Keith Emerson

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Keith Emerson
Born
November 2, 1944 Todmorden, England

Keith 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, 3 and subsequent ELP reunions during the early 90's. He reunited The Nice in 2002 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. Emerson became intrigued with the Hammond organ after hearing jazz organist Jack McDuff perform "Rock Candy" and it subsequently became his instrument of choice for performing in the late 60s. In 1969, Emerson incorporated the Moog modular synthesizer (an analog synthesizer created by Robert Moog) into his battery of keyboards. While other artists such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones had used the Moog in studio recordings, Emerson was the first artist to tour with one.

Image:Keith Emerson performing.jpg

He is known for his technical virtuosity and for his live antics, including using knives to wedge down specific keys of his Hammond organ 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, and was arguably the most technically accomplished of the lot.

One central feature in Keith Emerson's music have always been rock arrangements of classical compositions, ranging from (lots of) J. S. Bach via Modest Moussorgsky to 20th century composers like Aaron Copland and Alberto Ginastera.

In 2004 Emerson published his critically acclaimed autobiography entitled "Pictures of an Exhibitionist" which deals with his entire career, particularly focusing on his early days with The Nice and his nearly career ending nerve-graft surgery in 1993.

Emerson has provided music for a number of films since 1980, including Dario Argento's Inferno and World of Horror, the 1981 thriller Nighthawks and Godzilla: Final Wars. He also was the composer for the short-lived 1994 animated television series Iron Man.