Wendy Carlos

Wendy Carlos
Born (1939-11-14) November 14, 1939 (age 85)
Pawtucket, Rhode Island, U.S.
Genres
Occupations
Instruments
Years active1964–2005
Labels
Websitewendycarlos.com

Wendy Carlos (born Walter Carlos, November 14, 1939)[1] is an American musician and composer best known for her electronic music and film scores.

Born and raised in Rhode Island, Carlos studied physics and music at Brown University before moving to New York City in 1962 to study music composition at Columbia University. Studying and working with various electronic musicians and technicians at the city's Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center, she helped in the development of the Moog synthesizer, Robert Moog's first commercially available keyboard instrument.

Carlos came to prominence with Switched-On Bach (1968), an album of music by Johann Sebastian Bach performed on a Moog synthesizer, which helped popularize its use in the 1970s and won her three Grammy Awards.[1] Its commercial success led to several more albums, including further synthesized classical music adaptations, and experimental and ambient music. She composed the score to two Stanley Kubrick films, A Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Shining (1980), and for Tron (1982) for Walt Disney Productions.

In 1979, Carlos raised public awareness of transgender issues by disclosing she had been living as a woman since at least 1968, and in 1972 had undergone sex reassignment surgery.[2][3][4]

As of 2020, much of Carlos's discography is out of print, and has not been licensed for digital distribution to streaming or download platforms.[5]

  1. ^ a b Rogers, Jude (November 11, 2020). "'She made music jump into 3D': Wendy Carlos, the reclusive synth genius". The Guardian. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved November 11, 2020.
  2. ^ "Wendy Carlos: Innovator, Composer, Pioneer". Classical Music Indy. November 13, 2017. Archived from the original on September 26, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference 1972reassignment was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Sears, Natalie. "Meet the Queen of Electronic Music". genderamplified.org. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  5. ^ Sewell, Amanda (November 11, 2020). "Wendy Carlos: 6 things you probably didn't know about the composer and electronic pioneer". Your Classical. Retrieved June 27, 2022.