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Thought it'd be interesting to learn about the piano brand famous, non-classical, pianists preferred.

For starters I know Oscar Peterson preferred Bosendorfer. He picked his out of about 15 at the factory.

Notice Erroll Garner is playing a C.Bechstein via a DVD I have.

Liberace seemed to prefer Baldwin.

Others?

Bech

I believe Hank Jones was a Baldwin artist.

Art Tatum owned a Steinway "B".

Ben Folds, my favorite rock pianist, plays a Baldwin. When I went to his last concert, he told us that the Baldwin he's been recording and touring with was destroyed in the Nashville floods. He was planning to auction all the pieces for charity.

A short list of Steinway artists:

Horowitz
Glenn Gould
Claudio Arrau
Rudolf Serkin
Martha Argerich
Arthur Rubinstein
Rosalyn Tureck
Josef Hofmann
Ivo Pogorelich
Lang Lang
Keith Jarrett
Brad Mehldau
Kenny Barron
Kenny Werner
Ahmad Jamal
Michel Petrucciani
Fred Hersch
Richard Beirach
Abdullah Ibrahim
Ramsey Lewis
Michel Legrand
Franz Liszt
Edvard Grieg
George Gershwin
Saint-Säenst
Richard Wagner
Gustav Mahler
Rachmaninoff
Igor Stravinsky
Olivier Messiaen
Duke Ellington
McCoy Tyner
Diana Krall
Billy Joel
Irving Berlin
Richard Rodgers
Cole Porter
George Winston
Vijay Iyer
Jon Nakamatsu
Randy Newman

When I saw Ben in April he was playing a Steinway. Kind of surprised me because I was expecting a Baldwin.

Here's the Yamaha site with their artists. List their gear and even separates them by classical, contemporary, digital, etc...

http://www.yamaha.com/artists/categories.html?CTID=5070000

I'm second from the top:)

http://www.shigerukawai.com/Pages/artists.html

I'll go with the Steinway list, no contest. But I am pretty sure Yamaha roles out more of a red carpet for its endorsers. Yamaha always has a piano there that is exactly the same as what they are comfortable playing on. Japanese customer service trumps most.

Regarding Yamaha, the perks depends on who you are. I know a couple of Toronto pianists with Yammie endorsements and pretty much all they get is a discount on rental and moving for concerts.
Steinway will only give you an endorsement if you buy one first. Considering how over priced they are, that's not an option for a lot of pianists.

Geri Allen, one of the world's greatest jazz pianists (and a Steinway artist of over 20 years), just recorded her newest release on a Fazioli.

Yes, of course the perks depend on who you are.

Fazioli pianos are great. Herbie Hancock has one.

dont fazioli only make like 100 pianos a year or something...

I was told by a salesperson at a reputable piano store that big time artists (in pop or rock) are not paid for endorsements. Rather, they have free use of the piano of their choice waiting for them at each show at no charge provided by the maufacturer through a local channel.
I find this pretty hard to believe, but being new to the whole "piano thing" ( I just started lessons at age 52) I pretended to believe him. Is this true?

Hmmmm, I think I found out the answer to my own question. According to the Artist Relations section of the above listed Yamaha web site, they do not pay for endorsements. They frame it in such a way that they (the manufacturer) endorses the artist, not the other way around. I still find this hard to believe. Hey, call me cynical!

I would think most big artists prefer to have their own instrument travel with them rather than play a completely different one each night so I don't know how great of a perk this would be, unless someone found themselves needing a piano quickly due to an emergency.