Wendy Carlos is an innovative genius who even shocked her own record label when her debut album, the synthesized retooling of classic J.S. Bach pieces, Switched-On Bach flew off the shelves and became one of the best selling classical albums in history.
In fact, on November 21, 1986, the RIAA certified the album on Columbia Records platinum after it had sold it’s millionth copy.
Wendy was born Walter Carlos in Rhode Island and was an innovator from childhood. When her parents couldn’t afford a piano, her father drew the keys on paper and she practiced in silence. In 1953, at 14 she was interested in computers, so she built one for the Westinghouse Science Talent Search and that earned her a scholarship.
When her paths crossed with the inventor of the synthesizer Robert Moog at an audio conference in 1964, music changed more than when Lennon first met McCartney or when Robert Johnson sold his soul at the crossroads.
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