ELTON JOHN’S FAMOUS YAMAHA PIANO INSPIRES NEW ALBUM

In November 2010, BBC Radio 2 received a remarkable and prestigious gift: a Yamaha DC7 grand piano owned by Sir Elton John.

The ‘Elton John Radio 2 Piano’ was personally delivered by Sir Elton to inspire new and established artists, to celebrate Elton's unique contribution to the UK radio industry and to thank Radio 2 for their support for over 40 years.

Since then, this famous piano has been used in many live BBC performances. Now, it has inspired a new double album, ‘The Piano Room’, which contains the best stripped-back songs, performed live, by many of the world’s best-known and most iconic artists.

Highlights – there are many – include the heartfelt ‘Let Her Down Easy’ by George Michael, ‘Stay with Me’ by Sam Smith, ‘Viva La Vida’ by Coldplay, ‘This Year’s Love’ by Ed Sheeran, ‘God Only Knows’ from Michael Buble, a powerful rendition of ‘Georgia On My Mind’ by Annie Lennox, ‘Lady Madonna’ by Paul McCartney, a soulful duet, ‘Waiting’ performed by Jamie Cullum and Norah Jones; and two equally soulful performances by Gregory Porter: ‘Fly Me to The Moon’ and ‘Just The Way You Are’. Sting performs the beautiful ‘Practical Arrangement’, alongside U2’s ‘Every Breaking Wave’ and Elbow’s ‘Lippy Kids’… the list goes on.

Ken Bruce, whose 9.30am – 12 noon weekday morning show has an audience of 8.3m listeners (RAJAR, Q2 2017), now hosts the Piano Room performances, which have recently featured live piano performances from Neil Sedaka, Elkie Brooks, Gregory Porter, Deacon Blue’s Ricky Ross and Abba’s Benny Andersson.

Ken said “It is a great honour to witness these wonderful artists performing live and uncut on Radio. There is an intimacy about a stripped-back performance: the artists here are – almost literally – playing in your living room.”