Gershon Kingsley (born Götz Gustav Ksinski; 28 October 1922) a contemporary German-American composer, is a pioneer of electronic music and the Moog synthesizer and founder of the First Moog Quartet, as a partner in the electronic music duo Perrey and Kingsley, and writer of rock-inspired compositions for Jewish religious ceremonies.
Kingsley conducted and arranged many Broadway musicals, and composes for film and for television shows and commercials. Kingsley also composes classical chamber works and his most recent opera, Raoul, was premiered in Bremen in 2008. His compositions are eclectic and vary between avant-garde and pop styles. Kingsley is most famous for his influential electronic instrumental composition "Popcorn". His work garnered recognition with a Tony Award nomination for Best Conductor and Musical Director, two Clio Awards for his work in advertising, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bob Moog Foundation.
Gershon Kingsley was born Götz Gustav Ksinski in Bochum, Germany, in 1922, to a German father who was Jewish and a Polish mother who was Catholic. Kingsley was a member of a Zionist youth moment and at the age of 15 left Germany in 1938, a few days before Kristallnacht and joined kibbutz Ein Harod while his parents stayed behind at that time. At the kibbutz he taught himself to play the piano. He joined the Hagana Jewish Settlement Police (Notrim) and also played jazz in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. He studied at the Jerusalem conservatory of music. His parents emigrated to the United States where Kingsley met up with them eight years later.
According to the Torah, Gershon (Hebrew: גֵּרְשׁוֹן Gêrəšōn) was the eldest of the sons of Levi, and the patriarchal founder of the Gershonites, one of the four main divisions among the Levites in biblical times. The Gershonites were charged with the care of the outer tabernacle including components such as the tent and its covering, screens, doors, and hangings. Biblical scholars regard the name as being essentially the same as "Gershom" (Hebrew: גֵּרְשֹׁם, Modern Gerəšom, Tiberian Gēršōm), which appears to mean "a sojourner there" (גר שם), and it is Gershom rather than Gershon who is sometimes listed in the Book of Chronicles as a founder of one of the principal Levite factions. The Torah names Gershon's sons as Libni and Shimei.
Textual scholars attribute the genealogy to the Book of Generations, a document originating from a religiopolitical group similar to that behind the Priestly source, and at a similar date. According to biblical scholars, the Torah's genealogy for Levi's descendants is actually an aetiological myth reflecting the fact that there were four different groups among the Levites — the Gershonites, the Kohathites, the Merarites, and the Aaronids. In these scholars' view, Levite was originally just a job title, deriving from the Minaean word lawi'u, meaning "priest", rather than the name of a tribe.
Gershon can refer to any of the following:
As a surname:
As a given name:
Other: