Mike Pinder
Michael Thomas Pinder (born 27 December 1941 Birmingham, England ) is an English rock musician. He is a founder of the Moody Blues, where he played keyboards and sang.
Life
Mike Pinder began his musical career at the Rockin ' tuxedos, completed 13 months in the British Army in Germany and was later associated with El Riot & the Rebels who had small successes at the local level. In this band Ray Thomas and John Lodge played with whom Pinder was to meet later with the Moody Blues again. El Riot (Thomas) sparked the Rebels in 1963. Pinder and Thomas subsequently founded the Krew Cats.
1964, Pinder and Thomas doing in the original cast of the Moody Blues. As another musician they had Denny Laine, Graeme Edge and Clint Warwick enlisted who were previously active in various other groups Birmingham. The Moody Blues were given a recording contract with Decca Records and after their first single had little success, the group succeeded in 1965 with the successor to Go Now a hit parade success. In the same year, Pinder obtained a Mellotron from Streetly Electronics; the first time he used the instrument on the single, Love and Beauty. He was probably one of the first musicians who used the Mellotron during a recording. His own admission he has also brought the Beatles to this instrument.
While the band - as their founder and inventor names he sees himself - paused from 1974, Pinder moved to California. He pursued a solo career and released his 1976 album The Promise. As the rest of the group together in 1977 found himself, also took part in the Pinder recording of the album Octave, which appeared in 1978. At the next tour, however, he did not participate. Date and circumstances of his final exit from the group are controversial and have been the subject of litigation in 1981. At the latest after the release of Long Distance Voyager in the same year was Pinder and Patrick Moraz as a former as a new member of the band.
Pinder also spent time working as a consultant for Atari. Until the mid- 90s could be heard not much of it. In 1994 appeared with moderate success on his own label, his second solo album titled Among the Stars. A year later, A Planet With One Mind was released.
Pinder currently lives with his family in Grass Valley in California. Two sons are also musicians.