Brent Mydland
| Brent Mydland | |
|---|---|
Brent Mydland (left) photobombing Bobby, Jerry, and Bill.
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| Background information | |
| Birth name | Brent Mydland |
| Born |
October 21, 1952 Munich, Germany |
| Origin | Antioch, California |
| Died | July 26, 1990 (aged 37) Lafayette, California |
| Genres | Rock, psychedelic rock, blues, gospel, country rock, improvisational, jam |
| Occupation(s) | Musician, songwriter |
| Instruments | Hammond B3 organ, Keyboards, vocals, |
| Years active | 1979–90 |
| Labels |
Warner Bros. Arista |
| Associated acts | Grateful Dead, Bob Weir Band, Bobby and the Midnites, Go Ahead, Kokomo, Silver |
Brent Mydland (October 21, 1952 – July 26, 1990) was an American keyboardist and vocalist, best known for being in the rock band the Grateful Dead from 1979 to 1990. His eleven-year tenure was longer than that of any other keyboardist in the band.
Born in Munich, Germany, as the child of a U.S. Army chaplain, Mydland moved to San Francisco with his parents at the age of one. Mydland spent most of his childhood living in Antioch, California, an hour east of San Francisco. He started piano lessons at age six and had formal classical lessons through his junior year in high school. In an interview he commented that: "my sister took lessons and it looked fun to me, so I did too. There was always a piano around the house and I wanted to play it. When I couldn't play it I would beat on it anyway." His mother, a graveyard shift nurse, encouraged Mydland's talents by insisting that he practice his music for two hours each day. He played trumpet from elementary till his senior year in high school; his schoolmates remember him practicing on an accordion, as well as the piano, every day after school.
"In my late teens I went and saw a lot of groups, and thank God I did, because it didn't last much longer." When asked if he had musical aspirations in high school he admitted to wanting to originally be "a high school band teacher or something, I played trumpet in the [marching] band ... then my senior year I got kicked out of the [marching] band for having long hair ... they told me "sorry we'll lose points for your long hair", so that was the end of my [marching] band career. I gave up the trumpet and concentrated on the keyboards." Brent graduated from Liberty High in nearby Brentwood, California, in 1971.
Of his early musical experiences Mydland has stated: "Late into high school I got into playing rock 'n' roll with friends and it was like I had to start from the beginning almost, because if I didn't have a piece of music in front of me I couldn't do much. I changed my outlook on playing real fast after that. I think dope had something to do with that."
Influenced by rock organists such as Lee Michaels, Ray Manzarek and Goldie McJohn of Steppenwolf. Mydland was in a series of local bands. In the late 1960s he bought the first albums by Jefferson Airplane and the Grateful Dead, and during this interview he stated that he was in a band "where I used to sing "Morning Dew" and we did "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" too."
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