Most known for being the founder of alternative rock band Linkin Park, Michael Kenji “Mike” Shinoda is an American vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, producer, graphic designer, and manager. In 1996, Shinoda founded Linkin Park (as Xero) playing rhythm guitar, keyboards, writing, rapping, and singing for the band. Mike also had a hip-hop/rap side-project called Fort Minor, and occasionally composed scores for films and games such as Medal of Honor: Warfighter, The Raid: Redemption, MALL, the theme for AMC’s Into the Badlands, and more.

On July 20, 2017, Linkin Park’s lead singer Chester Bennington died by suicide. Both band members and fans were devastated, especially Shinoda. On October 27 of the same year, Shinoda lead the band in a tribute concert for Chester with guest appearances from friends of the band. The band reformed in 2023 in secrecy working on their 8th studio album and first without Chester Bennington and long-time drummer Rob Bourdon, instead with Dead Sara vocalist Emily Armstrong and Colin Brittain. Linkin Park announced their return on September 5th with the release of their first single in 7 years, “The Emptiness Machine”, the first from their upcoming album From Zero, which is produced by Shinoda.

Shinoda has written and produced a solo album called Post Traumatic in which he pays tribute to Bennington. Released on June 15th, 2018, the album shows how brave he has been facing this event.