Mike Pinder
Encyclopedia
Michael Thomas "Mike" Pinder (born 27 December 1941) is an English rock musician, and is a founding member or the British rock group, the Moody Blues
. He left the group following the recording of the band's album, Octave
, in 1978. He is especially noted for his technological contribution to music.
, Birmingham
, and as a young adult played in El Riot and the Rebels, a rock band that achieved some regional success. Bandmates in El Riot included future Moody Blues members Ray Thomas
and John Lodge. After a spell in the British Army, later, Pinder and Thomas played together in a band called the Krew Cats; the band wound up in Germany playing at some of the cellars where The Beatles
had polished their musicianship; however the Krew Cats' fortunes were not so bright - Pinder and Thomas, completely broke, wound up walking across northern Europe to get back home to England.
Around this time, Pinder was employed by Streetly Electronics, a firm that manufactured the Mellotron
.
, Clint Warwick
and Graeme Edge
) formed The Moody Blues in 1964. The Moodies initial single, 'Steal Your Heart Away' on Decca, failed to chart. Their second release, however, stormed to the UK Top spot in January 1965. After their No.1 chart hit "Go Now
" in 1965, the band went on to have a further UK hit with 'I Don't Want To Go On Without You' and then release their first album 'The Magnificent Moodies' (Decca) in mono only, on which Pinder took the lead vocal on a cover of James Brown's 'I Don't Mind'. 'Bye Bye Bird' from this album was also a big hit for the band in France. The album was released in the USA retitled as 'Go Now' on London records.
Pinder and guitarist/lead vocalist Laine began songwriting for the band, providing most 'B' sides over the 1965-66 period such as; 'You Don't (All The Time)', 'And My Baby's Gone', 'This Is My House (But Nobody Calls)' and 'He Can Win'. They progressed to writing 'A' sides, including the UK chart hits 'Everyday', 'From The Bottom of My Heart' (both 1965), 'Boulevard De La Madeline' (1966), and 'Life's Not Life' (issued in January 1967 but recorded much earlier in 1966) before bassist/vocalist Clint Warwick and then frontman Denny Laine left the group.
A rare non-UK Pinder-Laine song from this era was 'People Gotta Give', released on the France-only EP 'Boulevard De La Madeline' and later included as a bonus track on a CD release of 'The Magnificent Moodies' in 2006.
Mike Pinder was instrumental in the selection of young Swindon guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Justin Hayward as Laine's replacement. It was Pinder who phoned Hayward up and then collected him at the train station. Old friend John Lodge from the El Riot days came in to replace the temporary Rod Clarke as permanent bassist/vocalist, thus setting the 'Classic' Moodies lineup in place.
After an initial abortive attempt to continue with R&B material, the band decided to drop all covers and record only original songs. Pinder and Hayward duly led the way. Hayward's 'Fly Me High' was the first release from the revised lineup, released on Decca in early 1967 with Pinder's older-style rocker 'Really Haven't Got The Time' as the B-side.
A recorded but unreleased Mike Pinder song from this time (1967) was the jazz-blues ballad, 'Please Think About it', which would later be included on the 'Caught Live Plus Five' double album issued by Decca in 1977.
Pinder obtained a secondhand mellotron from Streetly and, after removing all the 'special effects' tapes (train whistles, cock crowing, etc.) and then 'doubling up' the string section tapes, used it on numerous Moody Blues recordings
, beginning with their single
"Love and Beauty", a 'flower power' era song written and sung by Pinder (his only Moodies 'A' side after 1966). Pinder introduced the mellotron to his friend John Lennon. The Beatles subsequently used the instrument
on "Strawberry Fields Forever
".
Pinder's 'Dawn (Is A Feeling)' - sung by Hayward, (Pinder himself singing the 'Bridge' section) - led off the 'Days of Future Passed' album, on which Pinder also contributed 'The Sun Set' and narrated drummer Graeme Edge's opening and closing poems, 'Morning Glory' and 'Late Lament'.
Pinder and Moodies Recording Engineer Derek Varnals, plus longtime producer Tony Clarke (a Decca Staff Producer assigned to them from 'Fly Me High' onwards) managed to create an innovative way of playing and recording the unwieldy mellotron to make the sound 'flow' in symphonic waves, as opposed to the sharp cutoff the instrument normally gave. This 'symphonic' sound would largely characterize the Moodies' famous 'core seven' albums between 1967 and 1972. (Pinder actually switched to the similar-sounding but less troublesome chamberlin
for 1971's 'Every Good Boy Deserves Favour' and 1972's 'Seventh Sojourn').
Pinder was one of the first musicians to use the mellotron in live performance, relying on the mechanical skills garnered from his time with Streetly to keep the unreliable instrument in working order. Typical of his travails was the Moodies' first US concert. When the band struck their first harmony, the back of the Mellotron fell open and all of the tape strips cascaded out. Pinder grabbed his tool box and got the instrument back into working order in 20 minutes time, while the light crew entertained the audience by projecting cartoons.
In addition to the mellotron, organ and piano, Pinder also played harpsichord, Moog synthesizer, tablas, various forms of percussion, and both acoustic and electric guitars on Moody Blues recordings from 1967 onwards, as well as providing key vocal harmonies from 1964 to 1978. Pinder also acted as the group's main in-house arranger up to 1978.
The 1969 concert on 'Caught Live Plus Five' album and the 1970 'Isle of Wight' concert DVD show Pinder and Thomas acting as the group's onstage spokesmen.
Pinder wrote several of the Moodies more progressive, even mystic numbers, including; '(Thinking is) The Best Way To Travel', 'Om', (both from 1968's 'In Search of the Lost Chord'), plus the innovative symphonic rock piece "Have You Heard/The Voyage/Have You Heard (part two)" which concluded their 1969 album, On the Threshold of a Dream
. Parts of this track later featured on the Loving Awareness jingle
s on Radio Caroline
during the 1970s. Pinder also continued to narrate Edge's poems, notably 'The Word' (1968); 'In The Beginning' (with Edge himself and Hayward) and 'The Dream' (both 1969); and 'The Balance' (1970).
On Edge's 'Higher And Higher' (1969) Pinder's mellotron simulated the sound of a Rocket blasting off to open the 'To Our Children's Children's Children' album, to which he contributed 'Sun is Still Shining' and a rare co-written song (with John Lodge), 'Out And In'. Pinder's mellotron stood out particularly on tracks such as Edge's instrumental 'Beyond' and the Hayward-Thomas closing track 'Watching And Waiting'.
Pinder's earlier non album song 'A Simple Game' (1968), for which he won an Ivor Novello Award, was used as the 'B' side to their UK hit single 'Ride My See Saw' on Deram, this song plus Pinder's other 'On The Threshold of A Dream' song 'So Deep Within You' (1969) were both later successfully covered by The Four Tops.
On 12 October 1968 The Moodies had also cut a (then), unissued version of 'A Simple Game' featuring Justin Hayward on Lead vocal, considering the song as a potential UK single which never materialised, the Pinder sung version used instead, this rare 'Hayward' version later appearing as a 'bonus' track on the remastered CD version of 'In Search of The Lost Chord' issued in 2008.
Pinder's 1970 album track 'Melancholy Man' (from 'A Question of Balance') became a No.1 chart topping hit as an overseas single in France that year. Pinder's 'How is it (We Are Here)' was his other song contribution (a 'working' number; 'Mike's Number One' from the album sessions has since surfaced on later CD release).
Pinder's 'My Song', a deep reflective atmospheric item, concluded The Moodies 1971 album 'Every Good Boy Deserves Favour', on which he also took co-credit with the entire band for the unusual opening track 'Procession' (an attempt to aurally depict the 'evolution' of vocal and musical harmony through time), plus sang a featured co-lead vocal and solo spot along with Hayward, Lodge, and Thomas on 'Edge's song 'After You Came'.
Also in 1971 Pinder guested on John Lennon's 'Imagine' album on 'I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier (I Don't Wanna Die)' playing tambourine.
By 1972 The Moodies, then at the height of their popularity, retreated to Mike Pinder's home studio to record 'Seventh Sojourn', which included two Pinder contributions: 'Lost In A Lost World', and 'When You're A Free Man', dedicated to Timothy Leary
.
The Moody Blues took a break from recording in 1974, and Pinder relocated to California
, releasing a solo album The Promise
in 1976 through the Moodies' Threshold
label
. In 1977 the band returned to recording and performing; Pinder declined full participation, although he collaborated on the 1978 release Octave
by recording an unused Promise
-era song "One Step Into the Light" with the band. He also added some synthesiser and backing vocals to the album, notably the album intro to Lodge's 'Steppin' In A Slide Zone' and the instrumental climax on Edge's 'I'll Be Level With You' but then stopped coming to the sessions when interpersonal conflicts (mostly with Edge) arose. After Pinder refused to tour, the band hired Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz
in his place.
(primarily working on music synthesis), remarried, and started a family in Grass Valley, California
. He remained out of the public eye until the mid 1990s, when he began to grant interviews and to work on new recording projects. 1994 saw the release of his second solo album, Among the Stars, on his own One Step label, to limited success. Another One Step release, A Planet With One Mind (1995), capitalised on Pinder's experience as chief reciter of Graeme Edge
's poetry on the seminal Moody Blues albums; in this recording, Pinder reads seven children's stories from different world cultures, accompanied by appropriate world music. As his first spoken word
album, it was well received among its contemporaries in the genre - it was a finalist for the Benjamin Franklin Award for Excellence in Audio as an outstanding children's recording.
Pinder has continued to work in the studio
on his own and others' projects, and in developing new artists and nurturing the creative process. Most recently, he has started a songwriters' contest website called Songwars.
and The Da Vinci Code
. Matt and Michael Lee perform as The Pinder Brothers. They have two CDs, Jupiter Falls and Ordinary Man. Several songs from both albums can be heard on their website, and their Myspace page.; Mike Pinder plays his trademark mellotron on a few of the songs.
The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....
. He left the group following the recording of the band's album, Octave
Octave (album)
Octave is the ninth album by The Moody Blues, and their first release after a substantial hiatus following the success of the best-selling Seventh Sojourn in 1972. The album proved to be the last for the group with keyboardist Mike Pinder, who departed during the album's sessions, and declined an...
, in 1978. He is especially noted for his technological contribution to music.
Early life
Pinder was born to Bert and Gladys Pinder in ErdingtonErdington
Erdington is a suburb northeast of Birmingham city centre, England and bordering Sutton Coldfield. It is also a council constituency, managed by its own district committee...
, Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, and as a young adult played in El Riot and the Rebels, a rock band that achieved some regional success. Bandmates in El Riot included future Moody Blues members Ray Thomas
Ray Thomas
Ray Thomas is an English musician, best known as the flautist and as a singer and composer in the rock band, The Moody Blues.-Career:...
and John Lodge. After a spell in the British Army, later, Pinder and Thomas played together in a band called the Krew Cats; the band wound up in Germany playing at some of the cellars where The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
had polished their musicianship; however the Krew Cats' fortunes were not so bright - Pinder and Thomas, completely broke, wound up walking across northern Europe to get back home to England.
Around this time, Pinder was employed by Streetly Electronics, a firm that manufactured the Mellotron
Mellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
.
The Moody Blues
Pinder, Thomas, and members of other successful Birmingham bands (Denny LaineDenny Laine
Denny Laine is an English songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, guitarist, and lead singer of The Moody Blues' 1965 debut album "The Magnificent Moodies"; and, later, best known for his role as co-founder of Wings...
, Clint Warwick
Clint Warwick
Clint Warwick was the original bassist for the rock band, The Moody Blues....
and Graeme Edge
Graeme Edge
Graeme Charles Edge is best known as the drummer and a songwriter for the Moody Blues, but has also led his own outfit, the Graeme Edge Band.-Biography:...
) formed The Moody Blues in 1964. The Moodies initial single, 'Steal Your Heart Away' on Decca, failed to chart. Their second release, however, stormed to the UK Top spot in January 1965. After their No.1 chart hit "Go Now
Go Now (song)
"Go Now" is a 1964 song composed by Larry Banks and Milton Bennett. It was first recorded by Bessie Banks, and most successfully by The Moody Blues.-Bessie Banks:The song was first recorded by Larry Banks' former wife, Bessie Banks...
" in 1965, the band went on to have a further UK hit with 'I Don't Want To Go On Without You' and then release their first album 'The Magnificent Moodies' (Decca) in mono only, on which Pinder took the lead vocal on a cover of James Brown's 'I Don't Mind'. 'Bye Bye Bird' from this album was also a big hit for the band in France. The album was released in the USA retitled as 'Go Now' on London records.
Pinder and guitarist/lead vocalist Laine began songwriting for the band, providing most 'B' sides over the 1965-66 period such as; 'You Don't (All The Time)', 'And My Baby's Gone', 'This Is My House (But Nobody Calls)' and 'He Can Win'. They progressed to writing 'A' sides, including the UK chart hits 'Everyday', 'From The Bottom of My Heart' (both 1965), 'Boulevard De La Madeline' (1966), and 'Life's Not Life' (issued in January 1967 but recorded much earlier in 1966) before bassist/vocalist Clint Warwick and then frontman Denny Laine left the group.
A rare non-UK Pinder-Laine song from this era was 'People Gotta Give', released on the France-only EP 'Boulevard De La Madeline' and later included as a bonus track on a CD release of 'The Magnificent Moodies' in 2006.
Mike Pinder was instrumental in the selection of young Swindon guitarist/vocalist/songwriter Justin Hayward as Laine's replacement. It was Pinder who phoned Hayward up and then collected him at the train station. Old friend John Lodge from the El Riot days came in to replace the temporary Rod Clarke as permanent bassist/vocalist, thus setting the 'Classic' Moodies lineup in place.
After an initial abortive attempt to continue with R&B material, the band decided to drop all covers and record only original songs. Pinder and Hayward duly led the way. Hayward's 'Fly Me High' was the first release from the revised lineup, released on Decca in early 1967 with Pinder's older-style rocker 'Really Haven't Got The Time' as the B-side.
A recorded but unreleased Mike Pinder song from this time (1967) was the jazz-blues ballad, 'Please Think About it', which would later be included on the 'Caught Live Plus Five' double album issued by Decca in 1977.
Pinder obtained a secondhand mellotron from Streetly and, after removing all the 'special effects' tapes (train whistles, cock crowing, etc.) and then 'doubling up' the string section tapes, used it on numerous Moody Blues recordings
Sound recording and reproduction
Sound recording and reproduction is an electrical or mechanical inscription and re-creation of sound waves, such as spoken voice, singing, instrumental music, or sound effects. The two main classes of sound recording technology are analog recording and digital recording...
, beginning with their single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
"Love and Beauty", a 'flower power' era song written and sung by Pinder (his only Moodies 'A' side after 1966). Pinder introduced the mellotron to his friend John Lennon. The Beatles subsequently used the instrument
Musical instrument
A musical instrument is a device created or adapted for the purpose of making musical sounds. In principle, any object that produces sound can serve as a musical instrument—it is through purpose that the object becomes a musical instrument. The history of musical instruments dates back to the...
on "Strawberry Fields Forever
Strawberry Fields Forever
"Strawberry Fields Forever" is a song by The Beatles, written by John Lennon and attributed to the Lennon–McCartney songwriting partnership. It was inspired by Lennon's memories of playing in the garden of a Salvation Army house named "Strawberry Field" near his childhood home."Strawberry Fields...
".
Pinder's 'Dawn (Is A Feeling)' - sung by Hayward, (Pinder himself singing the 'Bridge' section) - led off the 'Days of Future Passed' album, on which Pinder also contributed 'The Sun Set' and narrated drummer Graeme Edge's opening and closing poems, 'Morning Glory' and 'Late Lament'.
Pinder and Moodies Recording Engineer Derek Varnals, plus longtime producer Tony Clarke (a Decca Staff Producer assigned to them from 'Fly Me High' onwards) managed to create an innovative way of playing and recording the unwieldy mellotron to make the sound 'flow' in symphonic waves, as opposed to the sharp cutoff the instrument normally gave. This 'symphonic' sound would largely characterize the Moodies' famous 'core seven' albums between 1967 and 1972. (Pinder actually switched to the similar-sounding but less troublesome chamberlin
Chamberlin
The Chamberlin is an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument that was a precursor to the Mellotron. It was developed and patented by Iowa, Wisconsin inventor Harry Chamberlin from 1949 to 1956, when the first model was introduced. Various models and versions of these Chamberlin music instruments...
for 1971's 'Every Good Boy Deserves Favour' and 1972's 'Seventh Sojourn').
Pinder was one of the first musicians to use the mellotron in live performance, relying on the mechanical skills garnered from his time with Streetly to keep the unreliable instrument in working order. Typical of his travails was the Moodies' first US concert. When the band struck their first harmony, the back of the Mellotron fell open and all of the tape strips cascaded out. Pinder grabbed his tool box and got the instrument back into working order in 20 minutes time, while the light crew entertained the audience by projecting cartoons.
In addition to the mellotron, organ and piano, Pinder also played harpsichord, Moog synthesizer, tablas, various forms of percussion, and both acoustic and electric guitars on Moody Blues recordings from 1967 onwards, as well as providing key vocal harmonies from 1964 to 1978. Pinder also acted as the group's main in-house arranger up to 1978.
The 1969 concert on 'Caught Live Plus Five' album and the 1970 'Isle of Wight' concert DVD show Pinder and Thomas acting as the group's onstage spokesmen.
Pinder wrote several of the Moodies more progressive, even mystic numbers, including; '(Thinking is) The Best Way To Travel', 'Om', (both from 1968's 'In Search of the Lost Chord'), plus the innovative symphonic rock piece "Have You Heard/The Voyage/Have You Heard (part two)" which concluded their 1969 album, On the Threshold of a Dream
On the Threshold of a Dream
On the Threshold of a Dream is the fourth album by The Moody Blues, released on the Deram label in 1969. It was their last album to be released by the band before they formed their own record label, Threshold, to be distributed by Decca Records....
. Parts of this track later featured on the Loving Awareness jingle
Jingle
A jingle is a short tune used in advertising and for other commercial uses. The jingle contains one or more hooks and lyrics that explicitly promote the product being advertised, usually through the use of one or more advertising slogans. Ad buyers use jingles in radio and television...
s on Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline
Radio Caroline is an English radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly...
during the 1970s. Pinder also continued to narrate Edge's poems, notably 'The Word' (1968); 'In The Beginning' (with Edge himself and Hayward) and 'The Dream' (both 1969); and 'The Balance' (1970).
On Edge's 'Higher And Higher' (1969) Pinder's mellotron simulated the sound of a Rocket blasting off to open the 'To Our Children's Children's Children' album, to which he contributed 'Sun is Still Shining' and a rare co-written song (with John Lodge), 'Out And In'. Pinder's mellotron stood out particularly on tracks such as Edge's instrumental 'Beyond' and the Hayward-Thomas closing track 'Watching And Waiting'.
Pinder's earlier non album song 'A Simple Game' (1968), for which he won an Ivor Novello Award, was used as the 'B' side to their UK hit single 'Ride My See Saw' on Deram, this song plus Pinder's other 'On The Threshold of A Dream' song 'So Deep Within You' (1969) were both later successfully covered by The Four Tops.
On 12 October 1968 The Moodies had also cut a (then), unissued version of 'A Simple Game' featuring Justin Hayward on Lead vocal, considering the song as a potential UK single which never materialised, the Pinder sung version used instead, this rare 'Hayward' version later appearing as a 'bonus' track on the remastered CD version of 'In Search of The Lost Chord' issued in 2008.
Pinder's 1970 album track 'Melancholy Man' (from 'A Question of Balance') became a No.1 chart topping hit as an overseas single in France that year. Pinder's 'How is it (We Are Here)' was his other song contribution (a 'working' number; 'Mike's Number One' from the album sessions has since surfaced on later CD release).
Pinder's 'My Song', a deep reflective atmospheric item, concluded The Moodies 1971 album 'Every Good Boy Deserves Favour', on which he also took co-credit with the entire band for the unusual opening track 'Procession' (an attempt to aurally depict the 'evolution' of vocal and musical harmony through time), plus sang a featured co-lead vocal and solo spot along with Hayward, Lodge, and Thomas on 'Edge's song 'After You Came'.
Also in 1971 Pinder guested on John Lennon's 'Imagine' album on 'I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier (I Don't Wanna Die)' playing tambourine.
By 1972 The Moodies, then at the height of their popularity, retreated to Mike Pinder's home studio to record 'Seventh Sojourn', which included two Pinder contributions: 'Lost In A Lost World', and 'When You're A Free Man', dedicated to Timothy Leary
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...
.
The Moody Blues took a break from recording in 1974, and Pinder relocated to California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, releasing a solo album The Promise
The Promise (Mike Pinder album)
The Promise is a 1976 solo album by Mike Pinder of The Moody Blues, recorded during their sabbatical from 1973 to 1977.It was reissued on CD in August 1989.-Side 1:#Free As A Dove – 4:10#You'll Make It Through – 3:52...
in 1976 through the Moodies' Threshold
Threshold Records
Threshold Records was a record label created by The Moody Blues, after their 1969 album On the Threshold of a Dream.It was a UK subsidiary of Decca Records and a U.S. subsidiary of London Records...
label
Record label
In the music industry, a record label is a brand and a trademark associated with the marketing of music recordings and music videos. Most commonly, a record label is the company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the production, manufacture, distribution, marketing and promotion,...
. In 1977 the band returned to recording and performing; Pinder declined full participation, although he collaborated on the 1978 release Octave
Octave (album)
Octave is the ninth album by The Moody Blues, and their first release after a substantial hiatus following the success of the best-selling Seventh Sojourn in 1972. The album proved to be the last for the group with keyboardist Mike Pinder, who departed during the album's sessions, and declined an...
by recording an unused Promise
The Promise (Mike Pinder album)
The Promise is a 1976 solo album by Mike Pinder of The Moody Blues, recorded during their sabbatical from 1973 to 1977.It was reissued on CD in August 1989.-Side 1:#Free As A Dove – 4:10#You'll Make It Through – 3:52...
-era song "One Step Into the Light" with the band. He also added some synthesiser and backing vocals to the album, notably the album intro to Lodge's 'Steppin' In A Slide Zone' and the instrumental climax on Edge's 'I'll Be Level With You' but then stopped coming to the sessions when interpersonal conflicts (mostly with Edge) arose. After Pinder refused to tour, the band hired Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz
Patrick Moraz
Patrick Philippe Moraz is a progressive rock keyboard player. He is best known as the keyboardist for the progressive rock band Yes, from 1974 to 1976, and the Moody Blues from 1978 to 1991...
in his place.
Later life
Pinder took employment as a consultant to the Atari computer corporationAtari
Atari is a corporate and brand name owned by several entities since its inception in 1972. It is currently owned by Atari Interactive, a wholly owned subsidiary of the French publisher Atari, SA . The original Atari, Inc. was founded in 1972 by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney. It was a pioneer in...
(primarily working on music synthesis), remarried, and started a family in Grass Valley, California
Grass Valley, California
-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Grass Valley had a population of 12,860. The population density was 2,711.3 people per square mile . The racial makeup of Grass Valley was 11,493 White, 46 African American, 208 Native American, 188 Asian, 9 Pacific Islander, 419 from other...
. He remained out of the public eye until the mid 1990s, when he began to grant interviews and to work on new recording projects. 1994 saw the release of his second solo album, Among the Stars, on his own One Step label, to limited success. Another One Step release, A Planet With One Mind (1995), capitalised on Pinder's experience as chief reciter of Graeme Edge
Graeme Edge
Graeme Charles Edge is best known as the drummer and a songwriter for the Moody Blues, but has also led his own outfit, the Graeme Edge Band.-Biography:...
's poetry on the seminal Moody Blues albums; in this recording, Pinder reads seven children's stories from different world cultures, accompanied by appropriate world music. As his first spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
album, it was well received among its contemporaries in the genre - it was a finalist for the Benjamin Franklin Award for Excellence in Audio as an outstanding children's recording.
Pinder has continued to work in the studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
on his own and others' projects, and in developing new artists and nurturing the creative process. Most recently, he has started a songwriters' contest website called Songwars.
Family
Pinder's three sons are musicians. His eldest son Daniel is a film music editor and consultant, with many credits, including Pirates of the CaribbeanPirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl is a 2003 adventure fantasy film based on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disney theme parks. It was directed by Gore Verbinski and produced by Jerry Bruckheimer...
and The Da Vinci Code
The Da Vinci Code (film)
The Da Vinci Code is a 2006 American mystery thriller film directed by Ron Howard. The screenplay was written by Akiva Goldsman and based on Dan Brown's worldwide bestselling 2003 novel, The Da Vinci Code...
. Matt and Michael Lee perform as The Pinder Brothers. They have two CDs, Jupiter Falls and Ordinary Man. Several songs from both albums can be heard on their website, and their Myspace page.; Mike Pinder plays his trademark mellotron on a few of the songs.
External links
- Official website
- Songwars - Contest website (includes pictures, etc. of Mike Pinder)