45 Facts About Herbie Hancock

Since 2012, Herbie Hancock has served as a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, where he teaches at the UCLA Herb Alpert School of Music.

Herbie Hancock is the chairman of the Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz.

Herbie Hancock was born in Chicago, the son of Winnie Belle, a secretary, and Wayman Edward Herbie Hancock, a government meat inspector.

Herbie Hancock's parents named him after the singer and actor Herb Jeffries.

Herbie Hancock started playing piano when he was seven years old, and his talent was recognized early.

Herbie Hancock was influenced by records of the vocal group the Hi-Lo's.

Herbie Hancock graduated from Grinnell College in 1960 with degrees in electrical engineering and music.

Herbie Hancock then moved to Chicago, and began working with Donald Byrd and Coleman Hawkins.

Herbie Hancock recorded his first solo album Takin' Off for Blue Note Records in 1962.

Herbie Hancock was introduced to Davis by the young drummer Tony Williams, a member of the new band.

Herbie Hancock received considerable attention when, in May 1963, he joined Davis's Second Great Quintet.

Herbie Hancock liked it so much he wished to record it as a song but the ad agency would not let him.

Herbie Hancock rewrote the harmony, tempo and tone and recorded the piece as the track "Herbie Hancock Who Lives in Fear" from his The Prisoner album of 1969.

Herbie Hancock adapted quickly to the new instruments, which proved to be important in his future artistic endeavors.

Under the pretext that he had returned late from a honeymoon in Brazil, Herbie Hancock was dismissed from Davis's band.

Herbie Hancock left Blue Note in 1969, signing with Warner Bros.

In 1969, Herbie Hancock composed the soundtrack for Bill Cosby's animated prime-time television special Hey, Hey, Hey, It's Fat Albert.

In 1973, Herbie Hancock composed his soundtrack to the controversial film The Spook Who Sat by the Door.

In 1978, Herbie Hancock recorded a duet with Chick Corea, who replaced him in the Davis band a decade earlier.

Herbie Hancock released a solo acoustic piano album, The Piano, which was released only in Japan.

From 1978 to 1982, Herbie Hancock recorded many albums of jazz-inflected disco and pop music, beginning with Sunlight.

In 1982, Herbie Hancock contributed to the album New Gold Dream by Simple Minds, playing a synthesizer solo on the track "Hunter and the Hunted".

In 1983, Herbie Hancock had a pop hit with the Grammy Award-winning single "Rockit" from the album Future Shock.

Herbie Hancock experimented with electronic music on a string of three LPs produced by Laswell: Future Shock, the Grammy Award-winning Sound-System, and Perfect Machine.

Also, in 1985 Herbie Hancock performed as a guest on the album So Red the Rose by the Duran Duran spinoff group Arcadia.

Herbie Hancock provided introductory and closing comments for the PBS rebroadcast in the United States of the BBC educational series from the mid-1980s, Rockschool.

In 1986, Herbie Hancock performed and acted in the film 'Round Midnight.

Herbie Hancock achieved great success in 1998 with his album Gershwin's World, which featured readings of George and Ira Gershwin standards by Herbie Hancock and a plethora of guest stars, including Wonder, Joni Mitchell and Shorter.

In 2001, Herbie Hancock recorded Future2Future, which reunited Herbie Hancock with Laswell and featured doses of electronica as well as turntablist Rob Swift of The X-Ecutioners.

Herbie Hancock later toured with the band, and released a concert DVD with a different lineup, which included the "Rockit" music video.

Also in 2001 Herbie Hancock partnered with Brecker and Roy Hargrove to record a live concert album saluting Davis and John Coltrane, entitled Directions in Music: Live at Massey Hall, recorded live in Toronto.

Also in 2005, Herbie Hancock toured Europe with a new quartet that included Beninese guitarist Lionel Loueke, and explored textures ranging from ambient to straight jazz to African music.

Herbie Hancock served as the first artist in residence for Bonnaroo that summer.

Also in 2006, Herbie Hancock recorded a new song with Josh Groban and Eric Mouquet, entitled "Machine".

On June 14,2008, Herbie Hancock performed with others at Rhythm on the Vine at the South Coast Winery in Temecula, California, for Shriners Hospitals for Children.

On January 18,2009, Herbie Hancock performed at the We Are One concert, marking the start of inaugural celebrations for American President Barack Obama.

Herbie Hancock performed Rhapsody in Blue at the 2009 Classical BRIT Awards with classical pianist Lang Lang.

In 2013, Herbie Hancock joined the University of California, Los Angeles faculty as a professor in the UCLA music department teaching jazz music.

Herbie Hancock was the 2014 Charles Eliot Norton Professor of Poetry at Harvard University.

On May 15,2015, Herbie Hancock received an honorary doctor of humane letters degree from Washington University in St Louis.

On May 19,2018, Herbie Hancock received an honorary degree from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

On June 26,2022, Herbie Hancock performed at the Glastonbury Festival.

Herbie Hancock was featured on the track "MOON" by the jazz duo Domi and JD Beck on their debut album NOT TiGHT, released July 29,2022.

Since 1972, Herbie Hancock has practiced Nichiren Buddhism as a member of the Buddhist association Soka Gakkai International.

In 2014, Herbie Hancock delivered a lecture at Harvard University titled "Buddhism and Creativity" as part of his Norton Lecture series.