Rick Wakeman

Rick Wakeman

Rick Wakeman is an English keyboard player and composer from Perivale, United Kingdom, born in 1949. He is best known for his work with the progressive rock band Yes, and is also associated with Strawbs, Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, the English Rock Ensemble, Yes featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman, and other line-ups and projects listed under his name.

Early training and session work

Wakeman begins as a classically trained pianist. He studies piano, clarinet, orchestration and modern music at the Royal College of Music, but leaves after a year and a half to work as a session musician. He also attends Drayton Manor Grammar School. In 1970 he plays with Strawbs and works as a studio musician, including sessions with David Bowie, Cat Stevens and Al Stewart.

His early session credits include piano on David Bowie’s Life on Mars? and Cat Stevens’ Morning Has Broken. He also plays mellotron on Bowie’s Space Oddity, piano on Changes, and keyboards on Black Sabbath’s Sabbath Bloody Sabbath tracks “Sabbra Cadabra” and “Who Are You”. Other collaborators named in his session work include John Williams, Brotherhood of Man, Elton John, Lou Reed, T. Rex, Ozzy Osbourne and Brian May.

Yes and progressive rock work

Wakeman joins Yes in 1971 after Tony Kaye leaves the band. His first album with the group is Fragile, followed by work on Close to the Edge and the live release Yessongs. He leaves after the Tales from Topographic Oceans tour, partly because of musical differences and the demands of performing the material on stage, then returns for Going for the One in 1977 and remains for Tormato.

He later forms Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe in 1989 with three other former Yes members. After the planned second ABWH album is folded into Union with tracks from an in-progress Yes record, the combined line-up tours as a Yes supergroup in 1991. Wakeman returns again for the Keys to Ascension albums in 1996, then rejoins Yes in 2002 and remains involved with the band. He is also associated with The English Rock Ensemble and the later Yes line-up featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin and himself.

Solo albums and film music

During his time with Yes, Wakeman releases his first solo album, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, which features a range of electronic and acoustic keyboard instruments and includes contributions from some Yes members on selected tracks. In 1975 he follows it with the concept album The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, supported by a stage show with ice skating, orchestra, choir and many musicians. The production is expensive enough to lead to bankruptcy.

He writes the soundtracks for Ken Russell’s Lisztomania and Crimes of Passion. His other album titles mentioned in the input include Journey to the Centre of the Earth, Criminal Record, Fields of Green ’97, and the Christmas-themed piano album Christmas Portraits. He also records the progressive rock album The Red Planet with the English Rock Ensemble. His work is associated with classical, new age, piano rock, progressive pop, progressive rock and rock.

Instruments and broadcasting

Wakeman is a noted player of the Hammond organ, Minimoog and Mellotron, and is described as a pioneer in using electronic keyboards and in combining a rock band with orchestra and choir. He buys his first Minimoog from actor Jack Wild at a reduced price after Wild thinks it only plays one note. He helps popularise the Mellotron and later works with David Biro on the Birotron, an instrument based on 8-track cassette technology.

He hosts a regular radio show on Planet Rock and appears in media programmes including Grumpy Old Men, Countdown, Have I Got News For You, The Personality Test, and Journey to the Centre of Rick Wakeman. He also presents a weekly Saturday morning programme called Rick’s Place on Planet Rock.

Personal life and later activity

Wakeman describes himself as a former alcoholic and has had several heart attacks in his twenties. He marries former Page Three model Nina Carter and later divorces. He has six children named Adam, Oliver, Oscar, Jemma, Ben and Manda Wakeman, several of whom also work in music. He is a Freemason, a supporter of Brentford F.C. and later Manchester City F.C., and is involved in the ownership of Philadelphia Fury. He supports the Conservative Party and has performed for the party. He is also president of The Heritage Foundation and honorary president of the Classic Rock Society.

Orchestra, choir and media use

The “Arthur” section of his King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table suite is used as the BBC’s Election Night theme from 1979, apart from 2001, and music from Fields of Green ’97 is also used for election coverage. Wakeman is also listed among artists whose material is reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.