Robert A. Moog, the inventor of the Moog synthesizer, has died at the age of 71. Moog's synthesizer revolutionized pop music.
Moog died Sunday at his home in Asheville, North Carolina. He had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor this past April.
After an interest in the theremin early in his life, Moog created the synthesizer. The invention tied his name to his instrument as closely as Les Paul's was to electric guitars.
Despite influencing jet-setting rock and roll types, Moog saw himself as a technical guy.
'I'm an engineer. I see myself as a toolmaker and the musicians are my customers,' he said in 2000. 'They use the tools.'
Moog first unveiled his invention in 1964, the same year he was attending Cornell University to study engineering physics. Moog's synthesizer was not the first, but his was small, versatile and portable. It allowed musicians to imitate a variety of sounds with one instrument just by flipping a button.
The Beatles popularized the Moog on their 1969 album 'Abbey Road' and Paul McCartney used it again to great affect in 'Band on the Run' four years later. The Moog was also used in the eerie soundtrack to the film 'A Clockwork Orange' in 1971.
'Suddenly, there was a whole group of people in the world looking for a new sound in music, and it picked up very quickly,' said Herb Deutsch, the Hofstra University emeritus music professor who helped develop the Moog prototype.
'The sound defined progressive music as we know it,' Keith Emerson, keyboardist for the rock band Emerson, Lake and Palmer told the Associated Press.
In addition to rock, the Moog was also a key in elements of funk, techno and hip-hop.
Moog is survived by his wife, Ileana; two daughters, a son, a stepdaughter, and his former wife, Shireleigh Moog.
A public memorial is scheduled for Wednesday in Asheville.
