Ken Double

Organist/broadcaster/entertainer Ken Double likes to tell people, “I’ve worked very hard for over 30 years trying NOT to work for a living, having been paid to watch sporting events and play theatre organs. Like the song says, ‘Nice work if you can get it.’”

For more than 30 years, he has been heard on radio and seen on television as a sportscaster, and since 1978, has been at the console of the great theatre pipe organs, indeed working hard to entertain his audiences.

Born in Chicago the last of six boys, his love of sports was just a normal part of growing up. Double parlayed that into a degree in Radio-TV from Butler University in Indianapolis, and enjoyed a career that has included play-by-play in the NHL, AHL, NBA, major college sports, the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race and more.

But even after 30-plus years of broadcasting, he is still better known in certain circles for his talents at the pipe organ. He began organ lessons at age 8. A school field trip during his sophomore year in high school took him to the Pickwick Theatre in the Chicago suburb of Park Ridge, IL and Ken was instantly hooked on the wonderful sounds of the mighty theatre organ.

Ten years of lessons, three summers playing the organ for the Tommy Bartlett Water Show in Wisconsin Dells, and a stint as the first organist at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis helped Ken pay for college, and it was off to the broadcast world as a sportscaster. However, he would never stray too far from his love of the theatre organ, and in December of 1978, he was on the bill for his first public concert. He performed a holiday show on the Page organ at the Embassy Theatre in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. But, it would be three years before Ken would perform in concert again.

However, that three-year hiatus proved fruitful. Double began subbing on the staff of the pipe-organ-equipped Paramount Music Palace in Indianapolis, all the while appearing nightly on the news to deliver the sports headlines of the day. In February of 1982, Double performed the first concert on the new installation at the Long Center in Lafayette, IN. This marked two firsts in his career. It was the first of now 26 annual concerts at Long Center. And, it was the first of four "premier" concerts he would play on new installations in Indiana. (The others being the Warren Center Barton organ, the Paramount Theatre Page organ in Anderson, IN and the Wurlitzer at Manual High School in Indianapolis.)

During his concert career, Double has performed all over the world, including stops in Seattle, WA; Wilmington, DE; Tampa, FL; Chicago, IL; Los Angeles, CA; the famous Casa Loma in Toronto, and three six-week tours throughout Australia. In addition to his hundreds of concerts, he has nine CD's to his credit, including his latest titled DOUBLE SOUTHERN COMFORT, A Musical Toast to the South, played on the Walker RTO 335; and his ninth disc, Christmas at the Nethercutt Museum on the 4/76 Wurlitzer, available just in time for the season. He has just completed his 10th recording entitled The Music of Casa Loma, the first-ever recording on the Mighty Wurlitzer in the Great Hall of Toronto’s historic castle.

The concert season of 2007-08 will find him performing from Minnesota to Massachusetts, Missouri to Texas, a fourth tour to Australia, and a return to Casa Loma in Toronto and to Kingston, Ontario. He will also “hit the trifecta” as artist, MC and acting President during the 2008 ATOS Annual Convention in Indianapolis, IN, in addition to his annual visits to Long Center in Lafayette and the Warren Center in Indianapolis.

Sportscaster, master of ceremonies, theatre organist, even vocalist upon occasion, Ken Double indeed works hard at making it look easy when entertaining at the pipe organ.