Patrick Philippe Moraz (born 24 June 1948) is a Swiss musician, film composer and songwriter, best known for his tenures as keyboardist in the rock bands Yes and the Moody Blues.

He studied jazz and classical music until his development came to an abrupt halt at thirteen after he broke four fingers in a roller skating accident.

[4] Following a course of therapy and a considerable amount of practice with his left hand playing, Moraz was able to regain his technique, becoming ambidextrous in the process.

The director of the union then spotted him playing in a restaurant, causing Moraz to leave the country and cancel proposals to jam with a Bournemouth group, the Night People.

[5] In 1965, Moraz's quartet won an award at the Zürich jazz festival,[5] and was soon invited to be the opening act for a European tour headlined by American saxophonist John Coltrane.

[2] After touring Japan and Hong Kong as a musical director for a Brazilian ballet, Moraz returned to Switzerland in 1973.

[11] Upon his arrival from Geneva working on a film score for Gerard Depardieu,[2] Moraz was asked to join Yes,[14] following the departure of Rick Wakeman in May 1974.

The band had begun work on Relayer (1974), their seventh album, in Virginia Water, Surrey, and sought potential replacements.

Though he regretted splitting with his Refugee bandmates, Moraz accepted the position as it was an opportunity that he thought would benefit his career,[15] though he once said, "I felt it was time to leave".

[18] After tuning up, Moraz watched the band play the middle section of "Sound Chaser", which he said was "Absolutely unbelievable.

Charisma Records released Moraz's first album as a solo artist, which, due to its title consisting of a symbol which does not appear on standard keyboards, has since become commonly known as The Story of I (1976).

Since working with the Brazilian ballet, he became interested in percussion and travelled to Colombia, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina for inspiration, and arrived in Brazil where he gathered "a very, very strong unit of 16 percussionists" to play on his album.

Moraz travelled to Brazil and incorporated Brazilian rhythms and musicians on The Story of I, giving it a world music flavour.

Some of the material had already been worked out by the time of their arrival; this included contributions to "Awaken", "Wonderous Stories" and "Parallels" from Moraz.

Moraz spoke about his departure: "Even though, at the time, the split 'was not made to appear acrimonious', I suffered extremely and extensively.

[21] Moraz continued with his solo career and Charisma released his second album, Out in the Sun (1977), which he wanted to sound "completely different and more liberated".

[2] During his time in Brazil, Moraz joined a Brazilian rock band, Vimana, with Lobão and Lulu Santos and Ritchie.

[22] In May 1978, Moraz visited a convention held by the Audio Engineering Society in Los Angeles, where Herbie Hancock taught him vocoder, and agreed to represent Aphex Systems in Brazil.

At the hotel, he received a call asking him to join the Moody Blues after Mike Pinder left the band.

Moraz proceeded to sing "Nights in White Satin" and "Tuesday Afternoon" on the phone, and accepted an audition in London in July 1978.

Before his arrival, Moraz performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival with Brazilian musicians Airto Moreira and Gilberto Gil.

He toured with his group from Brazil, recorded with Chick Corea, and released two albums with drummer Bill Bruford as Moraz-Bruford.

The project gave him the opportunity to visit the filming of Predator in Mexico, and to meet Arnold Schwarzenegger and Mickey Rourke.

[2] However, Moraz could not fully complete the score for Predator because of an upcoming tour with the Moody Blues, leaving Alan Silvestri to compose the rest.

However, the group maintained Moraz was only a hired musician, despite his name being listed as a member on their albums and promotional materials and his appearing in official band photographs.

[14] Moraz then spent the next four years developing "hundreds of pieces of music for all instruments, as well as orchestras and choirs", producing several artists, and completed work for the Conference on World Affairs, of which he is an official delegate.

In 1997, Moraz started work on a new album, A Way to Freedom, featuring arrangements for a symphony orchestra, percussionists, and a jazz brass band.