- Johann Pachelbel
Johann Pachelbel (baptized September 1, 1653 - March 3, 1706) was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most important composers of the middle Baroque. - Girolamo Frescobaldi
Girolamo Frescobaldi (baptized mid-September 1583 - March 1, 1643) was an Italian musician, one of the most important composers of keyboard music in the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods. There is no evidence that the Frescobaldi of Ferrara were related to the homonymous Florentine noble house. - Brian Eno
Brian Eno (born Brian Peter George Eno on 15 May 1948 in Woodbridge, Suffolk) is an English electronic musician, music theorist and record producer. As a solo artist, he is probably best known as the father of modern ambient music, though he is also a highly celebrated record producer. With an art school background and inspiration from minimalism, … - John Bull
John Bull (1562 or 1563-March 15, 1628) was an English composer, musician, and organ builder. He was a renowned keyboard performer and most of his compositions were written for this medium. - Orlando Gibbons
Orlando Gibbons (baptised December 25 1583 - June 5 1625) was an English composer and organist of the late Tudor and early Jacobean periods. He was a leading composer in the England of his day. Gibbons was born in Oxford. Between 1596 and 1598 he sang in the choir of King's College, Cambridge, where his brother was master of the choristers; he entered the university in 1598 and achieved the degree of Bachelor of Music in 1606. - Johann Jakob Froberger
Johann Jakob Froberger (May 18, 1616 - May 7, 1667) was a German Baroque composer, keyboard virtuoso, and organist. He was very well known during his lifetime and modern scholars consider him to be one of the most important keyboard composers before Johann Sebastian Bach. - Van Morrison
Van Morrison was born in Belfast in 1945, the son of a shipyard worker who collected American blues and jazz records. Van grew up listening to the music of Muddy Waters, Mahalia Jackson , Lightnin' Hopkins and John Lee Hooker . As a teenager he played guitar, sax and harmonica with a series of local Irish showbands, skiffle and rock'n'roll groups before forming an r&b band called Them in 1964. - Louis Couperin
Louis Couperin was a French Baroque composer who made significant contributions to the development of Baroque keyboard music. A skillful harpsichordist, organist, and gambist, he was one of the founders of the French harpsichord school and invented the genre of unmeasured prelude for harpsichord. He and his nephew, François "le Grand," were the most renowned members of the Couperin family. - Johann Mattheson
Johann Mattheson (September 28, 1681 - April 17, 1764) was a German composer, writer, lexicographer, diplomat and music theorist. Mattheson was born and died in Hamburg. He was a close friend of George Frideric Handel, although he nearly killed him in a sudden quarrel, during a performance of Mattheson's opera "Cleopatra" in 1704. Handel was saved only by a large button which turned aside Mattheson's sword. The two were afterwards reconciled. - Yanni
Yanni (born "Yiannis Chrysomallis", Greek: "Γιάννης Χρυσομάλλης", on November 14, 1954) is a Greek keyboardist and composer. He was born in Kalamata, Greece. - Jacopo Peri
Jacopo Peri (August 20 1561 - August 12 1633) was an Italian composer and singer of the transitional period between the Renaissance and Baroque styles, and is often called the inventor of opera. He wrote the first work to be called an opera today, "Dafne" (around 1597), and also the first opera to have survived to the present day, "Euridice" (1600). Peri was probably born in Rome, but studied in Florence with Cristofano Malvezzi, … - Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann (real name Manfred Sepse Lubowitz) was born on 21 October 1940 in Johannesburg, South Africa and is a professional keyboard player, best known as the founder member of Manfred Mann and Manfred Mann's Earth Band. Lubowitz studied classical music at the University of the Witwatersrand and worked as a jazz pianist at a number of clubs in Johannesburg. Between 1959 and 1961 he recorded, together with his childhood friend Harry Miller, … - Jim Cooper
Jim Cooper (born in Princeton, Indiana) is a Christian musician, songwriter, and producer. Cooper studied at Temple Christian Academy in his hometown. He joined legendary Christian rock band Petra, as a keyboard technician for John Lawry. He credits Lawry for being his mentor and teacher. In 1994 he joined in as their full-time keyboardist, upon Lawry's retirement. His arrival came in time for the release of "No Doubt" in 1995. - Antonio Soler
Antonio Francisco Javier José Soler Ramos, usually known today as Padre Antonio Soler, (baptized December 3, 1729 - died December 20, 1783) was a Spanish composer whose works span the late Baroque and early Classical music eras. He is best known for his keyboard sonatas, an important contribution to the harpsichord, fortepiano and organ repertoire. - Joe Zawinul
Josef Erich Zawinul (born July 7, 1932 in Vienna, Austria) is a jazz keyboardist and composer. He is one of the front runners in the development of jazz fusion along with Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin and Miles Davis. Best known as the founder of the band Weather Report, with Miroslav Vitous and Wayne Shorter with whom he had previously recorded two albums as part of Davis' studio band, he currently heads the ensemble called the Zawinul Syndicate. - Masaaki Suzuki
Masaaki Suzuki is an organist, harpsichordist and conductor, and the founder and musical director of the Bach Collegium Japan. He was born in Kobe to parents who were both Christian and amateur musicians. He studied composition and organ at the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, and was later taught harpsichord and organ by Ton Koopman and Piet Kee and improvisation by Klaas Bolt at the Sweelink Conservatory in Amsterdam. - Augustus Pablo
Horace Swaby (June 21, 1954 - May 18, 1999), better known as Augustus Pablo, was a Jamaican roots reggae and dub record producer and keyboardist, active from the 1970s onwards. He was perhaps the first person to use the melodica as a viable musical instrument. He was born in St. Andrew, Jamaica and learned to play the organ in Kingston College School. It was at that point an unnamed girl lent him the melodica. - Jeremiah Clarke
Jeremiah Clarke (c. 1674 - December 1 1707) was an English baroque composer. Thought to have been born in London in 1674, Clarke was a pupil of John Blow at St Paul's Cathedral. He later became organist at the Chapel Royal. "A violent and hopeless passion for a very beautiful lady of a rank superior to his own" caused him to commit suicide by shooting himself. He was succeeded in his post by William Croft. - Dave Stewart
David Lloyd Stewart (born Waterloo, London, 30 December 1950) is a musician currently recording with singer Barbara Gaskin. He has worked as a magazine columnist, has written books on music theory, and has played keyboards in various Canterbury scene progressive rock bands: Uriel, Egg, Arzachel, Khan, Hatfield and the North, Gong, National Health, Bruford and Rapid Eye Movement. He has contributed music to several Victor Lewis-Smith TV and radio projects. - Joshua Rifkin
Joshua Rifkin is an American conductor, keyboard player, and musicologist. He studied with Vincent Persichetti in the Music Division at the Juilliard School and received his Bachelor of Science degree in 1964. He also studied with Gustave Reese at New York University (1964-1966), at the University of Göttingen (1966-1967), and later with Mendel, Lockwood, Milton Babbitt, and Oster at Princeton University where he received his M.F.A. in 1969. - Geoff Downes
Geoffrey Downes (born August 25, 1952 in Stockport, Cheshire, England) is a rock keyboard player/songwriter/producer. He is best known as the keyboardist for the band Asia, the Buggles, and also his stint with Yes in 1980. When he was a keyboardist for The Buggles, he would play multiple keyboards to achieve a 'New Wave' technopop sound. He was once entered for the Guinness Book Of Records for performing with most keyboards (28) on stage in one performance. - Domenico Alberti
Domenico Alberti (around 1710 - 1740) was an Italian singer, harpsichordist and composer whose works bridge the Baroque and Classical periods. Alberti was born in Venice and studied music with Antonio Lotti. He wrote operas, songs and sonatas for keyboard instruments, for which he is best known today. These sonatas frequently employ a particular kind of arpeggiated accompaniment in the left hand which is now known as the "Alberti bass". - Raymond Kurzweil
Raymond Kurzweil (pronounced:) (born February 12, 1948) is a pioneer in the fields of optical character recognition (OCR), text-to-speech synthesis, speech recognition technology, and electronic keyboard instruments. He is the author of several books on health, artificial intelligence, transhumanism, technological singularity, and futurism. - John Linnell
John Sidney Linnell (born June 12th, 1959 ) is one half of rock duo They Might Be Giants . Linnell co-founded the band with John Flansburgh in the early eighties, and is a primary songwriter and singer for the duo. He generally plays accordion , baritone saxophone, and keyboard for the band. Before joining TMBG, Linnell claims to have been in a full-on jazz band called The Baggs , and was also in a New Wave band known as The Mundanes . - Rod Argent
Rod Argent (born Rodney Terence Argent, 14 June 1945, in St Albans, Hertfordshire, England) was a founding member of the 1960s English pop group The Zombies and the 1970s band Argent. While at St Albans School, he met Paul Atkinson and Hugh Grundy. The three of them joined up with Colin Blunstone and Chris White to form The Zombies. In addition to playing piano and keyboards in the group, … - Jon Carin
Jon Carin (born October 21 1964 in New York) is a musician, producer, engineer, writer and programmer who plays keyboards, guitar, bass guitar, drums and sings. Also known as the front-man (lead vocalist, keyboard and guitar player) of the 80s band Industry, whose 1984 breakthrough single State Of The Nation was followed in the same year by the successful album Stranger To Stranger. - Earl Grant
Earl Grant (January 20 1931 - June 111970) was an American easy listening pianist, Hammond organist, and vocalist popular in the 1950s and 60's Born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Grant was gifted with keyboard skills and a fine singing voice. Other instruments he was skilled at playing were trumpet, drums and Hammond organ. Grant attended four music schools, then became a music teacher, augmenting his income by performing in clubs during his army service, stationed in Texas. - Graeme Revell
Graeme Revell (born in Auckland, New Zealand on October 23, 1955) is a composer of film music. Revell is a classically trained pianist and French horn player, but also graduated from the University of Auckland with degrees in economics and political science. He worked as a regional planner in Australia and Indonesia and as an orderly in an Australian psychiatric hospital. Later, he was a founding member of the industrial music band SPK, playing keyboards and percussion. - Danny Federici
Danny Federici (born January 23, 1950) was an American musician, most known as the longtime organ and keyboard player for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band. During in-concert band intros, Springsteen often referred to him as "Phantom." Federici attended high school at Hunterdon Central High School in New Jersey. Federici's organ fills are a key component in the E Street sound, and sometimes take on a more prominent role, such as on the hit "Hungry Heart". - William Orbit
William Orbit (born on 15 December, 1956 as William Mark Wainwright in Shoreditch, Hackney) is an English musician and record producer, perhaps best known to most for his work on Madonna's album "Ray of Light", which received four Grammy Awards. He has also co-produced several unreleased Madonna songs originally recorded for other albums that were never used. In addition, he produced "13" by Blur, and remixed some of the songs on the album. - Mark Kelly
Mark Kelly (born Mark Colbert Kelly, 9 April 1961, in Dublin) is the keyboardist of the progressive rock band, Marillion. He joined the band in 1981, replacing previous keyboardist Brian Jelliman, and is still a member as of 2007. He previously played in the progressive/psychedelic band Chemical Alice who released their EP "Curioser and Curioser" in 1981. Kelly has appeared on every Marillion studio album. - Garth Hudson
Eric Garth Hudson (b. August 2, 1937 in Windsor, Ontario) is a Canadian musician. As the virtuoso organist and keyboardist for Canadian-American rock n roll group The Band, he was a principal architect of the group's unique sound. A master of the Lowrey organ, Hudson's orchestral tone sense and style anticipated many of the sonic advances of the polyphonic synthesizer. His other primary instruments are piano, electronic keyboards, tenor saxophone, … - David Cross
David Cross (born April 23 1948) is an electric violinist born in Plymouth, England, best known for playing with progressive rock band King Crimson during the 1970s (particularly on "Larks' Tongues in Aspic", "Starless and Bible Black" and "Red"). He also plays keyboards and Mellotron. Since the 1990s he has led his own band, often writing with drummer Dan Maurer. Former and current King Crimson members John Wetton, Robert Fripp, … - Michelangelo Rossi
Michelangelo Rossi (Michel Angelo del Violino) (born in Genova in 1601 or 1602; died in Rome in 1656) was an important Italian composer, violinist and organist of the Baroque era. Rossi studied with his uncle, Lelio de Rubeis (Lelio Rossi) (1601-1638), at the Cathedral of San Lorenzo in Genova. Around the year 1624 he moved to Rome to enter the services of Cardinal Maurizio of Savoy. - John Medeski
Anthony John Medeski (b. 28 June 1965) is an American jazz keyboards player and composer. He plays the acoustic piano and an eclectic array of keyboards, including the Hammond B3 organ, melodica, mellotron, clavinet, ARP String Ensemble, Wurlitzer Electric Piano, Moog Voyager Synthesizer, Wurlitzer 7300 Combo Organ, and Yamaha CS-1 Synthesizer (a "kids' toy"), among others. Medeski was born in Louisville, Kentucky, and grew up in Florida. - Georg Christoph Wagenseil
Georg Christoph Wagenseil (January 29, 1715 - March 1, 1777) was an Austrian composer. He was born in Vienna, and became a favourite pupil of the Vienna court's Kapellmeister, Johann Joseph Fux. Wagenseil himself composed for the court from 1739 to his death. He also held positions as harpsichordist and organist. His pupils included Johann Baptist Schenk (who was to teach Ludwig van Beethoven). He travelled little, and died in Vienna having spent most of his life there. - David Wright
David Wright (born December 24 1953) in Kent, UK, is the keyboard player and composer who founded the New Age music label AD Music in 1989. He is also co-founder of the New Age electronic rock band Code Indigo and of the New Age music duo Callisto. David Wright has released many instrumental albums as a solo performer, establishing a strong reputation in Europe and the USA. - Courtney Pine
Courtney Pine (born 18 March 1964) is a British jazz musician. At school he studied clarinet, although he is known primarily for his saxophone playing. Pine is a multi-instrumentalist, also playing the flute, clarinet and keyboards. His recent music has attempted to integrate modern British music like drum and bass and UK garage with contemporary jazz styles. He runs his own band and integrates many comtemporary musicians in his performances. - Bernie Worrell
Bernie Worrell (born April 19, 1944) is an American keyboardist and composer best known for his work with Parliament-Funkadelic. - Ken Hensley
Kenneth William David ('Ken') Hensley (born on 24 August, 1945, in Plumstead, South East London, England) is a keyboard (especially Hammond organ) player, guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer best known for his work with Uriah Heep during the 1970s. He wrote, or co-wrote, the majority of the Uriah Heep's songs during this period, including such hits as "Look at Yourself", "Lady in Black" (on both of which he also sang lead vocals), "Easy Livin'", …
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