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John Tesh

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John Tesh
Born	July 9 1952 (1952-07-09) (age 55) Garden City, New York, USA
Origin	Garden City, New York, USA
Genre(s)	New Age Contemporary Christian
Occupation(s)	Composer Recording artist Radio host News anchor Sportscaster
Instrument(s)	Piano Keyboards
Years active	1988-present
Associated acts	Yanni
Website	Tesh.com

John Frank Tesh (born July 9, 1952) is an American pianist and composer of new age and contemporary Christian music. He is also a nationally syndicated radio host, and has previously served as a sportscaster, news anchor and reporter. Besides the piano, he also plays the keyboard, guitar, saxophone and sings. He is also known by many as the long time host of the television program Entertainment Tonight.

1 Early years
2 Entertainment Tonight and television career
3 Musical career
4 John Tesh Radio Show
5 Personal life
6 Discography
7 Videography
8 References
9 External links

Early years

He was born in Garden City, New York on Long Island, and graduated from Garden City High School in 1970. Playing piano and trumpet from the age of 6, he studied with teachers from The Juilliard School and was named to the New York State Symphonic Orchestra in high school, while also playing the organ in a rock band.^[1] Tesh studied communications and music at North Carolina State University graduating in 1975. While at NC State, he was initiated into Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. While in the area, Tesh worked as a news anchor at WTVD in Durham, North Carolina. After graduation, Tesh went to Orlando, Florida to take a television position at WFTV.

Entertainment Tonight and television career

His television career included a stint as a news anchor and reporter at WSM-TV in Nashville, Tennessee in the 1970s, where he often covered the same stories as Oprah Winfrey who worked at a competing Nashville station. He shuffled from Nashville to Raleigh to Orlando and finally to New York's WCBS where, at age 23, he was their youngest reporter.^[1] He later hosted the television show Entertainment Tonight from 1986 to 1996. Tesh also served as a sportscaster for events such as the Tour de France bicycle race from 1983 through 1986 (Tesh has the distinction of being the anchor for the first American broadcast of this event), and gymnastics at the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics. He also wrote and composed Roundball Rock, the theme song for the NBA on NBC during the 1990s. Tesh also co-hosted the show John & Leeza with Leeza Gibbons in the 1990s. Tesh is also a devoted Star Trek fan. He appeared in "The Icarus Factor", an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation, playing a Klingon warrior.

Musical career

In 1987, Yanni was putting together his first touring band to promote his album Out of Silence, as well as selections from Keys to Imagination. Being good friends, Tesh asked Yanni if he could join the band as keyboardist along with Joyce Imbesi and drummer Charlie Adams, as he'd never been onstage for a live performance and needed the experience. Despite already having a full time job with Entertainment Tonight, and the long hours of rehearsal for the band, he did very well, although he did only one tour with Yanni, about 12 shows including the "1988 Concert Series", before being replaced by Bradley Joseph. Later, Yanni helped Tesh get his first recording contract with Private Music. ^[2] After Tesh left his 10-year job as co-host for Entertainment Tonight in 1996, he turned his career as a New Age keyboardist. This led to him starting "The John Tesh Radio Show" in 2003. In May 2007, Tesh put out "A Passionate Life," a CD that contains songs that he has been writing for over the past 20 years. In 2008, he will put out a piano gospel dance DVD. It combines Tesh's music, big gospel choirs and hip-hop dance.^[3]

John Tesh Radio Show

Tesh currently has a nationally-syndicated radio show called the John Tesh Radio Show, which plays "1980s, 1990s, and today's soft rock" music, interspersed with various factoids and other information Tesh considers useful to listeners, often with topics such as health and well-being. These factoids are called "Intelligence for Your Life." It is played on radio stations across the United States and Canada. "This show was created for my wife, (actress Connie Sellecca)," he says. "She's one of those people where, you look at her side of the bed (and see) six issues of Prevention magazine and five months of Oprah magazine . . . (she) never has time to read any of that stuff . . . I feel there's enough entertainment there - nobody needs to know the latest in the trial of Anna Nicole Smith from us, or who the celebrity birthdays are. So I said, ‘Let's just do something that moves people forward in their life, and we'll do the work for them.'" According to Tesh the show now airs on about 250 stations nationwide.

Personal life

Tesh, who is a born-again Christian, first married Julie Wright in 1982; they divorced in 1991. He is currently married to Connie Sellecca, and they have a daughter, Prima, together. Tesh is a regular church attender at the Crystal Cathedral in Orange County, California.