A multi-talented foursome came together by happenstance, gained a huge fan base via YouTube, and have traveled the world and recorded multiple records as The Piano Guys.

Meet the Guys

John Schmidt had a very successful solo career as a pianist before becoming one of The Piano Guys. He was approached by the owner of a piano store where he was practicing on a store piano for an upcoming concert, which became a YouTube channel he created called The Piano Guys.

Paul Anderson, producer/videographer, is the piano store owner of the same name, who spearheaded the collaboration. He was looking for a way to market his piano’s a different way by incorporating social media.

Steven Sharp Nelson, cellist/songwriter, and a friend and colleague of John Schmidt’s for over 10 years, had also performed with John as a side act, and was approached by John to be in the ‘marketing’ videos with him.

Al van der Beek, music producer/songwriter, literally showed up on Steve’s doorstep to help him move into the neighborhood and started talking music. The rest, as they say, is history.

“The essence of the story is that it’s too hard to retrace every step and say exactly what happened because it just seemed so natural, “Nelson said. “The four of us, in no time, suddenly have five albums with Sony and are producing our sixth. We have over one billion views on YouTube, five million YouTube subscribers, and a million and half Facebook fans. But the greatest part of this is that we have yet to sell a piano.”

Nelson says The Piano Guys are all very spiritual and are united by their LDS faith. They also draw upon their faith for inspiration. “We believe that we are united for the soul purpose to be instruments in His hands to just create positive music. That is something that never gets old for us.”