Perrey and Kingsley

The musical duo Perrey and Kingsley (Jean-Jacques Perrey, b. 1929 and Gershon Kingsley, b. 1925), were pioneers in the field of electronic music. Prior to their collaboration in 1964, electronic music was considered to be purely avant-garde. The notion of electronic music for the masses was nearly unthinkable.

Biographies

German-born Kingsley fled Nazi Germany for Israel and began his career in music as a pit conductor for Broadway musical shows after graduating from the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music. Perrey was a French accordion player and medical student who abandoned his studies after meeting Georges Jenny in 1952. Jenny was the inventor of the Ondioline, a vacuum tube-powered keyboard instrument that was a forerunner of today's synthesizers and was capable of creating an amazing variety of sounds. Its keyboard featured a very unique feature: the keyboard was suspended on special springs that introduced a natural vibrato, if the player moved the keyboard from side to side with their playing hand. The result was a beautiful, almost human-like vibrato that lent a wide range of expression to the Ondioline. The keyboard was also pressure sensitive, and the instrument had a knee volume lever, as well. Jenny hired Perrey as a salesman and demonstrator of the new instrument. As a result, he later came to the attention of French singer Édith Piaf who sponsored him to record a demo tape that later allowed him to work and live in the United States between 1960 and 1970.

Related Topics:
Nazi Germany - Israel - Broadway - Los Angeles Conservatory of Music - Georges Jenny - Ondioline - Vacuum tube - Synthesizers - Édith Piaf

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