Kevin Moore

Kevin Moore (born May 26, 1967) is an American keyboardist, composer and the founder of the Chroma Key music project.

He is also a former member of the American progressive metal band Dream Theater, co-founder of the progressive rock supergroup O.S.I., and a composer of film soundtracks.

Throughout his career, he has become known for his emotional music and lyrics, nomadic lifestyle and use of spoken word samples.

Moore started his music career in progressive metal band Dream Theater.

He contributed music and lyrics to the band's first three studio albums, but left the band during the mixing process of Awake to pursue his own musical interests.

After graduating from high school in 1985, Moore briefly attended SUNY Fredonia, where he studied classical music, before returning home to form the band Majesty with childhood friends guitarist John Petrucci and bassist John Myung, who had recruited drummer Mike Portnoy (a fellow Long Islander) during their short enrollment at Berklee College of Music.

Singer Chris Collins handled vocal duties for Majesty, but he was subsequently replaced by Charlie Dominici (and eventually James LaBrie) and the band was renamed Dream Theater.

Dream Theater's debut studio album was 1989's When Dream and Day Unite, which earned the group comparisons to well-known progressive rock bands such as Rush and Queensrÿche.

Their big breakthrough, however, came in 1992 with the album Images and Words, featuring the band's highest charting single to date, "Pull Me Under".

The song, which included lyrics by Moore, reached No. 10 on the Billboard Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

Following their relentless touring in support of the second album, the band also went on to release a live album, Live at the Marquee, and a video, Images and Words: Live In Tokyo.

The video's extensive documentary footage would subsequently introduce many fans to Moore's ironic sense of humor.

In 1994, the band released its third studio album, Awake, which was the band's highest charting album to date with Moore, reaching No. 32.

The album featured Moore's signature song, a haunting piano-driven ballad called "Space-Dye Vest".

Shortly before the album was mixed, though, Moore announced to the rest of the band that he wished to concentrate on his own musical interests and would be quitting Dream Theater.

According to Portnoy, Moore became interested in the independence of working on his own as opposed to the compromise of a band environment.

Although Dream Theater has since invited him to play reunion shows, Moore has said he prefers to move forward as opposed to looking back.

He notably declined to take part in the official Dream Theater biography titled Lifting Shadows, despite involvement from every other former member of Dream Theater and various former associates of the group.

During his time in Dream Theater, Moore wrote the lyrics to songs on each of the band's albums and also to some of the band's demos and b-sides.

On When Dream and Day Unite, he wrote "Light Fuse and Get Away", "Only a Matter of Time", and parts of The Killing Hand". On Images and Words, he penned "Pull Me Under", "Surrounded", "Wait for Sleep", and parts of "Metropolis—Part I: 'The Miracle and the Sleeper' ". On Awake, the songs "6:00", "Lie", and "Space-Dye Vest" all featured his lyrics. Demos with his lyrics include "Don't Look Past Me, "A Vision" and "Two Far".

After leaving Dream Theater, Moore moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico, and started writing material for his solo album.

A demo tape known as Music Meant to Be Heard was shared among fans, and the songs included many spoken-word samples from interviews Moore recorded during his cross-country travels.

Starting with 1998's Dead Air for Radios, he has released electronica, ambient music through his solo project Chroma Key.

Moore has guested on several albums, including three Fates Warning albums.

In 1998, Moore released his first solo album, Dead Air For Radios, under the name Chroma Key on his self-created record label, Fight Evil Records.

Mark Zonder and Joey Vera of Fates Warning served as his support musicians for that record.

The album featured a dark, ambient sound, closer to Peter Gabriel and Tori Amos than the complex and intricate Dream Theater style.

In hindsight, Dream Theater fans noticed that Moore had subtly explored this style of composition in "Space-Dye Vest".

Most of these songs were later released in 1999 on a limited-edition CD called This is a Recording.

In 2000, Moore moved to Los Angeles, where he recorded the digitally-themed You Go Now.

The line-up for that record was Moore, David Iscove (guitars) and Steve Tushar (loops, programming).

During his westcoast stay, Moore earned a BFA at California Institute of the Arts, where he created a little-known documentary called Octember Revolution, which depicted a Southern California gated community intervention.

This led Moore to form OSI with Fates Warning guitarist Jim Matheos in 2002, a band which combines progressive metal with electronica.

The soundtrack for the first film, Okul, was released in 2004 as Ghost Book.

The soundtrack for the second film, Küçük Kiyamet, entitled Shine, was released in 2010.

Moore, who was born on Long Island, New York, began his music career in Kings Park, Long Island, learning piano at the age of six and writing his first song at the age of 12.

The fourth OSI album, Fire Make Thunder, was released in March 2012.

Moore has worked on other solo projects since leaving Dream Theater.

While living in Costa Rica, he produced a bi-weekly radio program for Radio for Peace International; a compilation of this work was released as Memory Hole 1.

While living in Turkey, Moore produced the debut album of Turkish band Makine and wrote soundtracks for two Turkish films.