Moog Innovator Dies at 71

Robert A. Moog, whose self-named synthesizers opened the door for the musical evolution of electronica, died yesterday at his home in Asheville, North Carolina, at the age of seventy-one. He was diagnosed with brain cancer in April and had undergone chemotherapy and radiation treatment.

Moog developed a childhood interest in the theremin, one of the first electronic musical instruments, after building them with his father. In 1963, he developed the Moog Modular Synthesizer as a Ph.D student in engineering physics at Cornell University. By the end of 1964, R.A. Moog Co. introduced the first commercial modular synthesizer.

Moog received a Grammy Trustees Award for lifetime achievement in 1970, and was the subject of last year's documentary, Moog, directed by Hans Fjellestad. His synthesizer has influenced bands ranging from the Beatles, Yes, Parliament/Funkadelic, the Monkees, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and Stereolab.

His family has established the Bob Moog Foundation dedicated to the Advancement of Electronic Music in his memory, and a public memorial is planned for later this week at Asheville's Orange Peel. Moog is survived by his wife, Ileana, and five children.

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Song Stories

“Oh Sherrie”

Steve Perry | 1984

Steve Perry's girlfriend Sherrie Swafford was actually in the studio when Perry began writing this song--his lone Top Ten hit as a solo act--with two co-writers. The trio began at midnight one night with just "Oh, Sherrie!" and "hold on, hold on." Three hours later, they had a complete song. Swafford, however, had to wait until the next day to hear it. "Sherrie actually got tired and went to bed," Perry said. She also appeared in the video, but their relationship did not hold on for long.

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