Shinoda's band (at this point called Hybrid Theory) brought in second vocalist Chester Bennington, replacing Mark Wakefield. Only one six-track EP would be released under the new name before legal issues forced them once again to change it - and thus it came to pass that Shinoda and his bandmates were to call themselves "Lincoln Park" because it was a park where they used to have a good time. However, the domain name lincolnpark.com was already taken, so it was ultimately changed to Linkin Park.[citation needed]
From the onset, Shinoda was closely involved in the technical aspects of the band's recordings, and over the subsequent releases that role continued to expand.The first song they sang was "Crawling". Shinoda, with guitarist Brad Delson, engineered and produced the band's Hybrid Theory EP, and performed similar roles in the recording of the Hybrid Theory album. Mike executive organized and oversaw the band's remix album Reanimation (2002), contributing his own production remixes that he made in his home studio for "Crawling" and "Pushing Me Away." In spare time, he produced and performed on a song by The X-Ecutioners entitled "It's Goin Down."
On the second Linkin Park Warner Bros. studio release Meteora (2003) Shinoda continued to expand upon his duties as a musician and studio technician/engineer. Additionally, for the backbone of the album artwork, Shinoda collaborated with graffiti artist DELTA, graphic designer Frank Maddocks, and band-mate Joe Hahn.
By the release of the Linkin Park and Jay-Z 'mash-up' album Collision Course in 2004, Shinoda's involvement in the creation of the albums continued to grow. He produced and mixed the album, which won a Grammy Award for "best rap / sung collaboration" later that year.
The band released their latest album, Minutes to Midnight, on May 15, 2007. On this album, Shinoda shared a production credit with legendary producer Rick Rubin, overseeing the musical evolution of the band's sound. This album was also the first time that Shinoda, best known for his rapping, sang a featured vocal. Mike sang on the songs "In Between", "Bleed it out", "Hands Held High" and the b-side song, "No Roads Left". Despite of the uncommonness of Shinoda-fronted singing tracks, Hit Parader ranked Mike at number 72 of the Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time.
Personal life
Mike Shinoda has been married to Anna (Hillinger) Shinoda since May 10, 2003. She is now a children's author. The song Where'd You Go, according to Shinoda, was dedicated to his wife, Anna. The couple currently reside in Agoura Hills, California. In 2004 he found his way on an episode of Punk'd in which a fire hydrant was placed next to his car during a pretend fire. In 2005 he was interviewed by Ike Barinholtz & Bobby Lee of MADtv at the 2005 Billboard Music Awards which was later aired on the series. He has also revealed that he has asthma. In an interview, he has revealed that his father was born during the second World War, when talking about his song "Kenji" from "The Rising Tied" album. Mike is a third generation Japanese American. His father was born in the United States and was interned during World War II.
