Keith Emerson
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Keith Emerson (born November 2, 1944) is a British keyboard player and composer. Formerly a member of The Nice, he went on to start Emerson Lake and Palmer (ELP), one of the first supergroups, in 1970. Following the breakup of ELP, he reunited The Nice in the mid-'90s to go on tour.
Emerson was born in Todmorden, England. As a child, he learned western classical music, from which he derived a lot of inspiration to create his own style, combining classical music, jazz, and rock themes. As a performer on the Hammond organ, Emerson jumped at the opportunity to collaborate with Robert Moog, and work with his invention, the Modular Moog, an analog synthesizer, in 1969. While other artists such as the Beatles and the Rolling Stones had used the Moog, Emerson was the first artist to tour with the Moog.
He is known for his technical virtuosity and for his live antics, including using knives to hold down organ keys during solos and employing a special rig to rotate his piano end-over-end while he's playing it. Along with contemporaries Richard Wright of Pink Floyd and Rick Wakeman of Yes, Emerson is widely regarded as one of the top keyboard players of the progressive rock era.