Rex Salas

R&B / Soul / Neo-Soul / Funk / Pop

Bio

Salas was born on March 16, 1962 in Prince George's County, Maryland to parents Tomas and Mary. He left Maryland as a young child and moved to California where he studied the guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards, eventually focusing on piano and keyboards as his main instruments. In 1979, while at high school in Los Angeles, California, Salas was a cofounder of the band Tease, which recorded three albums on the RCA and CBS/Epic labels between 1983 and 1988. He was nominated for a Grammy and Emmy Award for his superb work as a record producer, songwriter, musical director, and music arranger. Today he is well known for working with Janet Jackson on her tours as her musical director. Through the years Salas has continued to use his expertise in musical direction and as a keyboardist, and playing keyboards on two of singer Robert Palmer's major tours in the late 1980s as well as music-directing three Janet Jackson world tours, including Jackson's 1998 HBO TV special: The Velvet Rope: Live in Madison Square Garden, For this special, Salas received an Emmy award nomination in the "Outstanding Music Direction for a TV show" category. Salas was also the musical director for TLC's final "Fanmail Tour" as well as director for headlining tours with Maxwell, Brandy, Sheena Easton and Brian McKnight.

Teaching Philosophy

"Rex's teaching style depends on the student and how they learn. He will change his style to make sure his students understand the material and he sees that they are developing their skills after each class. He believes that each pianist feels the music differently and his job is to bring that feeling out. Motivation is the key in his teaching style. Every student has the ability and talent; the only thing remaining is for that passion to burst out and take over the keys."