Michele Papadia, born in Puglia in 1972, is one of the most accomplished and versatile keyboardists on the international scene, a pianist specializing in Hammond organ and analog synths. Active in jazz and improvised music, he also explores all aspects of black music, from blues to funk, gospel, and pop. A longtime collaborator of Gianluca Petrella, he has worked live and in the studio with, among others, Roberto Gatto, Fabrizio Bosso, Francesco Bearzatti, Bobby Previte, Larss Danielsson, Manu Katche’, Rosario Giuliani, and Fabio Morgera, as well as, in Europe and the USA, with Ana Popovic (a regular member for over 21 years), Brian Auger, Peter Green, Joe Bonamassa, Eric Gales, Robben Ford, Kirk Fletcher, and Rudy Rotta, among others. In pop music, he collaborated with Celentano, Jovanotti, Patty Pravo, Oxa, Noemi, Britti, Dolcenera, Serena Brancale, Karima, Gabriella Ferri (who was his last pianist, from 1995 to 1999), and many others. He is a tenured professor at the Udine Conservatory of Music and a professor of academic courses at the Lucca Conservatory of Music.