And Rudess reports that he was lining up a career as a professional classical pianist until he heard ELP's 1971 album Tarkus for the first time. Rudess tells Freqs TV: "This has been a major, sad event in my life because it was completely unexpected. Keith was my keyboard hero. He really was the person who I looked up to. His music changed my path of life.

"I was deeply in the classical path - I was going to be a professional classical pianist. I was going into the college division at The Julliard School. But I waved goodbye because I was already into synthesisers and Tarkus - I was into other things that didn't relate at all to what I had been doing."

Rudess says that Emerson "opened the door" for him to explore a different type of music and adds: "The Emerson thing hit me like a ton of bricks because this person that was not only my keyboard hero became a friend of mine.

"It's something I'll be thinking about for a long time because he left too early, he left us with all this amazing music. Whenever my hands touch the keyboard I'm going to think of him." Watch the full video - here.

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