Dreamtheater Indo Fans

Rudess was born in 1956 into a Jewish family. He was recognized by his 2nd grade teacher for his piano playing and was immediately given professional tuition. At nine, he entered the Juilliard School of Music Pre-College Division for classical piano training, but by his late teens he had grown increasingly interested in synthesizers and progressive rock music. Against the counsel of his parents and tutors, he turned away from classical piano and tried his hand as a solo prog rock keyboardist.[1]

After performing in various projects during the 1980s, he gained international attention in 1994 when he was voted "Best New Talent" in the Keyboard Magazine readers' poll after the release of his Listen solo album. Two of the bands who took notice of Rudess were The Dixie Dregs and Dream Theater, both of whom invited him to join. Rudess chose the Dregs, primarily as being a part time member of the band would have less of an impact on his young family, a choice he was not given with Dream Theater.[2]

Rudess is also noted for composing the Toys "R" Us theme tune, from their highly popular adverts during the 1990s.[citation needed]

During his time with the Dregs, Rudess formed a "power duo" with drummer Rod Morgenstein. The genesis of this pairing occurred when a power outage caused all of the Dregs' instruments to fail except Rudess', so he and Morgenstein improvised with each other until power was restored and the concert could continue. The chemistry between the two was so strong during this jam that they decided to perform together on a regular basis (under the name Rudess/Morgenstein Project or later RMP) and have since released a studio and a live record.

Rudess encountered Dream Theater once again when he and Morgenstein secured the support slot on one of Dream Theater's North American tours.

In 1997, when Mike Portnoy was asked to form a supergroup by Magna Carta Records, Rudess was chosen to fill the keyboardist spot in the band, which also consisted of Tony Levin and Portnoy's Dream Theater colleague John Petrucci. During the recording of Liquid Tension Experiment's two albums, it became evident to Portnoy and Petrucci that Rudess was what Dream Theater needed. They asked Rudess to join the band, and when he accepted they released their then-keyboardist Derek Sherinian to make way for him.

Rudess has been the full-time keyboardist in Dream Theater since the recording of 1999's Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. He has recorded 4 other studio albums: 2002's Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence, 2003's Train of Thought, 2005's Octavarium, and 2007's Systematic Chaos. In addition, he has appeared on the live albums Live Scenes From New York, Live at Budokan and Score.

Rudess says his influences as a keyboardist are Keith Emerson, Rick Wakeman and Patrick Moraz.[3]. His favourite bands include Gentle Giant, Yes, Genesis, Pink Floyd, Emerson Lake and Palmer, King Crimson, Jimi Hendrix, Autechre, and Aphex Twin.

Studio Equipment
Korg OASYS, Korg Triton Extreme, Haken Audio Continuum Fingerboard, Muse Research Receptor, Kurzweil K2600xs fully loaded 88 note weighted keyboard, Kurzweil K2600 Rack modules, Kurzweil K2000VP keyboard, Kurzweil PC2 rack, Roland Fantom-X8
Minimoog Voyager, Roland V-Synth XT, Roland VP-550, Roland SH-201, Synthesizers.com, Modular synthesizer, Dave Smith Instruments Evolver Keyboard, Lap steel guitar
Music Man John Petrucci 6 string guitars, PRS 6 string guitar, Moog Little Phatty

Virtual Instruments
MOTU MachFive, MOTU MX4 Soft Synth, Korg Legacy, Spectrasonics Atmosphere, Spectrasonics Trilogy, Spectrasonics Stylus, Native Instruments Komplete 2, Native Instruments Absynth, Native Instruments B4, Native Instruments Guitar Rig, Native Instruments FM7, Native Instruments Pro 53, Synthogy Ivory

Live Rig
Korg OASYS 88, Korg Triton Extreme 88 (Solo Project), Freehand Systems Music Pad Pro
Muse Receptor, Synthesizers.com Custom Modular Synth (currently retired), Haken Continuum Fingerboard, (2)Roland V-Synth XT, Lap steel guitar, Mackie 1604VLZ Pro Mixer, APS Power backup, Glyph and Iomega Hard drives, Roland VP-550
Zen Riffer ZR2, Korg Radias (Chaos in motion tour), Korg Kaoss Pad 3