A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid 1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more general term for a person who plays them. These keyboards include:
Notable electronic keyboardists
Note: while the term 'keyboardist' can cover a wide variety of instruments both acoustic and electronic, the following musicians are mostly known as electronic keyboardists, although they may also play piano or other acoustic keyboards.
Rock, Pop, Funk and Electronica
- Rod Argent (Argent, The Zombies)
- Nick Baines (Kaiser Chiefs)
- Perry Bamonte
- Karl Bartos
- Dennis DeYoung (Styx)
- Tony Banks (Genesis)
- Ronnie Caldwell
- Jesse Carmichael (Maroon 5)
- Vince Clarke (Erasure, Depeche Mode, Yazoo)
- Geoff Downes (Asia, The Buggles, Yes)
- Keith Emerson
- Wolfgang Flür and Florian Schneider (Kraftwerk)
- Franny Griffiths (Space)
- Ian Gibbons (The Kinks)
- Gillian Gilbert (New Order)
- Nicolas Godin (Air)
- Martin Gore and Andrew Fletcher (Depeche Mode)
- Eamon Hamilton (British Sea Power)
- Matthieu Hartley
- Greg Hawkes (The Cars)
- Bob Jackson (Badfinger, The Fortunes)
- Jean-Michel Jarre
- Booker T. Jones
- John Paul Jones (Led Zeppelin)
- Mark Kelly (Marillion)
- Robert Lamm (Chicago)
- Geddy Lee (Rush)
- Jon Lord (Deep Purple)
- Chris Lowe (Pet Shop Boys)
- Manfred Mann
- Ray Manzarek (The Doors)
- Linda McCartney
- Ian McLagan (The Faces)
- Moby
- Kevin Moore and Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater)
- Gary Numan
- Roger O'Donnell
- Billy Preston (solo artist and session player, noted for his work on The Beatles' Let It Be)
- Alan Price (The Animals)
- Dizzy Reed (Guns N' Roses)
- Chris Pittman (Guns N' Roses)
- Nick Rhodes (Duran Duran)
- Gregg Rolie (Santana, Journey)
- Sister Bliss (Faithless)
- Kevin Somerville
- Bernard Sumner (Joy Division, New Order, Electronic)
- Laurence Tolhurst (The Cure)
- Vangelis
- Rick Wakeman
- Alan Wilder (Depeche Mode)
- Stevie Wonder
- Bernie Worrell
- Richard Wright (Pink Floyd)
Jazz
Generally speaking, in jazz music, electronic keyboard players are very often also pianists.
- Chick Corea
- Joey DeFrancesco
- Eumir Deodato (Deodato)
- Herbie Hancock
- Keith Jarrett
- John Medeski
- Jimmy Smith
- Josef Zawinul (Weather Report)
Classical
- Ray Buttigieg
- Wendy Carlos
See also
External links
Keyboards
Claviériste | Tastierista | キーボーディスト | Tecladista | Клавишник | Keyboardist