How Keith Emerson Changed the World of Synth

Date:2020/2/10 15:54:34 Hits:

Today would’ve been Keith Emerson’s 73rd birthday. Why is that important? Ask any synth player or fan of ’70s progressive rock. They’ll tell you that Keith Emerson was, no, is one of the most influential musicians in the history of modern rock.

Keith Noel Emerson was born on November 2, 1944, in Todmorden, Yorkshire, England. From an early age, Keith took to music, and by age 14 he was already a piano star in his hometown of Worthing, Sussex.

In his late teens, Keith moved to London and performed with several bands, even touring Germany and France, as well as the UK. He was heavily influenced by jazz artists Fats Waller, Oscar Peterson, and Big John Patton. Classical composers such as J.S. Bach, Aaron Copland, and Bela Bartok also shaped young Keith’s musical style.

When Keith reached his 20s, he formed his own band, the Nice. The band blended classical, blues, jazz, and rock into a sound all its own. Keith’s instrument of choice? The Hammond Organ. Driven by Keith’s outrageous stage antics and inspired performances, the Nice recorded several albums and toured Europe.

One day at a record store in Soho, the store owner played Walter Carlos’s “Switched-On Bach” for Keith. The record sleeve showed a photo of a Moog synthesizer, and Keith was hooked. Keith borrowed his first Moog from Mike Vickers, the keyboardist for Manfred Mann. After playing a show in the Royal Festival Hall, Keith realized the true potential of the Moog synthesizer.

The Nice broke up in 1970, and Keith joined forces with bassist/vocalist Greg Lake and drummer Carl Palmer to form the soon-to-be-famous Emerson, Lake and Palmer. That’s when Keith wrote to Bob Moog, asking for a Moog synthesizer of his own – for free.
He even offered to endorse it.

Of course, Moog responded by gently pointing out that if the Beatles and the Rolling Stones could buy Moogs of their own, then certainly he could too. Keith agreed. His first Moog was the 1CA lead synth system. With help from Mike Vickers, Keith set up the patches that would create ELP’s signature sound.

Emerson, Lake and Palmer gained an instant following after their debut at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival. The band built on the momentum, releasing their first album, Emerson, Lake and Palmer. One single, “Lucky Man,” ended with a breathtaking new wrinkle, a Moog synthesizer solo. The fuse was lit, and ELP’s career ignited. From 1970-1977 ELP would release six Platinum albums including Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Tarkus, Trilogy, Brain Salad Surgery, Welcome Back, My Friends, to the Show That Never Ends…Ladies and Gentlemen, and Works Volume 1.

As the band’s sound grew, so did Keith Emerson’s Moog. Concert audiences would demand to hear favorites such as “Lucky Man,” and “Tarkus.” The distinctive sounds in these songs were so complex that Keith couldn’t repatch his synth on the fly. Instead he had to add another module to the rack. What started as a single synth grew to dual sequencers, additional oscillators, filters, amplifiers, contour generators, and LFOs. For a little bit of fun, Keith added several false panels to make his already overwhelming masterpiece even more intimidating. The gargantuan Moog was now a roadie’s nightmare, tipping the scales at an astonishing 400 lbs.

Sadly, there simply wasn’t enough room on the stage to keep up with Keith’s imagination. For every new sound he created, he would have to add a new module. For example, to play the classic sequence at the end of “Karn Evil 9,” switches were added to send the audio and control signals from the new module to Keith’s trusty 1CA synth. A dedicated sequencer, oscillator, filter, contour generators, and VCAs were also required.

Emerson, Lake and Palmer disbanded in 1979. While they would work together several times leading up to 1999, the band as it was known was finished. But the legacy of Keith Emerson and his Moog live on. Keith has won the Overall Best Keyboardist Award in the annual Keyboard Magazine Readers’ Poll every year since 1975, which coincidentally is the year the magazine started. The Smithsonian Institution recognized Keith and Dr. Robert Moog for their pioneering work and enormous impact on electronic music.

Today Moog Music is still building custom systems for today’s musicians. From the mobile Minimoog Model D and 953 Duophonic to the awesome System 35 and System 55, the wizards at Moog’s Asheville, North Carolina, factory can custom-build almost anything you can imagine. Once, they even re-created Keith Emerson’s Moog – and it can be yours if you’re ready to pony up a cool $90,000.

Although he passed away in March of 2016, we wanted to take a moment to celebrate Keith Emerson’s birthday. If you’re a synth player or even just a fan of ’70s rock, find the nearest synth, put your fingers on the keys, and ask yourself, “What would Keith do?”

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