Roy Bittan
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| Roy Bittan | |
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | The Professor |
| Born | July 2, 1949 |
| Origin | Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York, U.S. |
| Genre(s) | Rock Music |
| Instrument(s) | piano, keyboards, and synthesizers |
| Associated acts | E Street Band |
Roy Bittan (born July 2, 1949 in Rockaway Beach, Queens, New York City) is an American keyboardist, best known as a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, which he joined on August 23, 1974. Bittan, nicknamed "The Professor", plays the piano, organ, accordion and synthesizers.
Bittan has played on several dozen albums, not only for Springsteen but also David Bowie, Jackson Browne, Tracy Chapman, Chicago, Catie Curtis, Dire Straits, Peter Gabriel, Meat Loaf, Stevie Nicks, Bob Seger, Patty Smyth, Jim Steinman, and Bonnie Tyler. Bittan also played keyboards on the breakthrough Bon Jovi single, "Runaway."
With Springsteen's E Street Band Roy uses a Yamaha grand piano, preferring the bright sound to cut through the band's sound compared with other acoustic models. He has also been known to use Yamaha, Korg and Kurzweil keyboards as part of his live rig. His riffs and melody lines have become signatures for the Springteen sound. Roy is an avid accordion player which is a skill he seldom uses with the E Street Band - however he has been seen playing it on the tour finale of "American Land" on the Magic Tour.
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[edit] Career
[edit] Bruce Springsteen
Bittan is a long-time member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, and has performed on the majority of Springsteen's albums, most notably Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, The River, Born in the U.S.A., and The Rising. Bittan's dramatic piano track on Born to Run's epic nine-and-a-half minute anthem Jungleland is widely viewed as one of the great keyboard performances in rock music history. Bittan also provided background vocals for most of the songs along with Steven Van Zandt. His voice is featured slightly on the vocal weaving in Out in the Street. However, from the Born in the U.S.A. Tour on, his voice was no longer used. When Springsteen decided to break his cooperation with the E Street Band in 1989, Roy Bittan was the one member kept on, both in studio and on stage. Bittan then returned for the lengthly re-union tour in 1999, and has since recorded The Rising and Magic with Springsteen and the E Street Band and has toured with Springsteen and the E Street Band on The Rising Tour (2002-2003), Vote For Change Tour (2004), and the Magic Tour (2007-2008).
[edit] Meat Loaf and Jim Steinman
Roy Bittan played piano nearly exclusively on Meat Loaf's seminal 1977 album Bat out of Hell. According to music folklore, composer Jim Steinman pursued Bittan for the album due to his love for Springsteen's early work, particularly on the 1975 album Born to Run. Since then, Bittan has regularly and nearly exclusively collaborated with Steinman, appearing on three more Meat Loaf albums (most notably Bat out of Hell II: Back into Hell), Steinman's solo album Bad for Good, an Air Supply single, a Barbra Streisand single, an album by Pandora's Box, Total Eclipse of the Heart, and more.
[edit] Fire Inc.
Roy Bittan played with Fire Inc, a Wagnerian rock band that released two songs for the rock and roll film Streets of Fire in 1984. The two songs never had any real commercial success. In 1989 Jim Steinman put together another group called Pandora's Box in which he included eight of the members from Fire Inc.
[edit] Dire Straits
Additionally, Roy Bittan seemed to have an important influence on Dire Straits career. Making Movies has been considered by many a breakthrough album for the band, and Roy Bittan's piano was an important ingredient to its success. Mark Knopfler's decision to have the keyboardist on the album's lineup was reportedly influenced by his affection for "Because the Night", a keyboard-driven hit song cowritten by Bruce Springsteen and Patti Smith.
[edit] Peter Gabriel
Roy Bittan played on the second solo album from Peter Gabriel. He played on several tracks including "On the Air", "D.I.Y." and "White Shadow".
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