Chick Corea, also known as Armando Anthony Corea, is a famous keyboardist and composer. He was born in Chelsea, Massachusetts on June 12, 1941 and is still alive today. Corea had started playing piano at age four and drums at eight. His real career began in the 1960’s. His father was a professional trumpet player, so he grew up with music his whole life. The bebop stars that influenced Corea to play jazz are Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Horace Silver, and Lester Young. He was accepted into the liberal arts program at Columbia University in the late 1950s and later went to The Juilliard School to give full time to music studies. In the 1970’s Corea decided to lead his own groups called Circle and Return to Forever. He also