Keith Emerson
Keith Noel Emerson (born November 2, 1944 in Todmorden , England , † March 10, 2016 in Santa Monica , United States ) was a British keyboardist , composer and pianist assigned to progressive rock . He was particularly successful in the 1970s with the band Emerson, Lake and Palmer . In addition to his success with complex original compositions, he made works of classical music known, which he arranged in an unconventional way - partly jazzy and partly rock . In addition to the grand piano , Keith Emerson also used the clavinet , but above all Hammond organs and synthesizers (e.g. Moog synthesizers , KORG synthesizers). In his Piano Concerto No. 1 he uses stylistic devices from virtuoso classical piano concertos from the Romantic and early Modern periods .
biography
First steps and musical influences
Keith Emerson was already known for his piano playing in his hometown of Worthing at the age of 14 before moving to London in his late teens. There he became a member of groups such as the VIPs or later Gary Farr and the T-Bones and accompanied his mentor T-Bone Walker at the Marquee Club , London. He also took part in tours of England, France and Germany. During this time he was musically influenced by artists such as the jazz musicians Fats Waller , Oscar Peterson , Dave Brubeck , Jack McDuff and Big John Patton , but also by classical composers such as Johann Sebastian Bach , Aaron Copland , Dmitri Shostakovich , Béla Bartók and Alberto Ginastera .
With The Nice
In 1967 Emerson founded The Nice group . It consisted of the singer and bassist Lee Jackson , the drummer Brian Davison and the guitarist David O'List . The band combined the musical styles of jazz , blues and rock with classical elements in their works . Her interpretations include works by Leonard Bernstein (America from Westside Story) , Johann Sebastian Bach ( Ars Longa Vita Brevis , Brandenburg Concerto) and Jean Sibelius (Intermezzo from the Karelia Suite) . During this time the Hammond organ was the most widely used instrument by Keith Emerson.
After Emerson had heard the work Switched-On Bach by Wendy Carlos - back then as Walter Carlos - he too began to experiment with the new Moog synthesizer and became the first musician to use it on tour.
Emerson also impressed his fans with his spectacular stage show. He battered his Hammond organ with Hitler Youth knives that Lemmy Kilmister , one of the band's roadies , had given him.
Emerson, Lake and Palmer
When The Nice broke up in 1970, Emerson formed the formation Emerson, Lake and Palmer with Greg Lake (previously King Crimson ; electric bass, guitars, vocals) and Carl Palmer (previously Atomic Rooster ; drums) , with which he formed in the 1970s celebrated greatest successes.
Emerson, Lake and Palmer made their first appearance at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970. They introduced there their work Pictures at an Exhibition , an adaptation of Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition on. Another live recording by Pictures at an Exhibition was released in 1971 as their third album. Her debut album after the festival was the LP Emerson, Lake & Palmer , which also contains the hit Lucky Man . This song ends with a solo on Emerson's Moog synthesizer.
Between 1970 and 1977 Emerson, Lake and Palmer released six platinum albums with Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Tarkus , Trilogy , Brain Salad Surgery , the live album Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends and Works Volume I and were over 500,000 ago Audience in 1974 Main act at the California Jam Festival , where Deep Purple also performed. In 1977 the group toured with an 80-man symphony orchestra, including Emerson's Piano Concerto No. 1 from the album Works Volume I accompanied them. On Works Volume I , Emerson also used the Yamaha "miracle synthesizer" GX-1 , for example in Fanfare for the Common Man . After the two other albums Works Volume II and Love Beach , Emerson, Lake and Palmer split in 1979.
1980s and 1990s
In 1980, Emerson tried to bring together a band with South African singer and guitarist Trevor Rabin and bassist Jack Bruce ; the attempt failed, however, because Rabin decided on a project with bassist Chris Squire and drummer Alan White , which later became a new Yes line-up . Emerson then turned to film music. He wrote film scores for Dario Argento's Italian horror films Horror Infernal (1980) and The Church (1989), for Nachtfalken with Sylvester Stallone (1981) and Godzilla: Final Wars (2004). In 1981 Keith Emerson also released a first solo album, Honky .
In 1984, Jim Lewis, Vice President of Polydor Records , tried to get Keith Emerson to bring ELP back together. Emerson met with Lake, and the two decided to try a second time. Since Carl Palmer was contractually bound at the time, the drummer Cozy Powell was hired. As Emerson, Lake & Powell , the band recorded an album (released in 1986) and went on tour. After disputes with Lake, the trio broke up in the same year.
In 1987, Brian Lane , the manager of Carl Palmer, tried to bring ELP back to life. In March, the three musicians rehearsed together for two weeks, but the bad relationship between Keith Emerson and Greg Lake persisted and the attempt failed. Robert Berry joined the band to replace Lake . Under the name Three , the album To the Power of Three was released in 1988 .
From the beginning of July 1989, Emerson worked with Kevin Gilbert on a solo album, which was only released in 1995. In the spring of 1990 Emerson toured Hawaii and Japan with Jeff Baxter ( Steely Dan , Doobie Brothers ), John Entwistle ( The Who ), Joe Walsh ( Eagles ) and the well-known studio drummer Simon Phillips under the band name The Best . An album of this line-up never came off. When he came back, he continued to work on his solo album.
In 1992 ELP got back together on Phil Carson's initiative and released the album Black Moon in the same year and In the Hot Seat two years later . In 1998 the group separated again. Emerson went on tour with bassist and singer Glenn Hughes (ex- Deep Purple ) and guitarist Marc Bonilla , a recording was released in 2009.
In 1995 the solo album he recorded with Kevin Gilbert in 1989/90 was released under the title Changing States . It contained, among other things, early versions of three pieces that had since appeared on the ELP album Black Moon : Close to Home, Romeo and Juliet and Changing States . Emerson also composed music for two episodes of the animated series Iron Man during this period .
Keith Emerson Band
Keith Emerson founded a new music formation in early 2008, The Keith Emerson Band - with the line-up Keith Emerson (piano, organ, keyboards), Marc Bonilla (guitar, vocals), Bob Birch (bass) and Gregg Bissonette (drums). In August 2008, the band released a multi-layered progressive rock album that further developed the compositional and instrumental essentials of The Nice and Emerson, Lake and Palmer in terms of style and sound. In 2010 Emerson was awarded the Frankfurt Music Prize.
Private life and death
In 1969 he married his Danish girlfriend. The couple had two sons; later the marriage ended in divorce. For years, Emerson suffered from the chronic nervous disease focal dystonia with increasing limitation of the mobility of his right hand. In 2009 he canceled most of the concerts. In September 2010 he had to undergo an operation after a colonoscopy and then cancel all concerts until further notice. On March 10, 2016 he committed at the age of 71 years suicide .
Discography
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With The Nice
- 1968 - The Thoughts of Emerlist Davjack
- 1968 - Ars Longa Vita Brevis
- 1969 - Nice
- 1970 - Five Bridges
- 1971 - Elegy
- 1972 - Autumn '67 - Spring '68
- 1972 - Keith Emerson with the Nice (2 LP)
- 2003 - Keith Emerson and the Nice: Vivacitas - Live at Glasgow 2002
- 2009 - Live at the Fillmore East December 1969
With Emerson, Lake and Palmer
Singles
- 1970 - Lucky Man (A-side) , Knife Edge (B-side)
- 1971 - Stones of Years
- 1972 - Nutrocker (live)
- 1972 - From the Beginning
- 1973 - Jerusalem
- 1977 Fanfare for the Common Man (edit)
- 1977 - C'est la Vie
- 1978 - Canario
- 1978 - Watching Over You
- 1978 - All I Want Is You
- 1979 - Peter Gunn (live)
- 1992 - Black Moon
- 1992 - Affairs of the Heart
Albums
- 1970 - Emerson, Lake & Palmer
- 1971 - Tarkus
- 1971 - Pictures at an Exhibition
- 1972 - Trilogy
- 1973 - Brain Salad Surgery
- 1977 - Works Volume I.
- 1977 - Works Volume II
- 1978 - Love Beach
- 1992 - Black Moon
- 1994 - In the Hot Seat
Concert albums and compilations
- 1974 - Welcome Back My Friends to the Show That Never Ends - Ladies and Gentlemen… Emerson, Lake & Palmer (as triple LP)
- 1979 - Emerson, Lake & Palmer in Concert
- 1980 - The Best of Emerson, Lake & Palmer
- 1992 - The Atlantic Years (2 CDs)
- 1993 - Live at the Royal Albert Hall
- 1993 - The Return of the Manticore (CD box set)
- 1994 - The Best of Emerson, Lake & Palmer (Victory)
- 1995 - I Believe in Father Christmas (EP)
- 1996 - Works Live
- 1997 - Greatest Hits Live
- 1997 - Live at the Isle of Wight Festival
- 1997 - ELP in Concert on the King Biscuit Flower Hour
- 1998 - Then & Now
- 2000 - Extended Versions
- 2000 - The Very Best of Emerson, Lake & Palmer
- 2002 - The Show That Never Ends
- 2002 - Live in Poland
- 2003 Fanfare - The 1997 World Tour
- 2005 - Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Live at Montreux 1997
- 2010 - A Time and a Place (CD box set)
- 2010 - High Voltage
- 2011 - Live at Nassau Coliseum '78
- 2011 - Live at the Mar Y Sol Festival '72
- 2012 - Live in California 1974
- 2013 - Live in Montreal 1977
- 2014 - Live from Manticore Hall
solo
- 1980 - Inferno (music for the horror film of the same name by Dario Argento )
- 1981 - Nighthawks (music for the film Nachtfalken )
- 1981 - Honky
- 1983 - Murderock (music for the film Murderock)
- 1985 - The Best Revenge (music for the film)
- 1987 - Armageddon
- 1988 - The Christmas Album
- 1994 - Iron Man (TV) (music producer)
- 1995 - Changing States (also known by its working title Cream of Emerson Soup )
- 2002 - La Chiesa (The Church) (music for the film)
- 2002 - Emerson Plays Emerson
- 2005 - Hammer It Out - The Anthology
- 2005 - At the Movies
- 2006 - Off the Shelf
With Emerson, Lake & Powell
- 1986 - Emerson, Lake & Powell
- 2003 - The Sprocket Sessons (rehearsals)
- 2003 - Live in Concert (recorded live in Lakeland, Florida, November 1986)
With Three
- 1988 - To the Power of Three
- 2018 - 3.2
With the Keith Emerson Band
- 2008 - Keith Emerson Band feat. Marc Bonilla
- 2009 - Boys Club - Live from California (with Glenn Hughes and Marc Bonilla)
- 2011 - Moscow (double live CD with recordings from 2008)
- 2012 - Three Fates (with Marc Bonilla, Terje Mikkelsen and the Münchner Rundfunkorchester )
Web links
- Literature by and about Keith Emerson in the catalog of the German National Library
- Keith Emerson in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Keith Emerson in the nndb (English)
- Keith Emerson at Discogs (English)
- Keith Emerson on the website of the Carlos Kleiber eV art and culture association
- Keith Emerson's homepage
Individual evidence
- ↑ Legends on the stage in: Nordbayerischer Kurier from 18./19. June 2016, p. 55
- ↑ Keith Emerson in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ^ Edward Macan: Endless Enigma: A Musical Biography of Emerson, Lake and Palmer , Open Court 2005, ISBN 0812695968 , p. 42
- ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from March 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Accessed March 11, 2016.
- ↑ [1] Accessed March 11, 2016
- ↑ Keith Emerson Death Suicide Investigation on: Billboard.com. Retrieved March 11, 2016.
- ↑ a b Chart sources: DE UK US
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Emerson, Keith |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Emerson, Keith Noel (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British keyboardist and pianist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 2, 1944 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Todmorden , Lancashire , England , UK |
| DATE OF DEATH | March 10, 2016 |
| Place of death | Santa Monica , California , United States |