Born in Winston Salem, North Carolina,
in June of 1954, Wayne acquired his love for music at
a early age. At the age of five,
Wayne moved to Reading, Pennsylvania. Inspired by his
kindergarten teacher, Wayne began playing the piano
at age six and studied piano into his high school years.
He then began studying guitar. With the onset of cool
keyboard bands such as Emerson, Lake and Palmer, Yes,
and Genesis, Wayne decided to return to the keyboards.
In addition to his love for music, Wayne also did pretty
well at swimming, competing at statewide high school
meets. "Since you can't really make a living at
swimming," Gratz says , "I decided to keep
music as my main focus. " A resident of Reading,
PA from the age of five through high school, Wayne played
in various rock bands. After high school, he began touring
the U.S and Canada, ending up in Orlando, Florida in
1976.
Over the past 13 years, Wayne has released 7 albums
of original compositions on the Narada Label and 4 albums
of cover music on the Enso label. Wayne also contributed
to some of the most memorable compositions on Narada's
best selling collections, The Wilderness Collection,
A Childhood Remembered, Piano Solos, and 2 Christmas
Collection albums.
Wayne started his own label Wayne Gratz Music
in 2002 and has composed and produced 4 albums,
to include Sleepy Baby Suite, Christmas
Remembered, Soul to Soul and his
most recent project
Light Lands and Shoreline. In addition,
his music has been used for the Olympic games specialty
segments, NBC television specials, and background music
for numerous other television/radio advertisements,
to include a Tiger Woods segment and background music
for Thomas Kinkade’s new DVD. Wayne’s music
is
featured on Music
Choice and can be heard on Whisperings
Solo Piano Radio, WLOQ,
and numerous radio
stations around the world.
Along
with his solo career, Wayne continues to work conventions
and special events with the popular band
Paradise
in Orlando, Florida. |