Larry Dunn

Larry Dunn (born Lorenzo Russell Dunn; June 19, 1953) is an American keyboardist, producer, songwriter and musical director, known as one of the original members of the music group Earth, Wind & Fire. Dunn was inducted, as a former band member, into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Colorado Music Hall of Fame. Dunn has received the ASCAP Rhythm & Soul Heritage Award, 7 Grammy Awards, 4 American Music Awards and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Dunn is a co-composer of EWF's "Shining Star", a song that's been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

As a record producer, Dunn is best known for his work with Lenny White, Caldera, Ramsey Lewis, Level 42, Twennynine, Ronnie Laws, Raphael Saadiq, The Emotions, Dee Dee Bridgewater and Brian Culbertson.

Born as Lorenzo Dunn to an Italian mother and African American father, he early on became fond of music and later attended East High School in Denver, Colorado.

By the age of 13, he was performing in local bands, and at 15, he began playing regularly at a nightclub owned by Denver Rockets basketball player Wayne Hightower. Despite being underage, Dunn and his bandmates, including future collaborators such as Philip Bailey, were allowed to perform seven nights a week, covering music by James Brown, Dionne Warwick, Santana, and The Temptations among others.

At 16, Dunn co-founded a band called Friends & Lovers, which included Bailey, Andrew Woolfolk, and others. The group opened for an early lineup of Earth, Wind & Fire. After Earth, Wind & Fire's original members left, Bailey contacted Maurice White to recommend Dunn, following a performance where Dunn played an extended Hammond B3 organ solo during a show at Manual High School in Denver. This ultimately led to Dunn joining Earth, Wind & Fire, becoming one of its original members in the classic lineup.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.