LOS ANGELES: Keith Emerson, founder and keyboardist of the progressive-rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer, has died in what may have been a suicide, it was announced Friday. He was 71.
Emerson’s longtime partner, Mari Kawaguchi, called police to his condominium in the coastal suburb of Santa Monica, Calif., about 1:30 a.m.
Emerson had an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head, police said. “It’s being investigated as a suicide,” Sgt. Erika Aklufi said.
Kawaguchi told police that Emerson could have died anywhere between Thursday evening and Friday morning.
“Keith was a gentle soul whose love for music and passion for his performance as a keyboard player will remain unmatched for many years to come,” his former bandmate, drummer Carl Palmer, said in a prepared statement. “He was a pioneer and an innovator whose musical genius touched all of us in the worlds of rock, classical and jazz. I will always remember his warm smile, good sense of humor, compelling showmanship and dedication to his musical craft. I am very lucky to have known him and to have made the music we did together.”
Kawaguchi said Emerson was able to compose without any instrument.
Emerson, Palmer and vocalist/guitarist Greg Lake were giants of progressive rock in the 1970s, recording six platinum-selling albums. They and other hit groups such as Pink Floyd, the Moody Blues and Genesis stepped away from rock’s emphasis on short songs with dance beats, instead creating albums with ornate pieces full of complicated rhythms, intricate chords and time signature changes. The orchestrations drew on classical and jazz styles and sometimes wedded rock instruments with full orchestras.
Emerson, Lake and Palmer’s 1973 album Brain Salad Surgery included a nearly 30-minute composition called Karn Evil 9.
A musical prodigy, Emerson was born in Todmorden, Yorkshire, in England.
He helped form one of the first progressive rock groups, the Nice, before hooking up with Lake and Palmer in 1970. ELP broke up in 1979, reunited in 1991, later disbanded again and reunited one last time for a 2010 tour.