JOHN TESH Biography - Musicians

 
 

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JOHN TESH

Name: John Tesh                                                                       
Born: 9 July 1952 Garden City, New York, USA                                           
                                                                                       
John Frank Tesh (born July 9, 1952) is an American pianist and composer of new         
age and contemporary Christian music. He is also a nationally syndicated radio         
host, and has previously served as a sportscaster, news anchor and reporter.           
Besides the piano, he also plays the keyboard, guitar, saxophone and sings. He         
is also known by many as the long time host of the television program                 
Entertainment Tonight.                                                                 
                                                                                       
He was born in Garden City, New York on Long Island, and graduated from Garden         
City High School in 1970. Playing piano and trumpet from the age of 6, he             
studied with teachers from The Juilliard School and was named to the New York         
State Symphonic Orchestra in high school, while also playing the organ in a rock       
band. Tesh studied communications and music at North Carolina State                   
University graduating in 1975. While at NC State, he was initiated into Lambda         
Chi Alpha fraternity. While in the area, Tesh worked as a news anchor at WTVD in       
Durham, North Carolina. After graduation, Tesh went to Orlando, Florida to take       
a television position at WFTV.                                                         
                                                                                       
His television career included a stint as a news anchor and reporter at WSM-TV         
in Nashville, Tennessee in the 1970s, where he often covered the same stories as       
Oprah Winfrey who worked at a competing Nashville station. He shuffled from           
Nashville to Raleigh to Orlando and finally to New York's WCBS where, at age 23,       
he was their youngest reporter. He later hosted the television show                   
Entertainment Tonight from 1986 to 1996.                                               
                                                                                       
Tesh also served as a sportscaster for events such as the Tour de France bicycle       
race from 1983 through 1986 (Tesh has the distinction of being the anchor for         
the first American broadcast of this event), and gymnastics at the 1992 and 1996       
Summer Olympics. He also wrote and composed "Roundball Rock", the theme song for       
the NBA on NBC during the 1990s.                                                       
                                                                                       
Tesh also co-hosted the show John & Leeza with Leeza Gibbons in the 1990s.             
                                                                                       
Tesh is also a devoted Star Trek fan. He appeared in "The Icarus Factor", an           
episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, playing a Klingon warrior.                 
                                                                                       
In 1987, Yanni was putting together his first touring band to promote his album       
Out of Silence, as well as selections from Keys to Imagination. Being good             
friends, Tesh asked Yanni if he could join the band as keyboardist along with         
Joyce Imbesi and drummer Charlie Adams, as he'd never been onstage for a live         
performance and needed the experience. Despite already having a full time job         
with Entertainment Tonight, and the long hours of rehearsal for the band, he did       
very well, although he did only one tour with Yanni, about 12 shows including         
the "1988 Concert Series", before being replaced by Bradley Joseph. Later, Yanni       
helped Tesh get his first recording contract with Private Music.                       
                                                                                       
After Tesh left his 10-year job as co-host for Entertainment Tonight in 1996, he       
turned his career as a New Age keyboardist. This led to him starting The John         
Tesh Radio Show in 2003.                                                               
                                                                                       
In May 2007, Tesh put out "A Passionate Life," a CD that contains songs that he       
has been writing for over the past 20 years.                                           
                                                                                       
In 2008, he will put out a piano gospel dance DVD. It combines Tesh's music, big       
gospel choirs and hip-hop dance.