Richard Barbieri, (pronounced bahr-bee-air-ee), (born 30 November 1957, in London, England) is an English synthesizer player, keyboardist and composer. Originally coming to prominence in the late '70s as a founder of new wave pioneers Japan (and their brief 1989 reincarnation as Rain Tree Crow), he is now best known as the keyboard player in the rock band Porcupine Tree, of which he has been a member since 1993.
Despite being known for work in ba...
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Richard Barbieri, (pronounced bahr-bee-air-ee), (born 30 November 1957, in London, England) is an English synthesizer player, keyboardist and composer. Originally coming to prominence in the late '70s as a founder of new wave pioneers Japan (and their brief 1989 reincarnation as Rain Tree Crow), he is now best known as the keyboard player in the rock band Porcupine Tree, of which he has been a member since 1993.
Despite being known for work in bands with prominent musicianship, Barbieri's key skill lies not in virtuoso instrumental performance, but in developing and processing synthetic electronic sound. This is either generated entirely by keyboard input or by processing a sound source from a musical collaborator. He has cited Karlheinz Stockhausen as a central influence, and his approach could also be compared to similar "non-virtuoso" art rock musicians such as Brian Eno.
During his time with Japan, Barbieri worked (with the assistance of lead singer/occasional keyboard player...
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