Peter Nero

Member Number: 100

Date Put Through: 28 April 1966 

Peter Nero is the music industry's consummate example of staying power, receiving his first Grammy® Award more than 40 years ago. The 2003-2004 season will include concerts with symphonies across the nation including Indianapolis, Detroit and Memphis.

One of Nero's greatest achievements is the founding of the world renowned Philly Pops, one of the largest independent pops orchestras in the country. The Pops, which will celebrate their 25th anniversary in the fall, recently marked their first season as a resident company at the new Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts.

A two-time Grammy Award-winning pianist, Peter Nero leads this unrivaled Pops orchestra that blends classical, swing, Broadway, blues and jazz — all performed with vibrant virtuosity and an inviting sense of humor. Recent highlights for the Pops include a one-night-only gala concert in April 2002 featuring Peter's original composition, Voyage Into Space©. A dramatic work written for astronaut/narrator and symphony orchestra, Voyage Into Space was performed at the Kimmel Center starring Senator and Astronaut John Glenn as Narrator. This unique, multi-media concert also featured music from sci-fi films, video screens and special effects. Nero was honored that excerpts were used as "wake-up" music for Mr. Glenn during his recent mission in space and that he was the Senator's guest at the lift-off at Kennedy Space Center. In 2001, Peter Nero and the Philly Pops' released its first full-length recording, Holiday POPS!, which The Philadelphia Inquirer called "a classic of its kind."

Nero has performed throughout the world in some of the most prestigious concert halls including Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall, Royal Albert Hall in London and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. Peter's recent guest performances include return engagements with the National Symphony Orchestra at Kennedy Center, the New Mexico and Arkansas Symphonies, the Buffalo and Dayton Philharmonics, the Florida Orchestra, and the Pacific, St. Louis and Virginia Symphony Orchestras. He also performed at the Grand Teton Music Festival in Jackson, Wyoming, and at the brand new Todi Music Festival in Portsmouth, Virginia. In October of 2000, he returned to New York's Carnegie Hall, participating in a benefit at the Plaza Hotel for the Friar's Club honoring Harry Belafonte.

The Brooklyn-born musician started his formal music training at the age of 7. By the time he was 14, he was accepted to New York City's prestigious High School of Music and Art and won a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music. Constance Keene wrote in a recent issue of Keyboard Classics, "Vladimir Horowitz was Peter's greatest fan!"

He recorded his first album in 1961 and won a Grammy that year for "Best New Artist." Since then, he has received another Grammy Award, garnered 10 additional nominations, and recorded 67 albums. Peter's early association with RCA Records produced 23 albums in eight years. His subsequent move to Columbia Records resulted in a million-selling single and album, Summer of '42 now available on CD. His piano prowess led Cashbox Magazine to name Peter the world's "Number One Instrumentalist."

His first major national TV success came at age 18 when he was chosen to perform Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue on Paul Whiteman's TV Special. He subsequently appeared on many top variety and talk shows including 11 guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and numerous appearances on Johnny Carson's Tonight Show.

Hailed as one of the premier interpreter of Gershwin, Peter starred in the Emmy Award-winning NBC Special S'Wonderful, S'Marvelous, S'Gershwin. Other TV credits include performances on PBS-TV Piano Pizzazz, the National Symphony in Washington, D.C. on its July 4th Special entitled A Capitol Fourth, and the PBS-TV special The Songs of Johnny Mercer: Too Marvelous for Words with co-stars Johnny Mathis and Melissa Manchester.

Nero's recordings over the last 13 years include three CDs with full symphony orchestra: On My Own, Classic Connections and My Way. He recorded Peter Nero and Friends, which contains collaborations with Mel Torme, Maureen McGovern and Doc Severinsen, among others. His latest CDs are romantic albums entitled Love Songs For a Rainy Day and More in Love. By popular demand, four of his earlier recordings have been re-issued by BMG Music.

Among a long list of honors are four Honorary Doctorates and the International Society of Performing Arts Presenters Award for "Excellence in the Arts." He is also included on two historic walks of fame — one in Philadelphia, and one in Miami, FL. In 1999, he received the prestigious Distinguished Arts Award presented by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Ridge. Previous honorees were Bill Cosby, Jimmy Stewart, Marian Anderson, James Michener, Andrew Wyeth and Riccardo Muti.

Nero continues his commitment to many important causes, including funding of school music programs, fundraising for the building of new arts centers across the country, cancer research, dystonia and autism.

Nero has been a devotee and advocate of consumer electronics and his expertise has led him to be dubbed a "technocrat" by leaders of the industry. If it's plugged in or battery operated, then Peter has it. While computers and other electronics have made him "the Gadget King," he still makes music on the traditional Steinway concert grand piano and has been an official Steinway artist for more than 40 years.

When not touring around the world, Nero makes his home on the East Coast of the United States. He has two children — Beverly, a successful actress residing with her husband in California and Jedd, a commercial real estate entrepreneur residing with his wife near New York City. Both children have made him a grandfather.