Mike Pinder (born Michael Thomas Pinder in Birmingham on 27 December 1941; died 24 April 2024) was an English rock musician remembered as a founding member, and the original keyboard player, of the rock group The Moody Blues. He left the group following the recording of the band's ninth album, "Octave", in 1978. Pinder was renowned for his technological contributions to rock music, most notably in the development and emergence 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. He was the last surviving member of the group's original lineup. Pinder was a very visible presence in early progressive rock circles. A pioneering user of the early electronic keyboard instrument the Mellotron as a substitute for a full orchestra, Pinder's work served as the model for the playing of musicians such as Barclay James Harvest's Woolly Wolstenholme, Blue Weaver of the Strawbs, and, to a lesser degree, Ian McDonald of King Crimson, though the latter group quickly evolved its own sound with the instrument. During his years with the Moody Blues, Pinder was known for the lush, dense sounds he generated from his Mellotrons (which yielded such high volumes in concert that the sound off his speakers created wind currents on the stage), which he modified so extensively by the beginning of the 1970s, that they became known unofficially in the rock press (which covered the Moody Blues extensively in those days) as "Pinder-trons"; and for his compositions, which were frequently steeped in a brand of mysticism that recalled the English Romantic poets. During the group's mid-'70s hiatus, Pinder recorded a solo album, The Promise[/[album], which grafted elements of what would later be called New Age music onto his established Romantic sound. He returned to the group's lineup for one reunion album (Octave) and then retired to California, rather than embark on a world tour. Subsequently, Pinder released several CDs of new age-oriented material on his own One Step label, including A Planet with One Mind and A People with One Heart, both built around mythological tales and images (intended for children, but accessible to general listeners) drawn from different cultures around the world, told with lush and lyrical musical accompaniment. In April 2018, Pinder was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Moody Blues. <a href="https://www.last.fm/music/Mike+Pinder">Read more on Last.fm</a>. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.