Pianist Elio Pace visits Musicroom Portsmouth!

Pianist, singer and songwriter Elio Pace dropped in to the Portsmouth store on Sunday to perform a few numbers, entertaining customers and passers by, and showing off the latest Yamaha digital pianos in our recently refitted ‘Yamaha at…” piano department.


The Hampshire-born musician is an accomplished pianist, and treated us to a mix of rock and roll, blues and boogie from his own back catalogue as well as some popular covers.

Elio has played and toured with a huge variety of artists as diverse as Art Garfunkel, Suzi Quatro and Albert Lee, as well as with his own band.
He is perhaps best known for his regular appearances on the BBC Radio 2 show ‘Weekend Wogan’, as musical director and leader of the house band. He performed with his band on a weekly basis, as well as accompanying visiting artists and writing the programme’s theme music.
Elio’s visit to the Portsmouth store was further enlivened by the attendance of various members of his own family who also live locally. They were only too willing to provide backing vocals and accompaniment on cue!
Musicroom can also take a little bit of the credit for reuniting Elio with the man who recorded his first demos 25 years ago. Greg is a regular visitor to the store, but we were as surprised as anyone when he and Elio recognised each other from their teenage days!
Elio recalled with remarkable clarity the mobile studio business that Greg ran – appropriately named ‘No Fixed Abode’ – and the songs that they had produced. He even remembered Greg charging £76 for a full 13 hours work. Not bad for the recording session that launched a career!

The staff at Portsmouth would like to extend a big thank you to Elio for sparing the time to give us all a highly enjoyable afternoon, and to Yamaha for making it happen. It certainly brightened up a rather grey day.
We can’t promise to play them quite like Elio, but there is always an extensive range of Yamaha pianos and keyboards in our new-look piano department, ready to be tried, tested and demonstrated. Our piano experts are on hand to tell you everything you need to know, whether you are interested in one of the new Clavinova piano range, a portable keyboard for a beginner, or perhaps one of our bargain previously-loved instruments. Don’t hesitate to drop into the store and find out more.