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Roger O'Donnell

Biography

Roger O'Donnell (born 29 October 1955) is an English keyboardist best known for his work with The Cure. O'Donnell has also performed in The Psychedelic Furs, Thompson Twins, and Berlin, as well as having an active solo career.

O'Donnell was born in East London into a musical family, next to the piano in his parents' London home. O'Donnell attended art school but left to pursue a career as a professional musician, with his first paying gig coming in 1976, at Oxford Town Hall backing legendary British pop icon Arthur Brown.

O'Donnell joined the Thompson Twins as a live keyboardist in July 1983, playing alongside future Cure bandmate and drummer Boris Williams. Both completed the Side Kicks Tour in 1983 and also played with the band on the Into the Gap/Out of the Gap tours in 1984. In the early 1980s, while with the Thompson Twins, Berlin, and the Psychedelic Furs, O'Donnell was a big fan of synthesisers produced by Sequential Circuits, which produced such classics as the Prophet 5, Prophet T8, and Prophet VS. While on tour with the Psychedelic Furs, O'Donnell set the record for having the most Sequential models onstage at one time.

O'Donnell first joined The Cure in 1987, after being longtime friends with drummer Boris Williams. He played with The Cure during their Kiss Me Kiss Me Kiss Me tour, though he did not contribute to the album. (He does however appear in the music videos for "Just Like Heaven" and "Hot Hot Hot!!!" and appeared in tour promo art.) With O'Donnell on keyboards, Porl Thompson was able to focus on guitar full-time, instead of assisting Tolhurst on keyboards for many of the songs. Some of O'Donnell's performances from this tour can be heard on the deluxe edition of Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me.

For the next album Disintegration, O'Donnell became a fully integrated member of the band, and his songwriting contributions can be heard on the songs "Out of Mind" and "Fear of Ghosts," which are the B-Sides to the hit singles "Lullaby" and "Lovesong", respectively. He is also featured on the live album from this period, Entreat. Following The Cure's Prayer Tour in 1989, O'Donnell left the band in 1990.

During the period of the Cure's greatest success, O'Donnell was the band's only member to play piano and keyboards as his primary instrument. Previous keyboardist Lol Tolhurst also played drums for a time and subsequent keyboardist Perry Bamonte later switched to guitar. O'Donnell rejoined The Cure in late 1994 and appeared on the albums Wild Mood Swings, Bloodflowers, and The Cure. He also appears on the live DVD The Cure: Trilogy. During this period it is notable that O'Donnell introduced the band to digital recording.