Ron Mael

Ronald David Mael was born on August 12, 1945, in Culver City, California. The Mael brothers grew up in Pacific Palisades – an affluent beach suburb of Los Angeles – with their father, Meyer Mael (of Russian and Austrian Jewish descent),[6][7] who was a graphic designer and caricaturist for the Hollywood Citizen-News,[8][9] and their mother, Miriam (née Moskowitz), a librarian.[10] After being educated at Palisades High School, both brothers enrolled at the UCLA;[11] Ron began a course in Cinema and Graphic Arts in 1963 while Russell studied Theater Arts and Filmmaking between 1966 and 1968.[12]

Ron Mael plays the keyboards and synthesizers and writes most of the songs for Sparks. When the band hit the peak of its popularity in the 1970s, he was well known for his strange appearance, often remaining motionless over his keyboard in sharp contrast to Russell's animated and hyperactive frontman antics. Ron's conservative clothes and unfashionable, Charlie Chaplin-esque toothbrush moustache attracted much attention, as does his current pencil moustache. Onstage, Ron alternates between playing the keyboard and engaging in comic mime routines, often in connection with projections on backdrop.

Mael has used Roland keyboards and synthesizers for many years, customising the "Roland" company logo on the instruments to read "Ronald".[13]

The pair appeared as themselves in the 1977 disaster film Rollercoaster, performing live. They also appeared in episode twenty-two of season six of the Gilmore Girls.

In June 2018, Edgar Wright announced he would be making a documentary on the cult pop-rock band Sparks.[14] He had covered the band's concert in London in May at O2 Forum Kentish Town. This concert would also be a part of the documentary.[15][16] The film had its world premiere at the 2021 Sundance Film Festival on January 30, 2021.[17]

In 2017, a reviewer noted that while the brothers' biographies recount an LA childhood in which they surfed and were both models for mail order catalogues, their private lives are otherwise almost entirely unknown. "Well, we're in good company with Bob Dylan", was their reported response. "We feel the less you do know, it keeps the mythology and the image in a better position." Even to the question of whether they have partners or spouses, they refused to give an indication, insisting that "the vagueness is more interesting than the reality."[18]

With Sparks

With FFS

• Official website
• Ron Mael at AllMusic
• Ron Mael at AllMovie
• Ron Mael at IMDb
• Ron Mael discography at Discogs
• Ron Mael and Russell Mael Biography
• The "Kimono My House" album files