Trevor Rabin

Trevor Charles Rabin (/ˈreɪbɪn/ RAY-bin; born (1954-01-13)13 January 1954) is a South African musician, songwriter and composer, known as a guitarist and singer in the pop rock band Rabbitt from 1972 to 1978, and the English progressive rock band Yes from 1983 to 1995, as well as for releasing solo albums and composing numerous film scores including Con Air, Armageddon, Remember the Titans and National Treasure. Rabin is also a multi-instrumentalist who plays piano, assorted keyboards, bass guitar, banjo and other instruments as well as being a seasoned producer, programmer and orchestral arranger, performing most of the instrumental parts on his own releases and recordings.

Born into a musical family and raised in Johannesburg, Rabin took up the piano and guitar at an early age and became a session musician, playing and producing with a variety of artists. In 1972, he formed and fronted Rabbitt, which became one of the most popular and influential bands in South Africa. In 1978, Rabin left Rabbitt and moved to London to further his career, working both as a solo artist and as a producer for various other artists including Manfred Mann's Earth Band. From 1977 to 1981, he released the solo albums Beginnings (1977), Face to Face (1979) and Wolf (1981).

After moving to Los Angeles in 1981, Rabin gained prominence in the reformed Yes with the album 90125 (1983). Developed mostly from his own demos, it remains their best-selling album, helped by the US number one single "Owner of a Lonely Heart"; it was followed by 1987's Big Generator. In 1989, during a lull in Yes activity, Rabin released his fourth solo album Can't Look Away. He was part of the expanded Yes band for its multi-line-up Union album of 1991 and played on the accompanying eight-man tour, until the band reverted to the 90125 line-up for 1994's Talk, which Rabin produced and predominantly wrote and performed.

Rabin left Yes in 1995 after the Talk tour and changed career to become a prolific film composer. He has since scored over forty feature films, most notably his frequent collaborations with producer Jerry Bruckheimer. He has won numerous awards, including eleven BMI Awards. Rabin is also behind the theme song for the NBA on TNT and MLB on TBS. He released another solo album, the almost all-instrumental Jacaranda, in 2012, and reunited with a version of Yes to tour as Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman during 2016. In 2017, Rabin was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Yes. His sixth and latest solo album Rio was released in 2023.

Rabin was born on 13 January 1954 in Johannesburg, South Africa, into a family of musicians. His mother, Joy, was a painter, ballet dancer, actress, and classical pianist, and his father, Godfrey, was a lawyer, musician, conductor, and the lead violinist in the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra. The two met during their service in the South African army entertainment division. His paternal great-grandfather was a Lithuanian Jew who was a cantor, and his grandfather, Gershon Rabinowitz, was a kosher butcher who arrived in South Africa in the late nineteenth century. His uncle Morrie Rabin was a piano teacher. Rabin's brother Derek is three years his elder. Rabin described his family as "extremely anti-apartheid". Rabin's mother converted to Judaism, and the family observed Jewish holidays and celebrations. Lawyer and judge Sydney Kentridge, and journalist and activist Donald Woods are his uncles.

Biography summary from English Wikipedia, photograph via Wikimedia Commons.