About Mike Pinder
Michael Thomas Pinder (27 December 1941 – 24 April 2024) was an English rock musician. He was a founding member and the original keyboard player of the rock group the Moody Blues. He left the group following the recording of their ninth album, Octave, in 1978. Pinder was renowned for his technological contributions to rock music, most notably in the development and emergence of the Mellotron in 1960s rock music. In his first band, rock'n'roll combo El Riot and the Rebels, Pinder played support to the Beatles in 1963 in a show at Tenbury. He was a member of several bands in Birmingham in his teenage years, among them the Checkers, who won first prize of £50 in a talent competition.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.