Ian Underwood, born May 22, 1939

Ian Underwood

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Ian Underwood (born May 22, 1939) is a woodwind and keyboards player. He was a member of The Mothers of Invention, ('I am the straight member of the group') and later worked with Frank Zappa on his solo recordings, most notably on 1969's Hot Rats. He later married Ruth Komanoff (Underwood), marimbist/percussionist from the Mothers of Invention (mainly 1970s).

After his lengthy career with Frank Zappa, he pursued a career as a session keyboardist, and is known for his proficiency on the Minimoog synthesizer.^{[citation needed]} His work includes recordings for Quincy Jones, Barbra Streisand, Ronee Blakley, Hugh Cornwell and Barry Manilow. Underwood was also one of the musicians who played the main title theme for the 1980s hit series "Knight Rider" ("The Stu Phillips Scores: Knight Rider". [1]).

Underwood has also been a featured performer (mostly on piano) with James Horner on several of Horner's film scores including Titanic (1997) and Sneakers (1992).