Ikutaro Kakehashi

Ikutaro Kakehashi (梯 郁太郎 Kakehashi Ikutarō, born in Osaka on February 7, 1930) is an engineer, an entrepreneur, and the founder of the Roland Corporation, a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments.

Biography

In the 1950s, Ikutaro Kakehashi repaired electronic organs and created new prototype organs while concurrently running an electrical appliance shop. At 28, he decided to devote himself to music and pursuit of the ideal electronic musical instrument.

Ikutaro Kakehashi is best known for founding Roland Corporation. Prior to Roland he started Acetone, an organ company that evolved into Hammond Organ Japan. He left Hammond to start Roland in the early 1970s.

External video
Oral History, Ikutaro Kakehashi explains pieces of his life story and career. interview date January 23, 2001, NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) Oral History Library

In 1991, based upon his contribution to the development and popularization of electronic instruments, Kakehashi was awarded an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music, U.S.A. In 2000 he left his handprints on the Rock Walk Hall of Fame in Hollywood. In 2013 he received a Technical Grammy Award, shared with Dave Smith of Sequential Circuits, for the invention of MIDI. Kakehashi retired from Roland in 2013.

In 2002 Kakehashi published his autobiography, titled I Believe In Music,[1] and was also featured as a biography in the book The Art of Digital Music.

Highlights

References

  1. ↑ (ISBN 0634037838)

External links