Women Of Keyboards: 5 Best Female Keyboardists Of All Time

Women Keyboardists

There are some incredible female keyboardists/pianists who have done extraordinary things in music. The purpose of this article is to shine some light on these women and present to you, the best female keyboardists of all time.

It is important to note that any list of musicians is always going to be subjective. With this being said, these are my opinions after playing the piano for over 20 years and having spent 6 years touring the country playing keyboards.

So, how did I decide on this list? Simple. I used the following criteria and it truly highlights some incredible female keyboardists:

  • Pure Ability/Talent
  • Accomplishments
  • Style
  • Performance
  • Writing Capability

Best Female Keyboardists

Below is our list of our favorite female keyboardists. We hope you enjoy the list and if you do, let us know in the comments.

1) Hiromi Uehara – Fusion Extraordinaire

Hiromi Uehara is often referred to as a virtuoso. She began studying to play the piano at the age of 6 and began taking up jazz at the age of 8. Upon taking up jazz, she quickly started to make a name for herself in the jazz community.

Her bombastic & heartfelt performances are incredibly inspiring and fun to watch. On top of playing piano, she usually has a Nord keyboard atop of her piano in which she absolutely shreds on organs/electric pianos.

Her style is often compared to Chick Corea, who is has a secured a spot on our best pianists of all-time list. Hiromi has an extremely aggressive style when she is improvising, yet has the ability to play with incredible dynamics when she needs to bring it down a bit.

On top of studying at Berklee school of music, she also has written jingles for Nissan as well as composed countless original tracks.

2) Tori Amos

Tori Amos is very well known when it comes to female piano players. She is also well known for being an incredible songwriter and performer.

At the age of 5, she became the youngest pianist to be accepted into the Peabody Conservatory Of Music.

She is best known for being signed to Atlantic Records and releasing 15 studio albums.

What separates Tori from some of the other women on this list is her eccentric performances. It is not only exciting watching her play, but it is also breathtaking at times.

3) Alicia Keys

Alicia Keys has always held a close place in my heart. I remember learning her songs when I was growing up and on top of her ability play piano, she knows how to write beautiful melodies.

She was trained as a classical pianist and can even be seen performing classical piano songs on Youtube.

The riff in the song above instantly grabs your attention and it has this heart-wrenching feeling to it.

She began composing songs at the age of 12 and was signed to Columbia records by the age of 15.

What makes Alicia Keys so incredible is the fact that she has written 4 billboard number 1 songs and has sold over 30 million albums worldwide. While she is also an impressive vocalist and songwriter, her piano playing and ability to write piano parts is why she is on our list.

4) Sarah Mclachlan

Sarah Mclachlan is one of the most influential piano songwriters in the last 20 years. She has sold over 30 million albums worldwide and she is known for her piano skills.

I’ve always personally liked her songwriting as well as her piano playing abilities. From the chord progressions to the melodies she chooses to play, she seems to always have her own style.

I believe that she is also a bit underrated when it comes to playing the keys. She has a knack for writing beautiful chord progressions riddled with heart-wrenching suspensions.

5) Norah Jones

Norah Jones went to North Texas university in which she studied jazz piano. Her jazz upbringing is definitely very present in her style.

Norah Jones has sold over 50 million albums worldwide and has managed to fuse pop music and jazz together in a way that captured radio.

Her biggest song, “Don’t Know Why” has some beautiful jazz chords along with a great melody.

What’s interesting to note is that she is the daughter of a sitar master, Ravi Shankar.

Wrapping Up

I hope you enjoyed this list of the best female keyboardists currently in the world today. Let us know any we might’ve missed.

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