Richard Naiff is a British

pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

and

flautist The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

from London who has performed with the bands Soulsec, The Catacoustics,

The Waterboys The Waterboys are a rock band formed in 1983 by Scottish musician and songwriter Mike Scott (Scottish musician), Mike Scott. The band's membership, past and present, has been composed mainly of musicians from Britain and Ireland, with Scott re ...

and

The Icicle Works The Icicle Works (also known as Icicle Works in the United States) are an English alternative rock band, named after the 1960 short story "The Day the Icicle Works Closed" by science fiction author Frederik Pohl. They had a top 20 UK hit with " ...

. Naiff is a classically trained musician, having joined the

Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music and drama school located in the City of London, England. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and jazz along with dram ...

at age ten. The

Irish music Irish music is music that has been created in various genres on the island of Ireland. The indigenous music of the island is termed Irish traditional music (or Irish folk music). It has remained vibrant through the 20th and into the 21st ...

website Cluas.com describes Naiff as "phenomenally talented". Naiff was invited to participate on The Waterboys' album ''

A Rock in the Weary Land ''A Rock in the Weary Land'' is the seventh studio album by the Waterboys, released in 2000 by BMG International. It was the group's first album after a seven-year break, but mostly continues the hard rock vein of the previous album '' Dream Har ...

'' after the group's leader Mike Scott heard his piano work in a studio next to one where the recording sessions for ''A Rock in the Weary Land'' were taking place. Naiff joined the band officially in June 2000. Along with Mike Scott and

Steve Wickham Steve Wickham is an Irish musician. Originally from Ballyfermot, Dublin, but calling Sligo home, Wickham was a founding member of In Tua Nua (left in 1985 replaced by Aingeala de Burca) and played violin on the classic U2 song " Sunday Blo ...

, Naiff made up the core of the post-2000 Waterboys band. Former Waterboy

Ian McNabb Robert Ian McNabb (born 3 November 1960) is an English singer-songwriter and musician. Previously the frontman of the Icicle Works, McNabb has since embarked on a solo career and performed with Ringo Starr, Neil Young/Crazy Horse (band), Crazy ...

described Naiff as Scott's "find of the century". Not coincidentally, while keeping his membership in the Waterboys, Naiff also joined McNabb's touring band in 2004, and became a member of a revived version of McNabb's old band The Icicle Works in 2006. Naiff's

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

influences include The Damned. Naiff left The Waterboys in 2009 to spend more time with his family.

Notes

External links

Soulsec biography
English flautists English pianists English keyboardists The Waterboys members Living people The Icicle Works members Year of birth missing (living people) {{UK-pianist-stub