Lowrey
Lowrey
Also known as: Lowrey Organ, Lowrey Organ Company
UnclaimedLowrey is an American manufacturer of electronic organs founded by Chicago industrialist Frederick C. Lowrey, who experimented with electronic tone generation from 1918 onward and settled on the Eccles-Jordan multivibrator oscillator that became a hallmark of the brand. The company's first widely successful instrument was the Model S Spinet (Berkshire), released in 1955, preceded by the Organo,...
Lowrey is an American manufacturer of electronic organs founded by Chicago industrialist Frederick C. Lowrey, who experimented with electronic tone generation from 1918 onward and settled on the Eccles-Jordan multivibrator oscillator that became a hallmark of the brand. The company's first widely successful instrument was the Model S Spinet (Berkshire), released in 1955, preceded by the Organo, an attachment introduced in 1949 that added 60 notes of organ stops to a piano. Through the 1960s and 1970s, Lowrey was the largest manufacturer of electronic organs in the world, producing its one-millionth organ in 1989.
Lowrey instruments are known for a warm, distinctive voicing that set them apart from the more dominant Hammond sound, with models such as the Festival (FL), Lincolnwood TSO-25, Heritage DSO, and the horseshoe-console H25 finding favor in both home and professional settings. The brand became a fixture in church services, home entertainment, and a number of landmark rock recordings — most famously through Garth Hudson of The Band, whose Lowrey Festival can be heard on the introduction to "Chest Fever." A Lowrey DSO Heritage was used on The Beatles' "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," and a Lowrey set to a percussive marimba repeat provided the ostinato pattern on The Who's "Baba O'Riley." Mike Oldfield made extensive use of the instrument on Tubular Bells.
Headquartered for most of its history in the Chicago area, Lowrey operates as a division of Kawai America Corporation, part of Kawai Musical Instruments.
Lowrey has 15 products cataloged on Equipboard, including Organs, Portable & Arranger Keyboards, and Grand Pianos. Their gear is featured by 15 artists, with the strongest followings in Rock, Pop, and Electronic. Notable users include Garth Hudson, Paul McCartney, and Pete Townshend.
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