Paul Anderson was born in Blythe, California, and moved with his family to St. George, UT when he was around 12. Paul had traditional piano lessons as a child, but quit as a teenager (at the time thought it wasn’t “cool”). After being voted Most Shy at his high school he traveled to Seattle, Washington to serve a proselyting mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for two years. While serving, Paul had his first experience with a digital piano and all the different sounds it could create. This opened up a new world for him and he found a new love for the keyboard.
In 2004 Paul started a website, ThePianoGuys.com, to drive customers to his store instead of using the franchise’s website. He loved showing pianos and favored the Yamaha Disklavier and Clavinova. He felt that everyone needed to know about these fine instruments. Every person that walked in the store got educated on what he believed to be the best of the best.
When Jon Schmidt came into the store to practice Paul approached him and said he would create the videos if Jon created the music. Jon was hesitant at first, especially since Love Story Meets Viva La Vida had ran into some copyright issues. Paul eventually convinced Jon to give it a try and he personally funded the initial videos, risking a great deal with the belief it would take off. And it did. “During my first conversation with Paul he told me that ThePianoGuys’ YouTube channel of 10,000 subscribers (at the time) would one day be the largest in the world, I thought he was crazy,” laughs Steven Sharp Nelson. “Since then I’ve eaten my hat.”