R.I.P.: Mike Pinera, Co-Founder of Blues Image

Mike Pinera (1948-2024)

Tampa native Mike Pinera, who wrote and sang the Top Ten single “Ride Captain Ride” as a member of Blues Image, died Nov. 20 after a long illness. He was 76, according to The Catalyst.

“Ride Captain Ride,” which is still in rotation on Classic Rock radio, reached No. 4 on the Billboard chart in 1970. It was the only hit for Blues Image, a popular Tampa band that re-located first to Miami, then to California upon signing to Atco Records in 1969.

Band founders Pinera, Mike Betematti (drums), Malcolm Jones (bass) and Joe Lala (percussion) met as students at Tampa’s Jefferson High School. Pinera had been part of the Impalas, the Motions and the El Dorados, teen garage bands.

In 1969 Blues Image was support for Led Zeppelin at Miami’s ultra-hip Thee Image club, and Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page began a years-long friendship with Pinera. Page pronounced Blues Image, which by then included keyboard player Skip Conte, “the most dynamic sound in the country.”

After the collapse of Blues Image, Pinera joined Iron Butterfly (he appears on Metamorphosis, the group’s final charting album) and formed the band Ramatam with Mitch Mitchell, drummer for the Jimi Hendrix Experience.

He also formed the New Cactus Band and Thee Image, making records with each, and played with Alice Cooper for several years in the late 1970s and early ‘80s.

In a 2023 Goldmine interview, Pinera recalled the recording sessions for the second Blues Image album, Open, in 1969. Their producer warned them he didn’t hear a hit.

“I went into the bathroom and locked the door,” Pinera said. “I was in there for 10 to 15 minutes and all the words and melody came to me for ‘Ride Captain Ride.’

“It came at a good time because my parents were financially strapped and challenged and I made enough money from that gold single to pay off my father and mother’s house.”