When Michael Bany slipped Beatle figurines into his family's Christmas Nativity scene, it was more than an example of his mischievous sense of humor. For the 41-year-old Cincinnati musician, killed Dec. 29, 1995, in a robbery, music had been a savior throughout a life filled with hardship.

Michael, born and raised in Finneytown, had seen his family torn apart. His parents split up. His mother died. He and younger brother Mark and younger sister Mary were placed in separate foster homes. Two much older brothers, John and David, professional musicians, were on their own.

In a world that suddenly made no sense, Michael found relief in music, playing Beatles songs in a band with his foster brothers.

Michael, who played professionally with his older brothers when he was 11, created an extended family out of the music community.

He almost hit the big time in 1982, when his band Wheels had a huge local hit with ''Amaretta,'' written and sung by Michael. The group, combining sweet vocal harmonies with a funky Little Feat groove and the dual guitar virtuosity of Michael Wheeler and Jeff Seeman, was the top local band of the late '70s and early '80s. They even signed a major-label deal.

But it never led to a national album, and the band broke up. Only occasional reunion shows and an expanded CD reissue of Wheels' self-produced LP remain.

Never bitter, Michael took the breakup in stride, piano tuning by day and playing in clubs by night.

''Michael got along with everybody in all the bands. He used to sit in with everybody,'' recalls Ginny Snyder, who collected cover charges and sold Wheels T-shirts in the band's glory days.

He played regularly with several bands, including the Blue Birds, writing and singing two songs on that band's self-titled debut CD.

His last band was the Goshorn Brothers. Mixing country harmonies and gritty blues-rock, the band was a return to Michael's Wheels roots. He played bass with the Goshorns at the now-defunct Tommy's On Main the night he was killed. The $60 stolen by his killer, who's on Ohio's death row, was Michael's pay for the night.

Michael was the kind of musician whose positive spirit and talent turn players and singers into a community.

Mr. Bany's extended Cincinnati music family came together Feb. 11, 1996, when rockers, jazzers, folkies, funksters and blues folks turned out for a musical memorial at Sycamore Gardens.

The Cammys were conceived to keep that diverse, music community spirit alive, to pay tribute to the scene he helped create and to remember Michael in a concrete way, raising funds for his memorial scholarship, which grants support to needy music students.

''There's never been a better team player in all of music,'' Wheels drummer and Cammys musical coordinator Mickey Foellger recalls of his old friend. ''The way he played, the way he sang, he always thought about the group. He was the kind of guy you always want in a band.''