Lyle Mays

Of his four dominant interests - in all of them being a child prodigy - chess, mathematics, architecture (building with LEGO bricks as a kid) and music, the latter developed to be his area of focus. Being the son of musically interested parents - his mother played the piano in church, his father played guitar by ear - he soon was allowed to explore the piano with the help of a teacher, Rose Baron, who was open to letting the kid, who had perfect pitch, improvise after the formal lesson. He soon was playing organ for the church.