Mike Pinder

Michael Thomas Pinder (27 December 1941 – 24 April 2024) was an English rock musician. He was a founding member and the original keyboard player of the rock group the Moody Blues. In 1978, he left the group following the recording of Octave, their ninth album. Pinder was renowned for his technological contributions, most notably in the emergence and development of the Mellotron in 1960s rock music. In 2018, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Moody Blues.

The Moody Blues

Early years

Pinder was born in Erdington, Birmingham, on 27 December 1941. was a barmaid. As a child, he had an affinity for rocket ships and outer space, which earned him the nickname "Mickey the Moon Boy". These interests would be recurring themes throughout his career as a songwriter.

Pinder was a member of several bands in Birmingham in his teenage years, among them the Checkers, who won first prize of £50 in a talent competition. In his first band, rock'n'roll combo El Riot and the Rebels, he played support to the Beatles in 1963 in a show at Tenbury. As a member of the short-lived Krew Kats, Pinder played for two months in Hamburg clubs where the Beatles had played.

His "Dawn (Is A Feeling)", with lead vocals by Hayward and Pinder singing the bridge section, opened the Days of Future Passed album. Pinder also contributed "The Sunset" and narrated drummer Graeme Edge's opening and closing poems, "Morning Glory" and "Late Lament". Days of Future Passed had been planned as a stereo demonstration album for the Decca Deram label, combining rock and orchestral music. It sold more than a million copies in the US.

Band hiatus, reformation and departure

The Moody Blues went on hiatus in 1974, largely because of tour fatigue and family considerations. By this time, Pinder had grown tired of the burgeoning crime and inclement weather in his homeland. This, along with an impending divorce, prompted him to re-locate to Malibu, California, where he recorded a solo album The Promise in 1976, released through the Moody Blues' Threshold label.

In 1977 the band reformed and began work on the 1978 release Octave. Pinder's only writing contribution to the album was "One Step Into the Light", an unused song from The Promise. He also 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 (mostly with Edge) arose. During this time, Pinder was also in a new relationship resulting in marriage and children; thus he preferred not to tour with the band at the time. As a result, the band chose to continue without him, hiring Swiss keyboardist Patrick Moraz, formerly of Yes, in his place. While the Moodies would continue to have their share of avid followers, it was the contention of many industry critics that the group had lost something without Pinder from an artistic standpoint.

After the Moody Blues Pinder took employment as a consultant to the Atari computer corporation (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 work on new recording projects. The year 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), and "A People With One Heart" (1996), capitalised on Pinder's experience as chief reciter of Graeme Edge's poetry on the 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 continued to work in the studio on his own and others' projects, and in developing new artists and nurturing the creative process.

Hall of Fame induction In April 2018, Pinder was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Moody Blues. He was the only one among the five on stage, however, not to give an acceptance speech. Some fans and critics took his decision to be a silent protest against the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for its perceived snub of the group in previous years. Pinder subsequently explained on his website: "The rock hall of fame people were wonderful. The ceremony was too long and the sound too loud for the room but there were moments of great interest. For the Moody families it was the opportunity to share in several days of love, past memories and making new memories for our families. All the band brought their children and grandchildren and that was magic. The grandchildren got to see that the music has remained relevant and impactful for 50 years.

Many MB fans have asked why I did not speak at the induction but by the time the Moodies took the stage we were 5 hours into the ceremony. The oldest of the inductees were up the latest. The speeches were a bit anti-climactic at that point, and it was only fitting that the current touring members (Edge, Hayward and Lodge) spoke first. I am happy that we finally got inducted for our fans' sake.

As I have said for the last 30 years "the fans are my hall of fame."

Family and personal life Pinder's first marriage was to Donna Arkoff, with whom he had a son, Daniel. The marriage ended in divorce. In the early 1980s Pinder married an American, Tara Lee, with whom he had two sons, Matt and Michael Lee.

All three of his sons became musicians: his eldest, Daniel, is a film music editor and consultant with many credits, including Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl and The Da Vinci Code. Matt and Michael Lee perform as The Pinder Brothers and have issued a number of CDs, including Jupiter Falls and Ordinary Man; in 2015 they released Melancholy Sea. Several songs from both albums can be heard on their website and their Myspace page. Mike Pinder plays his trademark Mellotron on some of the songs.

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

Death Pinder died at his home in northern California on 24 April 2024, at the age of 82. He had been suffering for some years from dementia.

Solo discography During and after his stint with the band, Pinder released three solo albums: The Promise (1976), Among the Stars (1994) and A Planet With One Mind (1995). The Promise (1976) Among the Stars (1994) A Planet With One Mind (1995) A People With One Heart (1996)

The Moody Blues discography

The Magnificent Moodies (1965) Days of Future Passed (1967) In Search of the Lost Chord (1968) On the Threshold of a Dream (1969) To Our Children's Children's Children (1969) A Question of Balance (1970) Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1971) Seventh Sojourn (1972) This Is The Moody Blues (compilation; released 1974) Caught Live + 5 (1969 live recordings, along with five unreleased studio tracks from 1967 and 1968; released 1977) Octave (1978) Time Traveller (box-set compilation; released 1994)

Songwriting contributions to the Moody Blues 1964: "Lose Your Money (But Don't Lose Your Mind)" (with Denny Laine; single B-side) 1964: "It's Easy Child" (with Denny Laine; single B-side) 1965: "From the Bottom of My Heart (I Love You) (with Denny Laine; single A-side) 1965: "And My Baby's Gone" (with Denny Laine; single B-side) 1965: "Let Me Go" (with Denny Laine; from The Magnificent Moodies) 1965: "Stop!" (with Denny Laine; from The Magnificent Moodies) 1965: "True Story" (with Denny Laine; from The Magnificent Moodies) 1965: "Thank You Baby" (with Denny Laine; from The Magnificent Moodies) 1965: "Everyday" (with Denny Laine; single A-side) 1965: "You Don't (All The Time)" (with Denny Laine; single B-side) 1966: "People Gotta Go" (with Denny Laine; France-only EP track) 1966: "Sad Song" (with Denny Laine; recorded for abandoned second album to be titled Look Out, released as a bonus track on reissue of The Magnificent Moodies in 2014) 1966: "Jago & Jilly" (with Denny Laine; from Look Out sessions, released on Magnificent Moodies reissue in 2014) 1966: "We're Broken" (with Denny Laine; from Look Out sessions, released on Magnificent Moodies reissue in 2014) 1966: "Boulevard de la Madalaine" (with Denny Laine; single A-side) 1966: "This is My House (But Nobody Calls)" (with Denny Laine; single B-side) 1966: "Life's Not Life" (with Denny Laine; single A-side) 1966: "He Can Win" (with Denny Laine; single B-side) 1967: "Really Haven't Got The Time" (single B-side) 1967: "Love and Beauty" (single A-side) 1967: "Please Think About It" (first released in 1977 on Caught Live + 5) 1967: "Dawn is a Feeling" (from Days of Future Passed) 1967: "The Sunset" (from Days of Future Passed) 1968: "The Best Way to Travel" (from In Search of the Lost Chord) 1968: "Om" (from In Search of the Lost Chord) 1968: "A Simple Game" (single B-side) 1969: "So Deep Within You" (from On the Threshold of a Dream) 1969: "Have You Heard" (from On the Threshold of a Dream) 1969: "The Voyage" (from On the Threshold of a Dream) 1969: "Out and In" (with John Lodge; from To Our Children's Children's Children) 1969: "Sun Is Still Shining" (from To Our Children's Children's Children) 1970: "How is it (We are Here?)" (from A Question of Balance) 1970: "Melancholy Man" (from A Question of Balance) 1970: "Mike's Number One" (outtake from the sessions for A Question of Balance; released as a bonus track on 2006 reissue of the album) 1971: "Procession" (with John Lodge, Justin Hayward, Ray Thomas and Graeme Edge; from Every Good Boy Deserves Favour) 1971: "My Song" (from Every Good Boy Deserves Favour) 1972: "Lost in a Lost World" (from Seventh Sojourn) 1972: "When You're a Free Man" (from Seventh Sojourn) 1978: "One Step into the Light" (from Octave)