KEITH EMERSON
PROFILE
Born November 2, 1944 in Todmorden,
Lancashire, England, Keith Emerson began playing piano by ear at age 4 by
picking out melodies of show tunes he heard his father playing. He started
taking lessons at age 8, but never really received much formal training beyond a
few years of private lessons. By the age of 14, he was supporting himself
musically by playing dance halls, bingo sessions, and accompaniment at his
aunt's ballet studio. In his late teens, he moved to London and joined the band
Gary Farr and the T-Bones, touring Germany, France, and Britain. His early
influences were primarily jazz artists such as Fats Waller, Art Tatum, Wynton
Kelly, Jimmy Smith, Oscar Peterson, and Jack McDuff. Classical composers also
became influential in his music including J.S. Bach, Aaron Copland,
Rachmaninoff, Bartok and Alberto Ginastera amongst others. In his twenties, he
formed a band called The Nice, to back jazz/blues singer P.P. Arnold in England.
They garnered their own solo spot, and began playing a unique fusion of jazz,
blues, classical and rock. Emerson came to the forefront of the band musically
and as a performer, and for the first time in rock music, the main focus was
towards the keyboards, particularly the Hammond Organ. Emerson gained fame for
his outrageous stage performances backed by virtuoso musical performances, and
the band was signed by the manager of the Rolling Stones, Andrew Loog Oldham, on
the strength of their club act. At age twenty, Emerson was commissioned to write
"The Five Bridges Suite" in a live mixed orchestra/rock ensemble style with the
Birmingham City Orchestra. In a short time they performed at the prestigious
Royal Albert Hall in London, made consistent appearances on the British pop
series "Old Grey Whistle Test" and "Ready, Steady, Go", and toured throughout
Europe and the United States. Within the three years of the band's existence,
they released five albums. Soon after hearing "Switched on Bach" by Walter
Carlos, Emerson purchased and experimented with one of the first modular Moog
synthesizers, and became the first artist to ever use a modular Moog synthesizer
live on stage. Feeling somewhat limited by the playing abilities of the other
members, in 1970 Emerson broke up The Nice and formed the legendary group,
Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP). They achieved instant fame with their debut at the
Isle of Wight Festival, announcing their arrival on the scene with cannon fire,
and tearing into a furious rock trio's re-working of Mussorgsky's classic
"Pictures at an Exhibition". Their first single, entitled "Lucky Man", ended
with a startling new sound, the first featured lead synthesizer solo. This sound
took the music world by storm, and the band was on its way. They released five
platinum albums between 1970 and 1974, including a live recording of "Pictures
at an Exhibition". The album many consider to be their finest work, the
cryptically entitled "Brain Salad Surgery", produced another of Emerson's
infamous classical adaptations, this time taking on the fourth movement,
"Toccata", of Ginastera's first piano concerto as well as more original
compositions. Ginastera himself was so impressed with the adaptation, that his
endorsement appears on the album : "Keith Emerson has beautifully caught the
mood of my piece". In 1974, ELP headlined the world famous California Jam, which
was broadcast on ABC. He then undertook a new ELP album endeavor, returning in
1977 with the aptly named album called "Works". Emerson composed and performed
his now famous "Piano Concerto No.1", with the London Philharmonic Orchestra.
Since its release, the Concerto has been played worldwide on classical radio,
and performed by several major orchestras. Emerson's arrangement of Aaron
Copland's "Fanfare for the Common Man" also drew congratulatory comments from
the composer himself, and has become a live-performance trademark, as well as
achieving notoriety as a heroic theme for many sports broadcasts. Keith has
performed with the London Symphony Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic with
Zubin Mehta conducting, L'Orchestre d'Opera de Paris, their own hand-picked
orchestra for their '77 world tour. After touring with their orchestra, ELP
returned to the road as a three piece, released two more albums, and finally
disbanded in 1979. In 1980, Keith released his first solo album, a Caribbean
island inspired work called "Honky" (so titled since he recorded it completely
with Bahamian musicians).
Moving away from the limitations of a touring rock band, Emerson turned to
orchestral motion picture soundtrack composition, and produced five film scores
between 1979 and 1989, including Sylvester Stallone/Billy Dee Williams MCA film
"Nighthawks", James Heard's Lorimar film "The Best Revenge", Italian horror
master Dario Argento's "Inferno", "Murderock", and "The Church". Emerson also
has scored a Japanese full length animated film "Harmagedon" for which he
received a gold record for the main title theme.
In 1985, ELP regrouped with a new "P" in the band, that being drummer Cozy
Powell, of Jeff Beck Group fame. With the Top 10 single and video "Touch and Go"
in high rotation, they made their first appearance on MTV as guest VJ's, as well
as on Friday Night Videos. During this period Keith made a solo appearance on
Late Night with David Letterman, with Letterman keysman Paul Schaffer watching
in awe. 1988 saw another re-incarnation of the classic ELP line-up, "Three-To
the Power of Three" with Carl Palmer, and the addition of
guitarist/bassist/vocalist Robert Berry. Keith and Robert continued to work
together until 1990, when Keith returned to the studio to work on his solo
ideas. These ideas appeared on the 1992 ELP release "Black Moon", which saw the
original li ne-up of Emerson, Lake, & Palmer back together once more. For the
first time in 13 years, they again toured the world. Keith returned to the stage
of the Royal Albert Hall, which resulted in the live BBC broadcast, video, and
album "Emerson, Lake & Palmer Live at the Royal Albert Hall".
In 1994 Keith composed 170 minutes of original music for Marvel Animation's
"Iron Man" TV cartoon series. 1995 saw the release of "Changing States", a
collection of solo works by Emerson, as well as "The Christmas Album", his third
solo release. The Christmas Album" consists of a variety of original and
familiar seasonal pieces arranged in Keith's inimitable style.
Keith has consistently won the Overall Best Keyboardist award in the annual
Keyboard Magazine readers' poll since the magazine debuted in 1975, and holds a
seat of honor on their advisory board.
Courtesy of The Official Keith Emerson Website