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Wendy Carlos (born Walter Carlos, November
14, 1939) American composer and electronic musician. Carlos was
born in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Wendy Carlos was
one of the first famous performers of electronic music using
synthesisers. Her first recordings were released under her birth name - being
a transsexual woman, she changed her name to Wendy Carlos.
She underwent sexual reassignment surgery
in 1972. The last release to be credited to her old name was "By Request" (1975). The first as Wendy was "Switched-On Brandenburgs" (1979).
"Switched-On Bach" was perhaps the first album to attempt the use of synthesizers as an alternative to an orchestra; having
assisted Robert Moog in the development of his first commercially available
synthesizers, she was able to pioneer the technology, which was significantly more complex and difficult to use at the time.
"Switched-On Bach" became the best-selling classical album of all time.
1986's "Beauty In the Beast" saw Wendy Carlos experimenting with extreme alternate tunings; one scale she invented for the
album featured 144 notes per octave. In the early 2000's, most of her catalogue was remastered.
Discography:
External links
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