Michael Pinnella (born August 29, 1969, in
Point Pleasant Beach, New JerseyPoint Pleasant Beach is a Borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 5,314....
,
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) is a keyboard player, most notably for the band
Symphony XSymphony X is an American progressive metal band founded in New Jersey in 1994 by guitarist Michael Romeo. Their 1997 album The Divine Wings of Tragedy and their 2000 release V: The New Mythology Suite have given the band considerable attention within the progressive metal community...
. He has also released a solo album: A mixture of classical and
progressiveProgressive rock is a form of rock music that evolved in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility."...
styled music entitled
Enter By the Twelfth GateEnter By the Twelfth Gate is the first solo album by Symphony X keyboardist, Michael Pinnella.-Track listing:...
on the
InsideOut MusicInsideOut is an independent record label company, specializing in the progressive rock and progressive metal genres. It was founded in Germany and has since expanded to Europe, then partnered in the U.S...
label in 2004.
Pinnella was born on
Point Pleasant Beach, New JerseyPoint Pleasant Beach is a Borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 5,314....
and was encouraged since childhood to follow music. When he was 4 years old, he started taking
pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
lessons. He was heavily influenced by classic composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, and
BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organist whose ecclesiastical and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
.
When he was about 11 years old, he started to practice more seriously.
Michael Pinnella (born August 29, 1969, in
Point Pleasant Beach, New JerseyPoint Pleasant Beach is a Borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 5,314....
,
U.S.The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
) is a keyboard player, most notably for the band
Symphony XSymphony X is an American progressive metal band founded in New Jersey in 1994 by guitarist Michael Romeo. Their 1997 album The Divine Wings of Tragedy and their 2000 release V: The New Mythology Suite have given the band considerable attention within the progressive metal community...
. He has also released a solo album: A mixture of classical and
progressiveProgressive rock is a form of rock music that evolved in the late 1960s and early 1970s as part of a "mostly British attempt to elevate rock music to new levels of artistic credibility."...
styled music entitled
Enter By the Twelfth GateEnter By the Twelfth Gate is the first solo album by Symphony X keyboardist, Michael Pinnella.-Track listing:...
on the
InsideOut MusicInsideOut is an independent record label company, specializing in the progressive rock and progressive metal genres. It was founded in Germany and has since expanded to Europe, then partnered in the U.S...
label in 2004.
Biography
Pinnella was born on
Point Pleasant Beach, New JerseyPoint Pleasant Beach is a Borough in Ocean County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the borough population was 5,314....
and was encouraged since childhood to follow music. When he was 4 years old, he started taking
pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
lessons. He was heavily influenced by classic composers like Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, and
BachJohann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and organist whose ecclesiastical and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...
.
When he was about 11 years old, he started to practice more seriously. Later in his youth, he was impressed by Yngwie Malmsteen and asked his parents to buy him a
keyboardA keyboard instrument is any musical instrument played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include various types of organs as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
. When he got into college, he studied piano performance, theory and composition, and other musical courses. Other influences came from progressive/metal bands from the 70s (
Emerson, Lake & PalmerEmerson, Lake & Palmer were an English progressive rock supergroup. In the 1970s, the band was extremely popular, selling over 35 million albums and headlining huge concerts...
,
Deep PurpleDeep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford, Hertfordshire in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members have tried not to categorise themselves as any one genre. The band...
) and from the 80s (
Black SabbathBlack Sabbath are an English rock band, formed in Birmingham in 1968 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple lineup changes, with a total of twenty-two former members...
,
DIODio is an American heavy metal band led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio, who formed it in 1982 after leaving Black Sabbath. In an interview, available on the special edition re-release of Holy Diver, Dio states that he never intended to begin a solo career. His intention was to form a new band with...
,
Ozzy OsbourneJohn Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English singer-songwriter, whose career has now spanned four decades. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead vocalist of pioneering British heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and eventually achieved a multi-platinum solo career which revolutionized the heavy metal genre...
).
When Pinnella finished college, he started teaching piano in a music store. One of the fellow teachers at the store was friends with
Michael RomeoMichael James Romeo is an American guitarist and a founding member of the progressive metal group Symphony X.- Early life :...
from
Symphony XSymphony X is an American progressive metal band founded in New Jersey in 1994 by guitarist Michael Romeo. Their 1997 album The Divine Wings of Tragedy and their 2000 release V: The New Mythology Suite have given the band considerable attention within the progressive metal community...
. In 1994, he was hired by the band as a keyboardist.
He is currently working at the
Guitar CenterGuitar Center is the largest chain of musical instrument retailers in the world with 214 locations throughout the United States. Its headquarters is in Westlake Village, California....
in East Brunswick, NJ when not touring or recording. He is a
ChristianA Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic, religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth, who Christians believe was the Messiah prophesied in the Old Testament/Hebrew Bible, and the Son of God.The term "Christian" is also used adjectivally to...
and also plays
pianoThe piano is a musical instrument which is played by means of a keyboard. Widely used in Western music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music, and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
in his church.
He has released a solo album titled
Enter by the Twelfth Gate on October 12, 2004, containing both classical and progressive rock music.
Equipment
Pinnella uses the following equipment:
- Yamaha Motif
The Yamaha Motif is a series of music workstations, first released by Yamaha Corporation in August 2001. Other workstations in the same class are the Korg M3, Roland Fantom-G and Alesis Fusion.- Product lineup :...
ES7
- Roland
is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in...
JV2080 and Roland A33
- Korg Trinity
Korg Trinity is a commercially successful synthesizer music workstation released by Korg in 1996. It was also the first workstation to offer modular expansion for not only sounds, but also studio-grade feature such as SCSI, ADAT, various sound engine processors, audio recording capability, and more...
and O1/W
- Akai
Akai is a consumer electronics brand, founded by Saburo Akai as , a Japanese manufacturer in 1929. It is now headquartered in Singapore as a subsidiary of Grande Holdings, a Chinese Hong Kong-based conglomerate, which also owns the formerly Japanese brands Nakamichi and Sansui...
S3000
Pinnella was also seen using a
RolandRoland is a character in medieval and Renaissance literature, the chief paladin of Charlemagne and a central figure in the Matter of France...
JP8000 analog modelling synth during the European leg of the 2007 tour.
Discography
| Year |
Title |
Type |
| 2004 |
Enter By The Twelfth Gate |
Studio |
External links