Mike Pinder, Moody Blues Founding Keyboardist, Dead At 82 [View all]

Source: Billboard

Mike Pinder, the last surviving original member of psychedelic rock of 1960s/70s prog rock band the Moody Blues has died at 82. The pioneering keyboardist/singer credited with helping to introduce the mellotron into the rock arena passed away on Wednesday (April 24) at his home in Northern California of undisclosed causes.

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Born in Erdington, Birmingham England on Dec. 27, 1941, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Pinder co-founded the group in May 1964 with multi-instrumentalist/singer Ray Thomas, singer/guitarist Denny Laine, drummer Graeme Edge and bassist/singer Clint Warwick; Laine and Warwick left the band in 1966 after the release of 1965’s debut album, The Magnificent Moodies, and were replaced by guitarist Justin Hayward and bassist Lodge. Pinder and Laine co-wrote all the original songs on Moodies, which included the band’s wistful, R&B influenced breakthrough single, “Go Now.”

The new lineup released one of the landmark early prog rock albums, Days of Future Passed, in 1967, on which Pinder made his recorded debut playing the mellotron, a keyboard that used prerecorded three-track tapes to reproduced a variety of orchestral instrumental sounds and special effects. “The Mellotron enabled me to create my own variations of string movements. I could play any instrument that I wanted to hear in the music. If I heard strings, I could play them with the Mellotron. If I heard cello, brass, trumpets or piano, I could play them,” Pinder told Rolling Stone in an oral history of the album’s enduring hit single, “Nights in White Satin.”

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Before his passing, Pinder the was the last living member of the original lineup following the death of bassist Warwick in 2004, singer/flautist Thomas in 2018, drummer Edge in 2021 and guitarist Laine in 2023. “Mike your music will last forever. Rest in peace on your travels to heaven,” Lodge wrote on Twitter. The band, including Pinder, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018.

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Read more: https://www.billboard.com/music/rock/mike-pinder-dead-moody-blues-founding-keyboardist-dies-obituary-1235666090/

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The article has video of a few Moodies songs, plus John Lodge's Facebook post.

My thread in General Discussion about his passing, with the last song he recorded with the Moodies, one he wrote and took the lead vocal on:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218895499