchemist. Lombardo posted music videos, song tutorials, and personal updates on his YouTube channel which had over 20,000 subscribers before its closure. As of August 16, 2018, Lombardo is released from FCI Fort Dix, having served a five-year sentence at the facility after pleading guilty to child pornography charges.
Musical background
Lombardo frequently states that he has been making music since he was two years old. He graduated a year early from Berklee College of Music in 2009, earning a degree in songwriting. He first started uploading original songs on YouTube as a way to post his homework for class assignments.
Legal problems
On February 16, 2012, it was announced by The Smoking Gun that Lombardo "is the target of a federal child pornography investigation focusing on his alleged exchange of naked photos with underage female fans." Two days after the release of the article, Hank Green, one of the co-owners of DFTBA Records, put up a statement on his Tumblr blog stating that the company had removed Lombardo's music from their website because they "didn’t feel it appropriate to continue our business relationship given the situation." On July 20, 2012, a complaint was filed in the United States District Court for the Northern District of New York alleging four counts of child pornography related crimes. He was arrested on July 25, 2012 but released from custody after five days. On September 18, 2013, The Smoking Gun published another article announcing that Lombardo had pleaded guilty to receipt of child pornography. According to the plea bargain, Lombardo solicited pornographic images from six different minors. On February 28, 2014, Lombardo was sentenced to five years in federal prison. He was released on August 16, 2018.
Awards, achievements, and appearances
Lombardo won 1st place in the jazz category of the 2008 Upstate NY Songwriting competition.
In March 2010, Lombardo earned the title of Master of Song Fu after winning Quick Stop Entertainment's Masters of Song Fu songwriting competition with his song "This Song Is Meta ".
Lombardo wrote a parody of Coldplay's Viva La Vida in homage to Stephen Fry called "Viva La Fry," and it garnered Fry's attention.
Lombardo's video "Mike Lombardo Smackdown," about Internet file sharing and piracy was awarded Video of the Year 2010 by the website MusicTechPolicy.com.
Lombardo has collaborated with many artists, including Meghan Tonjes, on Sara Bareilles' song "King of Anything," which Bareilles watched and commented on.
Another video, titled "Songwriting on the Floor: Rhyme," was featured on CBSnews.com in May 2011.
His cover of They Might Be Giants' song "My Man" was included on the "Mink Car Cover" project organized to raise money for the New York Fire Department, in honor of the 10-year anniversary of the release of They Might Be Giants' album Mink Car. This album featured work done by other artists such as Hank Green, Molly Lewis, MC Frontalot, and more.
During the late summer of 2011, Lombardo toured with nerdcore rapper MC Frontalot as his keyboardist under the stage-name "56K." This tour saw Lombardo play live in front of the sold-out crowd at Penny Arcade Expo, in Seattle, Washington, sharing the main stage with other artists, such as Paul and Storm and Jonathan Coulton.
In the fall of 2011, Lombardo opened a handful of shows for comedy duo, Paul and Storm.
