He had saved money to buy a Bird electric organ with built-in speakers on each side, but they spotted a Hammond in the shop and thought it was a better purchase. Emerson acquired his first Hammond organ, an L-100 model, at the age of 15 or 16, on hire purchase and a loan from his father. So, they thought I was kind of cool and left me alone." Įmerson became interested in the Hammond organ after hearing jazz organist Jack McDuff perform "Rock Candy", and the Hammond became his instrument of choice in the late 1960s. That was because I could also play Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard songs. However, I was very good at avoiding being beaten up by the bullies. I used to walk around with Beethoven sonatas under my arm. Emerson later described himself: "I was a very serious child. He also listened to boogie-woogie, and to country-style pianists including Joe "Mr Piano" Henderson, Russ Conway and Winifred Atwell. He used jazz sheet music from Dave Brubeck and George Shearing and learned about jazz piano from books and Andre Previn's version of My Fair Lady. Īlthough Emerson did not own a record player, he enjoyed listening to music on the radio, particularly Floyd Cramer's 1961 slip note-style " On the Rebound" and the work of Dudley Moore.
#X3 REUNION KEYBOARD LAYOUT PROFESSIONAL#
His studies in Western classical music largely inspired his own style in his professional career which often incorporated jazz and rock elements. Emerson's teacher put him in competitions at the Worthing Music Festival and suggested he finish studying music in London, but Emerson had little interest in classical music at the time and chose jazz piano. When Emerson was eight, his parents arranged formal tuition, learning to play and read music with "local little old ladies" until he was around thirteen, where he studied to grade 7. His mother Dorothy was not musical, but his father Noel was an amateur pianist and taught Emerson basic piano. Emerson attended West Tarring School in Tarring. The family had been evacuated from southern England during World War II, after which they returned south and settled in Goring-by-Sea, West Sussex. 6.2 ELP equipment and Moog synthesisersĮmerson was born on 2 November 1944 in Todmorden, West Yorkshire.6.1 Pre-ELP equipment and Hammond organs.2.5.2 Solo career and Keith Emerson Band.AllMusic describes Emerson as "perhaps the greatest, most technically accomplished keyboardist in rock history". Įmerson was widely regarded as one of the top keyboard players of the progressive rock era. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on 11 March 2016 at his home in Santa Monica, California. Emerson reportedly had depression and alcoholism, and in his later years developed nerve damage that hampered his playing, making him anxious about upcoming performances. Emerson's last album, The Three Fates Project, with Marc Bonilla and Terje Mikkelsen, was released in 2012. He reunited with ELP bandmate Greg Lake in 2010 for a duo tour, culminating in a one-off ELP reunion show in London to celebrate the band's 40th anniversary. ĭuring the 2000s, Emerson resumed his solo career, including touring with his own Keith Emerson Band featuring guitarist Marc Bonilla and collaborating with several orchestras. Emerson also reunited the Nice in 2002 for a tour. In the early 1990s, Emerson rejoined ELP, which reunited for two more albums and several tours before breaking up again in the late 1990s. įollowing ELP's break-up at the end of the 1970s, Emerson pursued a solo career, composed several film soundtracks, and formed the band Emerson, Lake & Powell and 3 to carry on in the style of ELP. Emerson wrote and arranged much of ELP's music on albums such as Tarkus (1971) and Brain Salad Surgery (1973), combining his own original compositions with classical or traditional pieces adapted into a rock format. Emerson, Lake & Palmer were commercially successful through much of the 1970s, becoming one of the best-known progressive rock groups of the era. After leaving the Nice in 1970, he was a founding member of Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP), one of the early progressive rock supergroups. He became internationally famous for his work with the Nice, which included writing rock arrangements of classical music. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. Keith Noel Emerson (2 November 1944 – 11 March 2016) was an English keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer.
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