Keith Emerson
Keith EmersonKeith Emerson (born November 2, 1944) is a British keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of The T-Bones, V.I.P.s and as backing band to P.P. Arnold (which evolved into The Nice), he went on to start Emerson Lake and Palmer (ELP), one of the first supergroups, in 1970. Following the first breakup of ELP circa 1979, Emerson went on to modest success with other bands including Emerson, Lake & Powell, Three and subsequent ELP reunions during the early 90's. He reunited The Nice in the mid-'90s to go on tour and currently tours (through 2005) with The Keith Emerson Band.Emerson was born in Todmorden, England. As a child, he learned western classical music, from which he derived a lot of inspiration to create his own style, combining classical music, jazz, and rock themes. As a performer on the Hammond organ, Emerson jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with Robert Moog, and work with his invention, the Modular Moog, an analog synthesizer, in 1969. While other artists such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones had used the Moog, Emerson was the first artist to tour with one.He is known for his technical virtuosity and for his live antics, including using knives to hold down organ keys during solos, playing the organ upside down while having it lie over him and employing a special rig to rotate his piano end-over-end while he's "playing" it (purely theatrical, since acoustic pianos cannot function when turned upside down in this manner). Along with contemporaries Richard Wright of Pink Floyd, Tony Banks of Genesis, and Rick Wakeman of Yes, Emerson is widely regarded as one of the top keyboard players of the progressive rock era.
External links
- http://www.keithemerson.com/
- http://www.brain-salad.com/Emerson/emerson.html
- http://www.vh1.com/artists/az/emerson_keith/bio.jhtml
Emerson, Keith
Emerson, Keith
Emerson, Keith
Emerson, Keithde:Keith Emerson