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Writer's pictureMyra Chapman

Five Minutes to Christmas

Five Minute to Christmas, Did Santa Claus Forget About Me? Now Spinning in the Charleston, S.C. area on The Rock Alter, Your Source for All Things Rock 'n Roll https://www.therockalter.com


Yes, we like tradional Christmas songs, but we also love a Rocking Christmas too. That's why we ply "Five Minutes to Christmas" by Micki Free every year. It definitely puts us into a Rocking where we celebrate the spirit of Christmas with dance, romance and music.

At 17 years old, Micki Free was performing in the band Smokehouse which happened to get an opening act for the band KISS. Ted Nugent, and REO Speedwagon Gene Simmons was very impressed, becoming his manager helping to spearhead his musical career. Simmons encouraged Micki to join the R&B group Shalamar as a guitarist. Shalamar hit singles include 'Dancing in the Sheets' (Footloose soundtrack), with Free winning a Grammy with the group ("Best Album of An Original Score Written For A Motion Picture") for his contributions to the Eddie Murphy movie 'Beverly Hills Cop' and is a Five Time Native American Music Award winner.


He is featured on the hilarious Dave Chappell Show, in Charlie Murphy's "True Hollywood Stories”,  'Shirts vs Blouses: MICKI FREE IS NOT A GIRL"  skit with Prince playing basketball against Charlie and Eddie Murphy.



Micki Free is musical perfomances includes a who's who in the entertainment industry from the band KISS where it all began to such musical icons as Bill Wyman of The Rolling Stones, Shalamar, Prince, Billy Gibbons, Carlos Santana, Cheap Trick, Wendy O. Williams, Diana Ross, (The Plasmatics), Shalamar, Little Steven Van Zandt, Janet Jackson, Shalamar, Jean Beauvoir (Ramones, KISS, The Plasmatics) and more. His own rocking blues perfromancd have graced stages worldwide, including his appearances at the "Hard Rock Calling" festival in Hyde Park, London for four years with over 100,000 fans.


Micki Free is of Irish, Comanche, and Cherokee descent who moved to Germany when his stepfather, a U.S. Army sergeant, was stationed there. It was during this time he was introduced Rock 'n' Roll as a child when one of his sisters received tickets to a Jimi Hendrix concert taking him along. The rest they say is history.


After Shalamr, Micki Free and Jean Beauvoir were both members of the band Crown of Thorns, which set off a bidding war within the industry with Prince offering $1M for rights to the album. The Micki Free Electric Blues Experience, formed afterward included Jon Brant (formerly of Cheap Trick) on bass, and Curly Smith (formerly of Boston) on drums.


If you haven't heard of Micki Free before, maybe you might like the single "Five Minutes to Christmas" for your 2025 Holiday selections. The single is now spinning on a few radio stations.

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