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Neal Morse

Neal Morse grew up in the San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. His father was a choral director. Neal started to play the piano at the age of 5 and started to learn to play the guitar soon after that. During his twenties he wrote 2 musicals, did some session jobs and tried to get a deal as a singer/songwriter in LA.

After about 10 years Neal grew tired of the LA music scene and travelled trough Europe for several years, busking and playing in small clubs. On his return to the US he founded the band Spock's Beard together with his brother Alan. Spock's Beard became one of the most succesful progressive rock bands of the last decade.

Besides his work with Spock's Beard, Neal released several solo albums which mostly contain semi-acoustic, more straight-forward rock music. In 2000, Neal joined Dream Theater's Mike Portnoy to form the supergroup TransAtlantic, with which he released another 2 studio albums.

In 2002 (just after the release of Spock's Beard's Snow) Neal quit both bands because he felt that God had other plans with his life. The period leading to this decision is described on the album Testimony (2003), which features Kerry Livgren of Kansas, and once again Mike Portnoy. Neal also took part in Mike Portnoy's Yellow Matter Custard, a one-gig-only Beatles cover band.

Discography (solo)

  1. Neal Morse (1999)
  2. Merry Christmas From The Morse Family (2000)
  3. It's not too late (2001)
  4. Testimony (2003)

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