Tall, curly-haired British pop star Mika has been compared to Freddie Mercury and Elton John, among others. He's vying for a Grammy next Sunday in the dance field, but Mika (pronounced ME-ka) is more in the pop-rock realm. With the newly minted star

Last update: February 2, 2008 - 4:56 PM

Tall, curly-haired British pop star Mika has been compared to Freddie Mercury and Elton John, among others. He's vying for a Grammy next Sunday in the dance field, but Mika (pronounced ME-ka) is more in the pop-rock realm. With the newly minted star heading to First Avenue on Wednesday, we asked him to discuss some of his favorite rock pianists. By the by, he did not mention Little Richard, with whom he coincidentally shares a surname (Penniman).

JON BREAM

"There's a great guy called Roger Manning; he was in a band called Jellyfish. Prince. Big-time. He writes mostly at the piano. I'm quite a fan of Ben Folds of Ben Folds Five; I think he's extremely talented. There's a band called Sigur Ros. They use piano [by Kjartan Sveinsson]. Extremely beautiful."