Virgil Keel Fox was an American organist, known especially for his years as organist at Riverside Church in New York City, from 1946 to 1965, and his flamboyant "Heavy Organ" concerts of the music of Bach in the 1970s, staged complete with light shows. His many recordings made on the RCA Victor and Capitol labels, mostly in the 1950s and 1960s, have been remastered and re-released on compact disc in recent years. They continue to be widely available in mainstream music stores.
The American Guild of Organists (AGO) is an international organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the US, headquartered in New York City with its administrative offices in the Interchurch Center. Founded as a professional educational association, it was chartered by the Board of Regents of the University of the State of New York in 1896, with the authority to grant certificates of associate or fellow to members who passed examinations.
A theatre organ is a type of pipe organ developed to accompany silent films, from the 1900s to the 1920s.
John Gavin Scott was an English organist and choirmaster who reached the highest levels of his profession on both sides of the Atlantic. He directed the Choir of St Paul's Cathedral in London from 1990 to 2004. He then directed the Choir of Men and Boys of Saint Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in New York City until his death at age 59. Whilst training countless young musicians, he maintained an active career as an international concert performer and recording artist, and was acclaimed as "the premier English organist of his generation".
Richard Simonton (1915–1979), also known under the pseudonym Doug Malloy, was a Hollywood businessman and entrepreneur, known for his involvement in the Hollywood community, his rescue of the steamboat Delta Queen, his work in preserving the work of musicians in the Welte-Mignon piano rolls and for founding the American Theatre Organ Society. Among piercing enthusiasts he is also known as an early pioneer of the contemporary resurgence in body piercing.
George Wright was an American musician, possibly the most famous virtuoso of the theatre organ of the modern era.
Jesse Crawford was an American pianist and organist. He was well known in the 1920s as a theatre organist for silent films and as a popular recording artist. In the 1930s, he switched to the Hammond organ and became a freelancer. In the 1940s, he authored instruction books on organ and taught organ lessons.
Herbert Henry John Murrill was an English musician, composer, and organist.
The Balboa Theatre is an historic vaudeville/movie theatre in downtown San Diego, California, US, built in 1924. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996, the Balboa was refurbished and reopened as a performing arts venue in 2008.
Andrew Emerson Unsworth is an American organist who has served as an organist for the Salt Lake Tabernacle since 2007, which includes being an organist for the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, which is the principal resident musical organization there.
Keith Chapman (1945–1989) was an American concert organist known best for his flair at playing in the symphonic style of organ performance, and particularly for his long and distinguished association (1966–1989) with the Wanamaker's Department Store of Philadelphia as the principal organist of the Wanamaker Organ.
Walt Strony is an American recording, consulting and performing organist and organ teacher, both on the theatre organ and traditional pipe organ, ranging from pizza parlors to churches and theatres to symphony orchestras.
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists. In addition, an organist may accompany congregational hymn-singing and play liturgical music.
Leonard MacClain was an American keyboardist and composer who was prominent as an organist in the Philadelphia area. He gained international exposure through his recordings for Epic Records.
Martin Ellis is an American church, concert and theatre organist. He is currently the organist for Rose City Park Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon. He was Principal Organist and Assistant Music Director at North United Methodist Church, and Senior Staff Pianist/Organist, Staff Arranger and Orchestrator for the Indianapolis Children's Choir and Youth Chorale in Indianapolis, Indiana until August, 2014. He works with Gresham High School's Theatre Arts Department as their resident piano accompanist.
The Theatre Organ Society International (TOSI) was a nonprofit organization, dedicated to promoting and presenting the theatre organ performance as an internationally recognized art form.
Len Rawle was a Welsh organ builder and organist. A London College of Music graduate, he was particularly noted for his restoration of Wurlitzer theatre organs, such as at Harrow, Tooting and Woking.
Dan Bellomy was an American organist who performed on pipe and electric organs. Bellomy's theater organ performances were acclaimed for their inclusion of the jazz idiom, and he was at times described as a pure jazz organist. He wrote scripts for and directed several local television shows.
Lee Orville Erwin was an American theatre organist who played an important part in a revival of interest in the silent film era. His career began as an organist accompanying first-run silent films in the 1920s. He received classical training in Cincinnati and France, and then began a career as organist and arranger for radio, significantly at WLW and CBS Radio, the latter in association with Arthur Godfrey, that lasted through the mid-1960s. When his radio career ended he was commissioned to provide complete new scores for silent films exceeding seventy in number, and in this capacity and as an organist for silent film tours and exhibitions he received widespread critical acclaim. Erwin was active into his early 90s.
Richard William "Dick" Leibert was an American musician who was the chief organist at New York City's Radio City Music Hall between 1932 and 1971. He also had a radio program of organ music on the NBC Radio Network in the 1930s and 1940s, along with making phonograph recordings on the RCA Victor and Westminster Records labels.
