Born to Rock

With his father away, Reginald spent the earliest years of his life with his mother. They would spend long days at home together as Reginald played. Many times, while his mother was cleaning, she would sit him up on the piano bench in the living room so he could bang on the keys. In interviews now, Sheila always tells her favorite family legend about how one day while she was cleaning she heard Reginald begin to pick out the melody of the song “Skater's Waltz.” That's a huge accomplishment for a child, yet Reginald had been listening to his mother's records since the day he was born. Sheila Dwight made sure her son was surrounded by music because she also had a great passion for it.

When Reginald was four, he was sent to the local primary school in Pinner, called Pinner Wood Junior and Mixed Infants. But only a year later his mother pulled him from that school and enrolled him in the Reddiford School. Reddiford was a small private school located in the garden of a teacher named Mr. White. He and his sister personally taught the 100 pupils who went to the school. When Reginald changed schools, his mother also signed him up for piano lessons from a woman who lived in Pinner whose husband was an accomplished musician.

Reggie's talent was immediately seen. He could pick up on notes much faster than most children. Also, unlike many children who dread going off to piano lessons, playing piano was one of Reggie's favorite things to do. He could not wait for his weekly lesson, and at home he spent hours in the living room playing with the keys and making up songs. Though he was not quite a musical prodigy—a child who can play an instrument with little or no instruction—he was certainly incredibly gifted.