Freddie Ravel is an American

keyboardist A keyboardist or keyboard player is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instr ...

keynote A keynote in public speaking is a talk that establishes a main underlying theme. In corporate or commercial settings, greater importance is attached to the delivery of a keynote speech or keynote address. The keynote establishes the framework fo ...

speaker,

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

and

recording artist A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wri ...

. Ravel served as the

musical director A music(al) director or director of music is the person responsible for the musical aspects of a performance, production, or organization. This would include the artistic director and usually chief conductor of an orchestra or concert band, the ...

as well as composer, producer and concert touring keyboardist of the band

Earth, Wind & Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million re ...

. He's also worked with a broad range of music icons spanning the genres of Latin, R&B, Pop, Hip Hop, Country, Jazz and World Music. These include:

Sergio Mendes Sergio may refer to: * Sergio (given name), for people with the given name Sergio * Sergio (carbonado), the largest rough diamond ever found * ''Sergio'' (album), a 1994 album by Sergio Blass * ''Sergio'' (2009 film), a documentary film * ''Se ...

Carlos Santana Carlos Humberto Santana Barragán (; born July 20, 1947) is an American guitarist who rose to fame in the late 1960s and early 1970s with his band Santana, which pioneered a fusion of Rock and roll and Latin American jazz. Its sound featured ...

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and fashion designer. Born in Atlanta and raised in Chicago, West gained recognition as a producer for Roc-A-Fella Records in the ea ...

Madonna Madonna Louise Ciccone (; ; born August 16, 1958) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Widely dubbed the " Queen of Pop", Madonna has been noted for her continual reinvention and versatility in music production, songwriting, a ...

George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the 1960s, pla ...

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop musi ...

Sheryl Crow Sheryl Suzanne Crow (born February 11, 1962) is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actress. Her music incorporates elements of rock, pop, country, folk, and blues. She has released eleven studio albums, five compilations and three li ...

Bobby McFerrin Robert Keith McFerrin Jr. (born March 11, 1950) is an American folk and jazz singer. He is known for his vocal techniques, such as singing fluidly but with quick and considerable jumps in pitch—for example, sustaining a melody while also rap ...

Al Jarreau Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and musician. His 1981 album '' Breakin' Away'' spent two years on the ''Billboard'' 200 and is considered one of the finest examples of the Los Angeles pop and R ...

, Khaled, and

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

and the teams behind Dr. Martin Luther King Jr,

Deepak Chopra Deepak Chopra (; ; born October 22, 1946) is an Indian-American author and alternative medicine advocate. A prominent figure in the New Age movement, his books and videos have made him one of the best-known and wealthiest figures in alternati ...

J Lo Jennifer Lynn Affleck (' Lopez; born July 24, 1969), also known as J.Lo, is an American singer, actress and dancer. In 1991, she began appearing as a Fly Girl dancer on the sketch comedy television series ''In Living Color'', where she rema ...

and

Lady Gaga Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta ( ; born March 28, 1986), known professionally as Lady Gaga, is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She is known for her image reinventions and musical versatility. Gaga began performing as a teenag ...

Biography

Ravel was born and bred in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

to a Ukrainian-German-Polish father and a Colombian mother. He started playing the

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

at the age of 7 then moved on to play the drums, guitar and eventually the piano. He later received his Bachelor's Degree in Music graduating with cum laude honors from

California State University The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public univers ...

. Ravel began performing around the world at age 23 with Brazilian icon Sergio Mendes where he was later signed by Universal Records. This led to a series of three sensual and fiery albums: ''Midnight Passion'', ''Sol to Soul'' and ''Freddie Ravel'' which charted #1 in the USA and have garnered critical acclaim with the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

'' describing his music as "a masterful blend of jazz textures, rock energy and tropical rhythms and guitar legend Carlos Santana describing it as "pura corazon". During 1988 Ravel became the musical director for Indian violinist

L. Subramaniam Lakshminarayana Subramaniam (born 23 July 1947) is an Indian violinist, composer and conductor, trained in the classical Carnatic music tradition and Western classical music. Early years Subramaniam was born in Madras, Madras Presidency, Br ...

. Within the following year he became a member of

's band. Ravel went on to join

in 1992 as the band's musical director. He thus played on their 1993 album ''

Millennium A millennium (plural millennia or millenniums) is a period of one thousand years, sometimes called a kiloannum (ka), or kiloyear (ky). Normally, the word is used specifically for periods of a thousand years that begin at the starting point (ini ...

''. He also featured on

Flora Purim Flora Purim (born March 6, 1942) is a Brazilian jazz singer known primarily for her work in the jazz fusion style. She became prominent for her part in Return to Forever with Chick Corea and Stanley Clarke. She has recorded and performed with nu ...

's 1994 album ''Speed of Light''. After four years with EWF he went on perform with

on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

of the 1996 feature film ''

Evita Evita may refer to: Arts * Evita (1996 film), ''Evita'' (1996 film), a 1996 American musical drama film based on the 1976 concept album of the same name * Evita (2008 film), ''Evita'' (2008 film), a documentary about Eva Péron * Evita (album), ''E ...

''. He also played on Peter White's 1997 LP ''

Songs of the Season ''Songs of the Season'' is the eighteenth studio album and the second Christmas album by American country music artist Randy Travis. It was released by Word Records on September 25, 2007. The album peaked at number 26 on the ''Billboard (magazine) ...

''. During 1998 Ravel became the musical director of Jazz musician

. He went on to produce Jarreau on his 2000 album ''

Tomorrow Today ''Tomorrow Today'' is a studio album by Al Jarreau issued in 2000 by GRP Records. The album rose to No. 2 on the Billboard Jazz Albums chart. Overview Artists such as Boney James and Vanessa Williams are featured. Jarreau covered The Crusade ...

''. The album rose to No. 2 on the

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

Jazz Albums The ''Billboard'' charts tabulate the relative weekly popularity of songs and albums in the United States and elsewhere. The results are published in ''Billboard'' magazine. ''Billboard'' biz, the online extension of the ''Billboard'' charts, pr ...

chart. Ravel later performed and co-wrote on Jarreau's 2002 album '' All I Got''. He then played on

Euge Groove Steven Eugene Grove (born November 27, 1962), better known as Euge Groove, is an American smooth jazz saxophonist. Early life and career Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, he graduated from the University of Miami School of Music in 1984. Grove did n ...

's 2002 LP ''

Play Date Play date or playdate is an expression, primarily used in the United States, for an arranged appointment for children to meet and play. It should not be confused with dating as there is no implied romantic component. Play dates have become co ...

'' and

Earth, Wind and Fire Earth, Wind & Fire (EW&F or EWF) is an American band whose music spans the genres of jazz, R&B, soul, funk, disco, pop, big band, Latin, and Afro pop. They are among the best-selling bands of all time, with sales of over 90 million ...

's 2003 album '' The Promise''. Ravel also composed on Jarreau's 2004 album, '' Accentuate The Positive'', and performed and co-wrote the song "''

Givin' It Up ''Givin' It Up'' is a collaborative album by American musicians George Benson and Al Jarreau, released on October 24, 2006, by Concord Records. It contains songs previously recorded by both artists (Benson's "Breezin" and Jarreau's "Mornin") and ...

''" on the double Grammy Award-winning 2006 album by

and

titled by the same name as the song, ''

''. Ravel’s speaking and music careers would merge in 1997 to create the first ever music-applied-to-behavior system called "Life in Tune". As a featured author alongside

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou ( ; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, popular poet, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and ...

Muhammad Ali Muhammad Ali (; born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr.; January 17, 1942 – June 3, 2016) was an American professional boxer and activist. Nicknamed "The Greatest", he is regarded as one of the most significant sports figures of the 20th century, a ...

Robert Kennedy Jr. Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. (born January 17, 1954) is an American environmental lawyer and author known for promoting Vaccine hesitancy, anti-vaccine propaganda and conspiracy theory, conspiracy theories. Kennedy is a son of U.S. senator Robert ...

and

, upon invitation directly from

Yolanda King Yolanda Denise King (November 17, 1955 – May 15, 2007) was an African-American activist, actress and first-born child of civil rights leaders Martin Luther King Jr. and Coretta Scott King. She was also known for her artistic and entertainment e ...

, the eldest daughter of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, Ravel wrote "The Artist in Us All" for the

McGraw-Hill McGraw Hill is an American educational publishing company and one of the "big three" educational publishers that publishes educational content, software, and services for pre-K through postgraduate education. The company also publishes referenc ...

publication, ''Open My Eyes, Open My Soul''. On November 17, 2012, Ravel was officially knighted by the

Knights of St. John The Order of Knights of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem ( la, Ordo Fratrum Hospitalis Sancti Ioannis Hierosolymitani), commonly known as the Knights Hospitaller (), was a medieval and early modern Catholic military order. It was headq ...

, champions of hospitals and health care for the past 1000+ years. Ravel would later be dubbed the "Keynote Maestro" by the City of Los Angeles for "renewing the national and international economy" through his Life In Tune system, his clients include IBM,

NASA The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research. NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...

Google Google LLC () is an American multinational technology company focusing on search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, artificial intelligence, and consumer electronics. ...

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

, Blue Cross, EY and Prudential calling his “ideal balance of Entertainment and Content” essential to transforming dissonance to harmony.

Discography

*Freddie Ravel Solo Artist albums: ** ''Midnight Passion]'' (1991) ** ''Sol to Soul'' (1995) ** ''Sol to Soul'' ( DTS (company), DTS 5.1 Surround) (1997) ** ''Freddie Ravel'' (2000) ** ''If Music Could Speak'' (2014) *

: '' Guitar Heaven': The Greatest Guitar Classics of All Time'' (2010) *

: ''

'' (1993) *

: '' The Promise'' (2003) *

and

: ''

'' (2006) *

: ''Evita: Music from the Motion Picture'' (1996) *

: ''

'' (2000) *

: ''The Very Best of: An Excellent Adventure'' (2009) *

: '' All I Got'' (2002) *

Allan Holdsworth Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist and composer. Holdsworth was known for his esoteric and idiosyncratic usage of advanced music theory concepts, especially with respe ...

Frank Gambale Frank Gambale (; born 22 December 1958) is an Australian jazz fusion guitarist. He has released twenty albums over a period of three decades, and is known for his use of the sweep picking and economy picking techniques. Recording career Solo ...

: ''

Truth in Shredding Mark Varney Project (MVP) was a short-lived collaborative project put together by Mark Varney, brother of Shrapnel Records founder Mike Varney. ''Truth in Shredding'' ''Truth in Shredding'' is the first studio album by the Mark Varney Project (MVP ...

'' (1990) * Andrew Lloyd Weber /

You Must Love Me "You Must Love Me" is a song recorded by American singer and songwriter Madonna. It was written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, for the 1996 film adaptation of the musical, ''Evita'', based on the life of Argentinian leader Eva Perón. The ...

(1996) *

Dori Caymmi Dorival "Dori" Tostes Caymmi (born 26 August 1943) is a Brazilian singer, songwriter, guitarist, arranger, and producer. Biography Caymmi was born in Rio de Janeiro to parents who were musicians, his father Dorival Caymmi a composer and his mot ...

: ''Brazilian Serenata

Quincy Jones Quincy Delight Jones Jr. (born March 14, 1933) is an American record producer, musician, songwriter, composer, arranger, and film and television producer. His career spans 70 years in the entertainment industry with a record of 80 Grammy Award n ...

Qwest Records Qwest Records is the American record label started by Quincy Jones in 1980 as a joint venture with Warner Bros. Records, and owned by Warner Music Group, although Jones was still under contract with A&M Records through 1981. George Benson's 1980 ...

'' (1991) *

: ''Speed of Light'' *

: ''Thunder from Down Under'' (2001) *

Justo Almario Justo Pastor Almario Gómez (born 18 February 1949) is a Colombian-born, Los Angeles-based flutist, saxophonist and Latin jazz group leader. "Justo Almario: saxophonist, originally from Colombia, who has performed with Freddy Hubbard, Poncho Sanche ...

: ''Family Time (1989)'' *Ladd McIntosh: ''Ladd McIntosh Big Band - Energy'' (1982) *

Osamu Kitajima Osamu Kitajima (喜多嶋修), also known by the pseudonym Justin Heathcliff, is a Japanese musician, producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist. History After studying the classical guitar and the piano as a child, in the 1960s Kitajima wa ...

: ''Sweet Chaos'' (1990) *

: ''Behind The Light'' (1991) * Peter White: ''Songs of the Season'' (1997) *Ricardo Silviera: ''Amazon Secrets'' (1990) *Richard Smith]: ''Soulidified'' ''(2003)'' *

Robert Mitchum Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...

: ''Nice Girls Don't Stay for Breakfast'' (2018 documentary)

Film & TV

* ''Kill Fee (aka Ulterior Motives)'' * ''Against the Ropes - "All I've Got"'' * '' Mississippi Masla''https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0102456/ * ''Help!'' * ''Never Think About Music The Same Again: Freddie Ravel and Life In Tune'' * ''The Action Catalyst: "Rhythm of Success with Freddie Ravel (Music, Piano, Business, Leadership)"'' * ''The Power of Being There'' ''(Hour of Power with Bobby Schuller)''

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ravel, Fred Living people American keyboardists Musicians from Los Angeles Earth, Wind & Fire members Year of birth missing (living people) Smooth jazz pianists American producers American male songwriters American male composers American motivational speakers