30 Facts About Mike Pinder

Michael Thomas Pinder was an English rock musician.

Mike Pinder was a founding member and the original keyboard player of the rock group the Moody Blues.

Mike Pinder left the group following the recording of the band's ninth album Octave in 1978.

Mike Pinder was renowned for his technological contributions to rock music, most notably in the development and emergence of the Mellotron in 1960s rock music.

Mike Pinder was born in Erdington, Birmingham on 27 December 1941.

Mike Pinder's father, Bert, was a coach driver and his mother, Gladys, was a barmaid.

Mike Pinder took his first lead vocal on a cover of James Brown's "I Don't Mind".

Mike Pinder was partly responsible for the choice of young Swindon guitarist, vocalist and songwriter Justin Hayward to replace Laine.

Mike Pinder introduced the Mellotron to his friend John Lennon, and the Beatles subsequently used one on "Strawberry Fields Forever".

Mike Pinder was one of the first musicians to use the Mellotron in live performance, and he had to rely on the mechanical skills he had gained from his time as an engineer with Streetly Electronics to keep the instrument functioning.

Mike Pinder got the instrument back into working order in 20 minutes while the lighting crew entertained the audience by projecting cartoons.

On Moody Blues recordings from 1967 onwards, in addition to the mellotron, organ and piano, Mike Pinder played harpsichord, Moog synthesizer, tablas, various forms of keyboards and percussion, autoharp, tanpura, cello, bass and acoustic and electric guitars.

Mike Pinder sang vocal harmonies and lead vocals from 1964 to 1978, and was the group's main musical arranger up to 1978.

Mike Pinder sang lead vocals on a rare co-written song with John Lodge, "Out and In".

On 12 October 1968, the Moody Blues cut a version of "A Simple Game" featuring Hayward on lead vocal, considering the song as a potential UK single, but this recording was not issued and the version sung by Mike Pinder was used instead.

Mike Pinder's "How is it " from the album sessions, with the working title "Mike's Number One", surfaced later as a CD release.

Mike Pinder took co-credit with the entire band for the unusual opening track, "Procession", which was an attempt to illustrate the evolution of vocal and musical harmony, and he sang a featured co-lead vocal and solo with Hayward, Lodge and Thomas on Edge's song "After You Came".

In 1971, Mike Pinder guested on John Lennon's Imagine album on "I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier " and "Jealous Guy".

Mike Pinder played tambourine rather than the mellotron he had intended to use because, he said, the tapes in Lennon's mellotron looked like "a bowl of spaghetti".

In 1972 the Moody Blues, then at the height of their popularity, recorded the Seventh Sojourn album, which included two songs written and sung by Mike Pinder: "Lost in a Lost World" and "When You're A Free Man", dedicated to Timothy Leary.

Mike Pinder's only writing contribution to the album was "One Step Into the Light", an unused song from The Promise.

Mike Pinder added some synthesizer 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"; he then stopped coming to the sessions when interpersonal conflicts arose.

Mike Pinder took employment as a consultant to the Atari computer corporation, remarried, and started a family in Grass Valley, California.

Mike Pinder remained out of the public eye until the mid-1990s, when he began to grant interviews and work on new recording projects.

Mike Pinder continued to work in the studio on his own and others' projects and in developing new artists and nurturing the creative process.

Mike Pinder was the only one among the five on stage not to give an acceptance speech.

Mike Pinder plays his trademark Mellotron on some of the songs.

In 2013, Justin Hayward spoke of Mike Pinder's learning Transcendental Meditation in 1967, along with other members of the Moody Blues.

Mike Pinder died at his home in northern California on 24 April 2024, at the age of 82.

Mike Pinder had been suffering for some years from dementia.