Famous Piano Players

So many piano players, right from Beethoven to Yanni, have left an everlasting impression on the world of music. Some are famous for the complicated music they created, some for their wild ways of playing, while others for the beautiful melodies they created. With so much variety and variation in each of these piano players' music, to decide which ones should be included in the famous piano players of all time, can be quite a task. That is why the following list may seem incomplete to many.

Ludwig van Beethoven
Beethoven was born in the year 1770 in Bonn. His first music teacher was his own father and by the time he turned twelve, his music had already been published. Beethoven first went to Vienna in the year 1787 and studied music there with Schenk, Salieri, Albrechtsberger and Joseph Haydn. The years 1795 to 1801, are believed to be Beethoven's best years, as far as his music is concerned. During this period, Beethoven composed three sonatas, three piano concertos, six string quartets and two symphonies. In the year 1802, Beethoven developed hearing impairment which caused him lots of depression and even blocked his ability to create music for a while. It took Beethoven a few years to overcome his depression and finally he came up with "Eroica" Symphony no. 3, Symphony no. 5 and an opera "Fidelio". In his personal life, Beethoven could never find his "true love" and had a string of unsuccessful affairs. He finally died in the year 1827 due to lead poisoning.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Mozart, born on 27th January, 1756 in Germany, is a pianist and musician of the classical era. He is known to have composed more than six hundred works including numerous symphonies, concertos, operas and choral music. Mozart started composing music at the age of five and by the time he was seventeen, he was a court musician and performing before royalty in Salzburg. Mozart style of music ranged from the light and the graceful to the dark and the passionate. His music greatly influenced the western art music including great pianists like Beethoven. Mozart died very early, in the year 1791.

Jerry Lee Lewis
Born on 29th September, 1935 in Louisiana, Jerry Lee Lewis became popular among the music lovers for his wild and out of box playing style. Jerry as he was famously called, started off singing country music and gospel music, before he evolved into a rock and roll piano player. Jerry, now counted among the most famous piano players, was long admired for his foot stomping live performances, till the time controversies regarding his personal life such as his marriage to his thirteen year old cousin, overshadowed his talent and ultimately led to his downfall.

Frederic Chopin
Frederic Chopin, born on 22nd February, 1810, was a polish genius, who is known the world over as the creator and player of the most complicated and beautiful music that has ever been played. Chopin is remembered even today for his distinctive and unique style of playing. Chopin wrote concertos, nocturnes and sonatas and performed live in places like Paris and England. Popularity of his music can be gauged from the fact that his music works are today taught in almost all the piano schools.

Billy Joel
Known famously as "The Piano Man", Billy Joel was born on 9th May, 1949 in New York. When he was fourteen, he joined a group named "The Lost Souls" and a few years later he became part of another group named "The Hassels". In the year 1970, Billy along with a drummer of the group "The Hassels", formed "Attila". In the year 1971, Billy parted from "Attila" and released an album named "Cold Spring Harbor", which brought him instant stardom. Some other famous albums of Billy Joel are "Streetlife Serenade", "52nd Street" and "An Innocent Man".

Yanni
Yiannis Hrysomallis, famously known as Yanni, was born in Greece on 14th November, 1954. Yanni has had no formal education in music, he is self taught and began playing music very early. During his college days, Yanni joined a band named "Chameleon" and toured with them to places like Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois, playing music. In the year 1987, he formed his own band in California with Charlie Adams and John Tesh and started promoting three of his albums named, "Keys to Imagination", "Chameleon Days" and "Out of Silence". In the year 1992, Yanni's first Grammy nominated album named "Dare to Dream" was released. In the year 1994, "Yanni Live at the Acropolis" was released which brought him tremendous commercial success. Yanni has performed live in more than twenty countries and has many gold and platinum albums credited to his name.

Other piano players are Johann Sebastian Bach, Joseph Haydn, Johannes Brahms, Arthur Rubinstein and the most recent Elton John. If you want to add a few more names to this most famous pianists list, please feel free to do that in the comments column below.