Mike Pinder, co-founder of the Moody Blues, keyboardist and Mellotron player and vocalist on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame group’s first nine albums, died Wednesday at his home in Northern California. He was 82 years old and the last surviving founding member of the legendary British band.
His longtime bandmate John Lodge announced the news about Pinder’s family on social media. “He died peacefully [and] His final days were filled with music, surrounded by the love of his family,” his Facebook post reads. “Michael lived his life with childlike wonder and pursued a deeply introspective path that united mind and heart.”
Pinder’s death follows the deaths of Moodys co-founder Denny Laine in December and drummer Graeme Edge in 2021. Ray Thomas died in 2002 and Clint Warwick in 2004. Lodge and lead singer Justin Heyward joined in 1966.
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Pinder co-founded the group in Birmingham just as the British Invasion hit America. The Moody Blues burst onto the international rock scene with their first hit “Go Now” in 1965, reaching number one in the UK and the top 10 in the US. The group had two further top 10 singles in the US and three in the UK, but was much more successful in the album charts.
The Moody Blues’ most famous songs include “Tuesday Afternoon” and “Nights in White Satin” – both from 1968 The days of the future have passed LP with the London Symphony Orchestra – “Ride My See-Saw”, “Question”, “The Story in Your Eyes” and “I’m Just a Singer (in a Rock and Roll Band)” – all remain popular in the classic rock radio. The group’s “Legend of a Mind” was an ode to acid king Timothy Leary.
“Nights in White Satin” did not enter the Billboard Hot 100 on its original release, but was reissued as a single in the United States in 1972 and became the group’s biggest pop hit here. The song stayed at number 2 for two weeks – displaced by Johnny Nash’s “I Can See Clearly Now”.
The sound of the Moody Blues evolved to include more classical elements and instruments The days of the future have passed began a string of hit albums for the Moody Blues that included ten consecutive gold or platinum records in the United States. Three of them went to number 1 in Great Britain: 1969 On the threshold of a dream – which reached the top spot twice within seven months of each other – and To our children’s children, 1970s A question of balance and 1971s Every good boy deserves favor. The following year Seventh stay was the band’s first US chart-topper, dominating the Billboard 200 for five weeks.
The Moody Blues then took a break from 1974 to 1977 and returned with the LP in 1978 Octave. Pinder left the group shortly after its release.
Born on December 27, 1941 in Birmingham, England, Pinder was among the first to incorporate the Mellotron into rock music. He also co-wrote several Moody Blues songs, including “(Thinking is) The Best Way To Travel”, “Om” and the suite “Have You Heard/The Voyage/Have You Heard (Part 2)”, the latter of which closed On the threshold of a dream. Pinder also provided the commentary for this album’s track “The Dream”.