Micael Kiriakos Delaoglou, better known as Mikkey Dee (born October 31, 1963) is a half-Greek half-Swedish drummer/songwriter in the heavy metal band, Motörhead. The drummer has been known for his incredible speed and precision since his mid-80s stint with King Diamond.
Born in Gothenburg, Sweden, he began his musical career with local bands Nadir and Geisha. His favourite drummer is Ian Paice, other influences being Brian Downey, Neil Peart and Steven Smith. Dee also gives credit to Buddy Rich.
Having moved to Copenhagen to play with Geisha, in 1985, he joined King Diamond, who were looking for additional members to complete their line-up. After their release of the "Them" album (1988), Dee decided to leave the band, as he felt he was becoming more of a back-up musician, rather than an equal contributing songwriter — Diamond himself was becoming quite popular and the musicians backing him were taking a secondary role in the writing and decision making, often Diamond was the only person answering for the whole group in magazine interviews, etc. Dee continued to play as a session drummer for the recording sessions of the Conspiracy album (1989), after which he was replaced by Snowy Shaw .
He joined Don Dokken for his solo album, Up From The Ashes (1990) whilst also playing for World War Three.
Lemmy had been repeatedly asking him to join Motörhead since 1985, and in 1992, when asked once again, Dee accepted the offer, replacing Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor. Commenting on his replacement of a longstanding member of the band, Dee said in a 2006 interview:
Phil Taylor was great when he was good... so I could never have filled that space. It's like when you get married and have kids, no one can take my father's place.
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