Artist description John Michael Gray's solo piano music is best described as relaxing and soothing. The perfect medication for stress relief!

Music Style Solo piano

Musical Influences New Age, Rock

Similar Artists George Winston, Yanni, Jim Brickman, John Tesh, Lorie Line, Liz Story, David Lanz

Artist History Composer/pianist John Michael Gray's passion for the piano began when he was only seven years old, when his parents inherited his grandparents old upright piano. After about a year of coming up with his own "orginal songs", his parents decided there was some talent there and signed John up for lessons. John says, "I never really cared for lessons because I could play by ear and my teachers, (3 in only 3 years), always wanted me to play the music note for note. I enjoyed seeing the music and seeing how other arrangers transcribed songs, but I always wanted to kind of add in my own things."After 3 years of piano lessons, he wanted to quit so his parents made a deal with him to switch to organ lessons until he was good enough to play in church and then he could quit lessons. After 3 more years, this time of organ lessons, John Michael began his first "paying" gig as a professional musician. "I remember being so scared of that first morning in church" says John. "I made alot of mistakes, but that's the nice thing about being 13 years old, people are much more forgiving." John says he never really felt comfortable "leading" the congregation because he was always adding to the arrangements that people were so used to singing to, and sometimes they would get lost. John adds, "Everytime I played it was a challenge to see what kind of a new arrangement of the songs I could come up with, without losing the congregation."By the time John Michael Gray was 15, the "Rock Music" bug had bitten him and he formed his first band with some friends. John remembers, "We were all in jazz band in school and so it was just natural for us to get together and try to play our favorite songs we were hearing on the radio, plus trying to write our own songs. Our first paying gig was at our church homecoming. I think the whole band made fifty dollars".John's journey through rock continued through the next several years playing keyboards in many different bands. "I loved playing in bands, but no matter how many different synthesizers or keyboards I had with me on stage, I always looked forward to the songs when I had a piano part. One night at a party, there happened to be a piano there and someone asked me to play and I realized that I had been spending so much time learning and playing the keyboard parts for songs in the bands, that I couldn't even play a song solo on the piano. That's when I decided to start spending more time with the piano."Soon after that, at a performance, a young fan came up to John Michael and asked if he would teach him to play. John adds, "I had never thought about teaching and I couldn't read music very well, but I decided to give it a shot." It didn't take long for word to travel and before long John was teaching over 70 private piano students every week. "That was alot of piano" says John, "but that's when I really taught myself how to read, arrange and transcribe music and also when I began writing my own solo piano music."By 1995, John Michael Gray was no longer playing in bands and was satisfying his performance cravings by playing the piano in hotel lobbies, playing for wedding receptions, brunches and parties. When his audiences began requesting recordings of his original solo piano music, John decided to start working on an album. According to John, "My favorite time to write music at that time was late at night when I knew all the phones were done ringing. I would pour myself a glass of wine, light a single candle and place it on my baby grand, and just go with the emotion, which was always very mellow. I knew I wanted the theme for the album to be romantic, because that's the kind of music I was really enjoying playing at receptions and parties. When I began thinking about the artwork for the album, I thought a photo of a man and women embracing would be perfect. Just for kicks I looked through my parents photo albums and discovered a photo of them on their wedding day in a very passionate moment. I decided that photo would be the cover of the album and I would call the album "Pure Passion". Then I simply wrote songs about that theme."The popularity of John Michael Gray's music began to take hold after "Pure Passion" was released as fans began using his albums as background music for dinner parties, quiet evening sunsets and even hospital delivery rooms. "The comment I hear most often is that my music is relaxing and can really get rid of the stress of a long day." adds John.John Michael Gray has continued his personal journey with the solo piano by releasing 4 more albums including: "Time Stands Still", "Johnny's 4th Christmas", "Smooth Water" and his latest, "Inspire".

Group Members John Michael Gray

Instruments Grand Piano

Albums Inspire, Smooth Water, Johnny's 4th Christmas, Time Stands Still, Pure Passion

Additional Info "Inspire" Piano Sheet Music, "Smooth Water" Piano Songbook, "Johnny's 4th Christmas" Piano Sheet Music, "Time Stands Still" Piano Sheet Music, "Pure Passion" Piano Sheet Music

Location Ashkum, IL - USA

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