Greg Spero

Greg Spero was born in Highland Park, Illinois, into a house shaped by music — his mother taught piano; his father toured as a rock musician. He started playing and composing at three and was working professionally by fourteen.

After studying music composition and jazz performance at the University of Illinois, a backpacking trip through rural Thailand pulled him back to the piano. He closed his web company and woodshedded roughly ten hours a day for years — the kind of obsessive practice that turns talent into a voice.

That voice now spans a fusion supergroup, a studio, a record label, and a software company — but it always starts at the keys. Herbie Hancock, whom he met at the Ravinia Festival, introduced him to the Nichiren Buddhist practice that still anchors his work.