Keith Emerson

Birth Name:

Keith Noel Emerson

Birth Date:

November 2, 1944

Birth Place:

Todmorden, West Riding of Yorkshire, England

Death Date:

March 11, 2016

Place of Death:

420 Marine Street, Unit 4, Santa Monica, California

Age:

Cause of Death:

Self-Inflicted gunshot wound to the head

Cemetery Name:

Lancing and Sompting Cemetery

Claim to Fame:

Music

Keith Emerson was an English keyboardist, songwriter, and record producer who was perhaps best known as one-third of Emerson, Lake and Palmer. He played keyboards in a number of bands before finding his first commercial success with the Nice in the late 1960s. After leaving the Nice in 1970, he was a founding member of Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP), one of the early progressive rock supergroups. Emerson, Lake & Palmer were commercially successful through much of the 1970s, becoming one of the best-known progressive rock groups of the era. He proved, without a shadow of doubt, that through his work with the Nice and Emerson, Lake & Palmer, who were both able to demonstrate that pop, classical music and jazz could not only co-exist but feed fruitfully off each other. Emerson reached a summit of success with ELP in the early 70s, when the group achieved a string of hit albums including Tarkus and Brain Salad Surgery, exploiting cutting-edge musical technology alongside outrageous showmanship. Emerson was a pioneer in the use of the Moog synthesiser and was the first musician to take the instrument on tour. Emerson remained active with ELP reunions and his own solo material. Suffering from depression, health and marital problems he took his own life at his home in Santa Monica, California.

Fun Facts

Lemmy Kilmister, legendary singer, songwriter and founder of Motörhead, was a roadie for The Nice in the early days and was good friends with Keith Emerson.

Later that same year Greg Lake passed away after a long battle with cancer. This leaves drummer Carl Palmer the last remaining member.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Lancing and Sompting Cemetery

Upper Boundstone Lane

Lancing, West Sussex, BN15 0PB

England

Europe

Grave Location:

Emerson Family Plot

Grave Location Description

As you park in the semi-circle at the entry gates on Upper Boundstone Lane, walk straight back to the very end of the cemetery and Keith Emerson is resting comfortably with his parents on the left, one row from the edge of the cemetery.