Hugh Robert Banton (born April 1949, Yeovil, Somerset) is a British organist and organ builder, most widely known for his work with the group Van der Graaf Generator.
Banton was born into a musical family, where his father played the piano and his mother regularly sang along to music on the radio. He first started playing the piano at the age of four, and was later influenced by the music on Radio Luxembourg. In his teens, he liked both rock 'n' roll and classical music, and later studied piano and organ at Wakefield Cathedral, whilst attending Silcoates School in Yorkshire under Dr Percy G. Saunders. He then trained as a television engineer at the BBC before joining Van der Graaf Generator in May 1968 when the group (then consisting of just Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith) moved from Manchester to London. In performance with this group he played Farfisa and Hammond organs, adding a wide range of effects including phasing, tape echo, distortion and overdrive. He later modified a Hammond E112 organ to allow separate amplification, with different effects, of the output from the two keyboards and pedalboard, and added a remote reverb unit. He also played piano and bass guitar on recordings.
Hugh Robert Banton (born April 1949, Yeovil, Somerset) is a British organist and organ builder, most widely known for his work with the group Van der Graaf Generator.
Banton was born into a musical family, where his father played the piano and his mother regularly sang along to music on the radio. He first started playing the piano at the age of four, and was later influenced by the music on Radio Luxembourg. In his teens, he liked both rock 'n' roll and classical music, and later studied piano and organ at Wakefield Cathedral, whilst attending Silcoates School in Yorkshire under Dr Percy G. Saunders. He then trained as a television engineer at the BBC before joining Van der Graaf Generator in May 1968 when the group (then consisting of just Peter Hammill and Chris Judge Smith) moved from Manchester to London. In performance with this group he played Farfisa and Hammond organs, adding a wide range of effects including phasing, tape echo, distortion and overdrive. He later modified a Hammond E112 organ to allow separate amplification, with different effects, of the output from the two keyboards and pedalboard, and added a remote reverb unit. He also played piano and bass guitar on recordings.
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