John Tesh

John Frank Tesh Jr. (born July 9, 1952) is an American pianist and composer of pop music and a radio host and television presenter.

He wrote the NBA on NBC basketball theme "Roundball Rock".

He hosts the Intelligence for Your Life radio show.

He graduated from Garden City High School in 1970.

Playing piano and trumpet from the age of six, he was named to the New York State Symphonic Orchestra in high school, while also playing the organ in a rock band.

Tesh studied communications and music at North Carolina State University.

He was also a "walk on" with the varsity lacrosse and soccer teams.

While at North Carolina State, studying physics and chemistry, he took a TV and radio course.

His television career included a stint as a news anchor and reporter at WSM-TV (now WSMV-TV) in Nashville, Tennessee, in the 1970s, where he often covered the same stories as Oprah Winfrey, who worked at a competing Nashville station.

From Nashville, Tesh shuffled to WTVD in Durham, North Carolina, then down to WFTV in Orlando, and finally up to New York's WCBS-TV, where, at age 22, he was their youngest reporter.

Tesh worked part-time reading the news for Rick Dees at WKIX (AM) Raleigh in 1974.

His roommate, Bill Leslie, anchor at WRAL-TV, helped him get into the radio and TV field.

While in the area, Tesh worked as a news anchor in Raleigh, Orlando, Nashville, and New York's WCBS-TV; this portion of his career spanned 12 years.

In the fall of 1978, Tesh was a roving reporter for CBS during the 1978 New York City Marathon, which he ran and completed in 3:51:56.

Tesh also served as a sportscaster for CBS and later NBC, anchoring events such as the Tour de France bicycle race from 1983 through 1986 (Tesh has the distinction of being the anchor for the first American broadcast of this event), the US Open, and gymnastics at the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics.

However, he became more well known when he co-hosted the television show Entertainment Tonight from 1986 to 1996.

He also appeared as himself in a 1987 episode of the daytime serial Santa Barbara.

In 1987, Yanni was assembling his first touring band to promote his album Out of Silence, as well as selections from Keys to Imagination.

Being good friends, Tesh asked Yanni if he could join the band as keyboardist along with Joyce Imbesi and drummer Charlie Adams, as he had never been onstage for a live performance, and he needed the experience.

Despite already having a full-time job with Entertainment Tonight, and the long hours of rehearsal for the band, he performed exceptionally well, although he participated in only one tour with Yanni, playing in approximately twelve shows, including the "1988 Concert Series", before being replaced by Bradley Joseph.

Later, Yanni assisted Tesh in signing his first recording contract with Private Music.

In the 1990s, Tesh was credited with the theme music to Bobby's World, hosted by Howie Mandel, and the NBA on NBC theme, known as "Roundball Rock".

Tesh composed the NBA on NBC theme after an idea hit him while traveling.

In order to recall his idea at a later juncture, Tesh recorded the initial beat vocally on his answering machine, by ringing his home phone and leaving a message for himself.

Tesh hosted the short-lived One on One with John Tesh talk show in 1991–92 on NBC daytime, and co-hosted the show John & Leeza From Hollywood with fellow Entertainment Tonight personality Leeza Gibbons from 1993 to 1994, also on NBC daytime.

In August 1994, John performed at the Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison, Colorado, for his first Live at Red Rocks concert.

Tesh performed with conductor John Bisharat and the 70-piece Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

The concert featured Tesh playing grand piano, Charlie Bisharat playing electric violin, and Everette Harp playing alto saxophone.

The theme was used for the NBA on NBC before the network stopped carrying NBA games following the 2001–02 season (as well as an electric guitar-driven spinoff that was used on NBC's WNBA telecasts from 1997 to 2002), though NBC would revive the theme for its basketball coverage during the 2008 Summer Olympics.

Tesh would later license the song to Fox Sports for its college basketball coverage.

In addition, since 2014, he has hosted Intelligence for Your Life TV with his wife Connie Sellecca.

Tesh has won six Emmys and has four gold albums, two Grammy nominations, and an Associated Press award for investigative journalism.

Tesh has sold over eight million records.

His live concerts have raised more than $7 million for PBS.

He has co-hosted the television program Entertainment Tonight.

He has previously worked as a sports commentator and host for the Olympic Games, Wimbledon, the US Open, the Tour de France, Ironman Triathlon, and as a news anchor and reporter.

In 2014, Tesh returned to syndicated television in the series Intelligence for Your Life TV, based on his radio show.

Tesh appeared in "The Icarus Factor", an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, playing a Klingon warrior.

In 2018, Tesh was inducted into the North Carolina Music Hall of Fame.

Tesh was born in Garden City, New York, on Long Island, the son of Mildred (Bunny), a nurse, and John Frank Tesh Sr., a textile chemist, both from North Carolina.