Composer/Songwriter
Billy Vera spent 40 years waiting for overnight success, which came in the form of his 1985 hit song “At This Moment.” His road to overnight success is a very fascinating story that began in 1962 when Billy was playing guitar for the band, the Resolutions. He wrote several songs throughout the...
Gladys Krenek was married to the world-renowned composer Ernst Krenek from 1950 until his passing in 1991. Like many women married to noted artists of that era, Gladys’ own remarkable life in music has been largely overlooked. In addition to being a composer in her own right, she played trumpet in...
John Eaton spent the latter part of the 1960s composing for electronic musical instruments such as early synthesizers developed by Robert Moog and Paul Ketoff. His microtonal music included several works for live performances such as “Song for R. P. B” in 1964 in which John played the Syn-Ket and “...
Ralph Grierson’s father was a sawmill operator who loved playing music after work and on the weekends. As Ralph grew up, his father encouraged him to develop a career in music. After college, while playing in several bands in the Los Angeles area, Ralph was asked to record a film score. Over the...
Jackie Mills as a drummer put down the beat for jazz and big band stars such as Tommy Dorsey, Charlie Barnet, Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holiday. As a record producer, he played a critical role in the careers of Janis Joplin, Irene Kral and Bobby Sherman. As the co-founder of Choreo Records (later...
Billy Taylor was first and foremost a jazz pianist. This fact might surprise some people who knew Billy best for one of a number of other careers he enjoyed in music, including teaching, composing and advocating for music education. As a jazz performer, Billy learned from the best including Ben...
Ravi Shankar was called the Godfather of World Music by his long time friend George Harrison. Ravi’s role in bringing Indian music to the world was the beginning of many musical exchanges that have since been referred to as world music. Ravi’s role as a player is only matched by his amazing...
Money Mark grew up fascinated with music and musical instruments. He read all he could about the latest keyboards and synthesizers, which were becoming popular during his childhood. In his 20s he played in several Los Angeles-area bands, wrote his own music and began recording. All of this was the...
Larry Fast is best known as the innovative keyboardist and synthesizer composer who helped bring electronic musical instruments into pop music, beginning in the 1970s. His Synergy series of synthesizer music albums beginning in 1975 brought great popularity to the instruments, which were being...
Keith Emerson was the British rocker who in the early 1970s helped define live performances on electronic musical instruments such as the modular Moog. He gained fame as a musical composer and clever keyboardist for The Nice before forming Emerson, Lake & Palmer and recording a string of hits...