Ronald David Mael is an American musician, keyboard player and songwriter.
Background
The Mael brothers grew up in Pacific Palisades – a relatively affluent suburb of Los Angeles – with their father, Meyer Mael (of Russian and Austrian Jewish descent), who was a graphic designer and caricaturist for the Hollywood Citizen-News, and their mother, Miriam (née Moskowitz), a librarian.
Career
After being educated at Palisades High School, both brothers enrolled at the University of California, Los Los Angeles Ron began a course in Cinema and Graphic Arts in 1963 while Russell studied Theater Arts and Filmmaking between 1966–1968. Sparks
Ron Mael plays keyboard 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. His conservative clothes and unfashionable, Chaplin-like toothbrush moustache attracted much attention, as does his current pencil moustache.
On stage, Ron alternates between playing the keyboard and engaging in comic mime routines, often in connection with projections on backdrop.
The pair appear as themselves in the 1977 disaster film Rollercoaster, performing live. They also appeared in episode twenty-two of season six of the Gilmore Girls. Sparks is currently (2015) collaborating with the Scottish group Franz Ferdinand under the identity FFS. One of their first tracks is entitled "Collaborations don"t work".
Some of the other tracks will be reinterpretations of existing Sparks compositions.
The supergroup was interviewed on British Broadcasting Corporation Radio 6 on April 27, 2015 and announced they would be appearing on "Live with Jools Holland" on April 30th 2015 and are to appear at Glastonbury Festival this summer.