Rick Wakeman

Richard Christopher Wakeman was born on 18 May 1949 at Perivale Maternity Hospital in Perivale, Middlesex. He is the only child of Mildred Helen (née Eastment) and Cyril Frank Wakeman. The family lived in Wood End Gardens in nearby Northolt. Cyril worked at a building suppliers, starting as an office boy at age 14 and worked up to became one of its directors, and was a pianist in Ted Heath's big band while he was in the British Army. Wakeman attended Wood End Junior School until he was ten, followed by Drayton Manor Grammar in Hanwell. His summer holidays were spent with his parents in Exmouth. Although raised in a Christian family, Wakeman "never had anything forced on me" and attended South Harrow Baptist Church, which he enjoyed. He took up the church organ at twelve, joined the Boys' Brigade, and completed a two-year course to become a Sunday school teacher. At eighteen he decided to be baptised by immersion. Eventually his parents allowed him to play a piece on the piano. "Everybody clapped, and I thought, I'll have some more of that, and refused to go back to bed." His first keyboard was a reed organ bought from Woolworths. Between the ages of seven and eighteen, Wakeman had classically trained piano and theory lessons with Dorothy Symes in Harrow, paid for by his father, who spent almost half of his income on tuition. His showmanship also developed early, when at age ten, he played Conway's honky-tonk piano hit "Side Saddle" instead of his intended rehearsed piece, a Clementi piano sonatina, at his annual school talent show. In the same year Symes entered Wakeman in the Southall Music Festival, which he won for his category. He went on to win many others on the competition circuit in the south and west London area over the next several years; biographer Dan Wooding reported over 100 certificates and 20 medals and cups. Wakeman described himself as "a horror" at Drayton Manor school, "I worked hard in the first year then eased up." He passed music, art, maths and English at O Level, and chose to study music, art, and British constitution at A-level. He failed the latter. He played in the school football team. ==Career==

1962–1969: Early career and Royal College of Music At age 12, Wakeman formed his first musical group, the traditional jazz outfit Brother Wakeman and the Clergymen. The band's name was a reference to their makeshift uniforms: school shirts worn backward to resemble clerical collars, prompting a friend to remark that they looked like vicars. These connections led to his first radio appearance when singer James Royal invited him to join a live BBC session alongside Entwistle and guitarist Mick King. Wakeman's tenure at the college was marked by increasing friction with the institution's traditionalism. His proposals to establish a rock and jazz club were rejected, and he clashed with faculty over his appearance, refusing a professor's demand to cut his hair. Disillusioned, he began neglecting his studies, spending his time at the Musical Bargain Centre, a music shop in Ealing. The shop’s owner, Dave Simms, recognised Wakeman's potential and employed him as a pianist in his dance band. Wakeman's transition into professional session work began when guitarist Chas Cronk visited the shop seeking an organist and brass arranger for a session with Jimmy Thomas, a vocalist for the Ike & Tina Turner Revue. Recognising Wakeman's growing aptitude for contemporary music and the lucrative nature of his session career, his clarinet professor, Basil Tschaikov, encouraged him to pursue his professional path. In 1969, after one year of study, Wakeman withdrew from the college. 1969–1970: Early session work Following his departure from the Royal College of Music, Wakeman secured a steady income by returning to the Ronnie Smith band at the Top Rank ballroom in Reading. This period proved significant personally as well as professionally; he met his first wife, Rosaline Woolford, at the venue and the pair were engaged within three months. To supplement his evening residency, Wakeman began working as a freelance session musician during the day. His schedule was rigorous, often encompassing three or four sessions daily across various London studios. Starting at a rate of £9 per full session, his reputation for efficiency and technical precision soon commanded fees of up to £15. His ability to deliver the required arrangements with minimal rehearsal earned him the nickname "One Take Wakeman." Wakeman's versatility led to a prolific partnership with prominent session contractor David Katz, who frequently employed Wakeman as his primary pianist for television scores, including themes for The Avengers and Jason King. Beyond television, he collaborated extensively with producers Dudgeon and Visconti, contributing to what is estimated to be approximately 2,000 sessions throughout his career spanning pop records, television and radio jingles, and film soundtracks. Later in 1969, Wakeman accepted a residency with the Spinning Wheel, the house band at The Greyhound pub in Chadwell Heath, East London. The position, advertised in Melody Maker by owner Bob Wheatley, required a seven-day-a-week commitment. This stable employment allowed Wakeman to leave his family home in Northolt and relocate with Woolford to a basement flat in Ilford. During this period, Wakeman was approached by bassist Nick Simper to join Warhorse, a new project formed following Simper's departure from Deep Purple. Although he participated in several rehearsals, Wakeman departed before the band's first demo recordings. Simper later attributed this to Wakeman's perceived lack of commitment and his struggle adapting to the band's hard rock direction. Wakeman's studio career continued to diversify. In a gesture of support, Visconti booked Wakeman for Marsha Hunt's cover of "I Walk on Gilded Splinters", tasking him with playing a single piano note solely to ensure he qualified for the session fee. His studio versatility further led to collaborations with Elton John, contributing Hammond organ to Madman Across the Water (1971) and appearing as a guest performer at John's Royal Festival Hall concert that March. Despite these high-profile credits, Wakeman's finances remained precarious. Following a chance encounter with Bolan on Oxford Street while struggling to pay weekly rent, he recorded a series of piano glissandos for T. Rex's "Get It On" primarily to secure the session fee. However, his most significant artistic development occurred in June 1971, when Bowie invited him to his Beckenham home to audition material for his next album, Hunky Dory (1971). Wakeman later described the compositions, which included "Life on Mars?" and "Changes", as the finest selection of songs he had ever heard. His piano contributions became central to the album's sound, and he credited Bowie with teaching him essential studio craft. By mid-1971, Wakeman's session earnings allowed him to move to West Harrow and invest in new technology. He famously purchased a Minimoog synthesizer at half price from actor Jack Wild, who mistakenly believed the instrument was defective because it could only play one note at a time. During this period, the budget label Polydor released Piano Vibrations (1971), an album of pop and jazz covers featuring Wakeman, the John Schroeder orchestra, and an unnamed singer; he was paid a flat fee of £36 and received no credit on the sleeve. Wakeman's final studio effort with the Strawbs was From the Witchwood, was released in July 1971. The recording process exposed a growing creative rift; Cousins rejected Wakeman's songwriting contributions as overly complex and deemed his lyrics "awful", while Wakeman began prioritising session work over band rehearsals. Tensions peaked during a Top of the Pops performance of "The Hangman and the Papist", where Wakeman's flamboyant use of a paint roller to play his organ frustrated Cousins. Recognising that his interest in the band's folk direction had waned, Wakeman prepared to leave the group and at one point, considered assembling his own band. 1971–1974: First Yes stint, Six Wives, and Journey to the Centre of the Earth In July 1971, Wakeman reached a pivotal juncture in his career when he was simultaneously invited to join Bowie's new backing group, the Spiders from Mars, and the progressive rock band Yes. The latter offer arose following the dismissal of founding keyboardist Tony Kaye, whose reluctance to expand beyond the piano and organ conflicted with the band's desire to incorporate more electronic keyboards. Wakeman opted to join Yes, citing the greater musical freedom and long-term potential. His arrival was a significant industry event, earning him his second Melody Maker cover feature within a year, while his weekly salary increased from £18 to £50. The subsequent tour marked Wakeman's debut performances in North America, during which he leveraged his rising profile to secure a five-album solo contract with A&M Records. His rising profile was reflected in the 1972 Melody Maker readers' poll, where he was ranked the second-best keyboardist, trailing Keith Emerson. In 1972, Yes released Close to the Edge, now regarded as a landmark album of the progressive rock genre. The album showcased Wakeman’s expanding technical range, incorporating diverse instrumentation such as the harpsichord and a pipe organ. Unlike his uncredited work on Fragile, Wakeman received a formal arrangement credit for the final track, "Siberian Khatru". During the subsequent American tour in September 1972 Wakeman began to wear a cape on stage, becoming the visual trademark that would define his public image. After an audience member offered him a cape for free, Wakeman commissioned his own bespoke versions, the first of which was a $300 sequined one designed by Denise Gandrup. Combined with his long blonde hair, the capes provided a striking visual contrast to the more reserved stage presence of his bandmates. Wakeman's performances during this period were documented in the concert film Yessongs (1975), filmed at the Rainbow Theatre, which highlighted his intricate solo segments. His versatility beyond Yes continued with a guest appearance in the orchestral performances of the Who's Tommy (1972) at the same venue and contributions to the soundtrack of the British drama film Zee and Co. (1972). In January 1973, A&M released Wakeman's debut solo studio album, The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Recorded intermittently throughout 1972, the instrumental concept album featured his musical interpretations of the personalities of Henry VIII's wives with contributions from his bandmates in Yes and the Strawbs, alongside various session musicians. Wakeman's profile was significantly boosted by a fortuitous television appearance on The Old Grey Whistle Test; a large segment of the national audience, displaced by the last-minute censorship of Andy Warhol's Blue Movie, tuned in to see Wakeman perform "Catherine Howard" on the show. He later reflected that this accidental exposure was a "tremendous break" that introduced his music to the wider British public. The album was a commercial and critical success, reaching No. 7 in the UK and No. 30 in the US, where it was certified Gold for selling 500,000 copies. Time magazine named it one of the year's best records, and the 1973 Melody Maker readers' poll saw Wakeman overtake Emerson to be named top keyboardist. Wakeman's solo triumph contrasted with his growing alienation during the sessions for Yes's double concept album, Tales from Topographic Oceans (1973). He was sceptical of the project's esoteric themes, based on scriptures outlined in Paramahansa Yogananda's Autobiography of a Yogi, and felt the music was overextended and insufficiently rehearsed. He distanced himself from the group during recording, frequently retreating to the studio bar and contributing to Black Sabbath's Sabbra Cadabra in the adjacent studio. His frustration peaked during the subsequent six-month tour; in a well-publicised act of protest against the setlist, he ate a takeaway curry on stage during a performance at the Free Trade Hall in Manchester. Though he later acknowledged some "very nice musical moments" on the album, he maintained that the material suffered from "awful" padding. During a hiatus in the Yes tour, Wakeman recorded Journey to the Centre of the Earth, a 40-minute adaptation of the Jules Verne novel conceived in 1971 that required an orchestra, choir, and rock band. To finance the £40,000 production costs, Wakeman re-mortgaged his home, sold several of his luxury cars, and was forced to record the work live in concert which took place at the Royal Festival Hall on 18 January 1974 with the London Symphony Orchestra and the English Chamber Choir conducted by David Measham, and narrator David Hemmings. For his band, Wakeman enlisted musicians that he had played with in a West London pub–vocalist Gary Pickford-Hopkins, drummer Barney James, and bassist Roger Newell–with his former Top Rank bandmate Ashley Holt on second vocals, and session guitarist Mike Egan. Despite initial resistance from A&M's UK division, the label's co-founder Jerry Moss personally ordered its worldwide release. Following the conclusion of the Tales from Topographic Oceans tour, Wakeman confirmed his departure from Yes on 18 May 1974, his 25th birthday. Later that day, he learned that Journey had entered the UK charts at number one, a first for A&M. The album reached No. 3 in the US, received a Grammy Award nomination for Best Pop Instrumental Performance, and was certified Gold in the UK, US, Australia, Canada, and Brazil. However, the physical demands of his career reached a breaking point during a headline performance at the Crystal Palace Garden Party in July 1974. Suffering from exhaustion, a wrist injury, and the effects of excessive smoking and alcohol, Wakeman required morphine injections to finish the show; shortly thereafter, he suffered a minor heart attack. 1974–1980: King Arthur, No Earthly Connection, and second Yes run While recovering in hospital from his heart attack, Wakeman disregarded medical advice to moderate his lifestyle and reduce his workload; he continued to smoke and drink and began to write music for his next album. He settled on another concept album, this time based on Arthurian legend, titled The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Before recording commenced, Wakeman embarked on his first solo world tour in September 1974. The initial 20-city North American leg featured his band, the National Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir of America conducted by Measham, performing Journey to the Centre of the Earth and selections from The Six Wives of Henry VIII. Per medical instructions, he was required to pass a heart monitor test before every performance. The tour concluded in March 1975 after dates in Japan, Australia, and New Zealand. with ice skaters Recording for King Arthur was completed at Morgan Studios in January 1975, featuring Wakeman's band and Measham conducting the New World Orchestra and English Chamber Choir. Released that March, the album reached No. 2 in the UK and No. 21 in the US, earning a gold certification in the UK for selling 100,000 copies, plus Brazil, Japan, and Australia. To promote the record, Wakeman staged three sold-out shows at London's Empire Pool for 27,000 spectators. Because the venue floor was already frozen for another attraction, Wakeman presented the concert as an "ice pageant" featuring 14 costumed skaters and a castle-themed stage set in the round. Although the production was a commercial success, it was prohibitively expensive to produce. The shows were later ranked 79th on VH1's 100 Greatest Shocking Moments in Rock and Roll. The track "Arthur" has served as the theme for BBC general election broadcasts from 1979 to 2005 (except 2001), and from 2019 onwards. By mid-1975, Wakeman had reached the height of his commercial success. He was featured on the cover of Rolling Stone in January and managed his business interests with a staff payroll through Complex 7, a group of companies with a rehearsal facility at a former bus depot in High Wycombe. His personal wealth was reflected in his acquisition of a farmhouse in Woodbury Salterton, Devon, and a former nursing home in Burnham Beeches, Buckinghamshire, used to house his car collection. His career was profiled in the BBC documentary series Success Story in September 1975. Wakeman assembled a new line-up of his band, by now officially named the English Rock Ensemble, that consisted of Holt, Newell, and Hodgson, plus newcomers John Dunsterville on guitar, Reg Brooks and Martin Shields on brass, and Tony Fernandez on drums. Fernandez would become a mainstay of Wakeman's future projects, touring with him until 2022. The group toured major venues across the US, Canada, and Brazil from October to December 1975, performing selections from Wakeman's first three albums. The Brazilian leg was particularly successful, with biographer Dan Wooding estimating a total attendance of 500,000 people. He composed the music in its entirety before playing any of it, describing the work in the liner notes as a "futuristic, autobiographical look at music" across human existence. The centrepiece is the 28-minute suite "Music Reincarnate" with five distinct sections. Released in April 1976, the album reached No. 9 in the UK and No. 67 in the US. Wakeman and his group toured the album across North America and Europe that concluded in August. Following his 1976 world tour, Wakeman faced a severe financial crisis. High operating costs and tax liabilities resulted in a debt of £350,000, forcing him to sell his Rolls-Royce collection, shutter his Fragile car service company, and disband the English Rock Ensemble. He secured financial relief through a royalty advance from A&M Records and the completion of the soundtrack for White Rock, a documentary on the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck that reached No. 14 in the UK. The score included "After the Ball", a track Wakeman entirely improvised in a single take after forgetting to compose the piece prior to the recording session. During this period, Wakeman's manager, Brian Lane, proposed a supergroup featuring former Yes bandmate Bill Bruford and King Crimson bassist John Wetton. The trio rehearsed for six weeks, but the project collapsed due to management disputes and premature coverage in Melody Maker. Wakeman's fortunes shifted in November 1976 when he was invited to join Yes in Montreux, Switzerland, during the sessions for Going for the One (1977). The band's previous keyboardist, Patrick Moraz, had departed due to internal pressures, and Wakeman found the new material more enjoyable and accessible than the band's previous experimental direction. Though he initially joined as a session musician, he quickly agreed to return as a full-time member. However, his return was complicated by Lane, who leaked the news to Melody Maker before consulting Wakeman, leading to a premature front page announcement. During the recording of the follow-up, Tormato (1978), Wakeman utilised the Birotron, a unique tape-replay keyboard he had helped fund. The album's title and cover art were famously inspired by an incident in which Wakeman, frustrated by the band's initial artwork choice, threw a tomato at the design. Wakeman's final solo releases for A&M saw him return to instrumental concepts. ''Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record (1977) was loosely themed around criminality and featured Yes bandmates Chris Squire and Alan White and humorous vocals by comedian Bill Oddie. The album reached No. 25 in the UK and No. 28 in the US; its track "Birdman of Alcatraz" gained further recognition as the theme for the BBC television drama series My Son, My Son, and was released as a single. His final A&M effort, the double album Rhapsodies'' (1979), was recorded in Montreux and featured shorter tracks in diverse musical styles with Bruce Lynch, Frank Gibson Jr., and Tony Visconti as guest musicians. It peaked at No. 25 in the UK. Following a 1979 tour with Yes, the band attempted to record new material in Paris and London. However, these sessions were largely unsuccessful due to creative differences and internal friction. In early 1980, both Wakeman and lead vocalist Jon Anderson left the group, marking the end of Wakeman's second tenure with the band. 1980–1984: Financial instability and Charisma years Following a four-year hiatus, Wakeman reformed the English Rock Ensemble for a European tour in 1980. That same year, he declined an invitation to form a supergroup with Carl Palmer, John Wetton, and Trevor Rabin. Despite the commercial potential, Wakeman opted out on principle after discovering the record company was willing to sign the band without hearing any material—a decision he later noted "sealed [his] financial fate." The death of his father in November 1980, coupled with a second divorce, prompted him to leave Switzerland and return to England. Facing bankruptcy, Wakeman experienced a period of homelessness, briefly sleeping in Kensington Gardens before finding temporary accommodation with a former roadie. To address his mounting debts, Wakeman signed with Tony Stratton-Smith's Charisma Records. His first release for the label was 1984 (1981), a concept rock album based on George Orwell's dystopian novel. The project featured lyrics by Tim Rice and vocal contributions from Jon Anderson, Chaka Khan, and Kenny Lynch. The album reached No. 24 in the UK and became Wakeman's highest charting album of the decade. Plans to adapt it into a musical were halted by legal intervention from the Orwell estate. A subsequent world tour followed in 1981, with a line-up of Fernandez, Tim Stone on guitar, Steve Barnacle on bass, and Cori Josias on vocals, but it was marred by growing internal band friction. Before the tour Wakeman held two performances of Journey to the Centre of the Earth in Durban, South Africa. Throughout 1981 and 1982, Wakeman diversified his output through television and film scoring. He recorded the soundtrack for the American slasher film The Burning (1981) Originally recorded in Switzerland in 1979, it remained unreleased until Wakeman secured the rights to the album. The music video to the song featured a young Boy George. In early 1983, he appeared as a co-host on the Channel 4 music programme GasTank alongside Tony Ashton. His inaugural release for the label, Silent Nights (1985), was his first solo studio effort in over two years. Recorded with a band featuring Rick Fenn and Chas Cronk, the album produced the single "Glory Boys" which gained national attention. During this period, Wakeman also expanded his portfolio of television music, composing themes for the ITV drama ''Lytton's Diary, the tech programme Database, the BBC show Paddles Up, and the documentary Supercat. This success solidified his association with the genre, leading to a weekly New Age radio residency on Capital Radio and the release of The Family Album (1987), which featured compositions dedicated to his relatives and pets alongside scores for the films The Day After the Fair and Mackintosh''. Wakeman's first Christian release was his 1987 double album The Gospels. Based on the four canonical gospels, the project featured tenor Ramon Remedios, narrator Robert Powell, and the Eton College Chapel Choir. Originally conceived for a 1985 church fundraiser, the work was expanded into a full studio production and premiered at the Royal Albert Hall. A subsequent 1988 performance in Caesarea, Israel, was broadcast to an international television audience. He also returned to conceptual rock with Time Machine (1988), loosely inspired by the H. G. Wells novel. The album featured guest vocalists Roy Wood and Tracy Ackerman. Though Wakeman had envisioned a grand production involving an orchestra, choir, and a celebrity ice show, these plans were ultimately abandoned due to insufficient funding. In March 1988, motivated by a need to stabilise their finances, Wakeman and Carter relocated the family Peel on the Isle of Man. He converted a coach house on the property into a 24-track recording facility, which he named Bajonor Studios—an acronym derived from the first names of his family members. The studio was a strategic compromise; Wakeman had previously lost film-scoring opportunities due to the prohibitive costs of renting commercial London studios, and the private facility allowed for lower production overheads. In the first half of the 1990s, Wakeman performed and released music in aid of ASSIST, a California-based Christian organisation founded by journalist Dan Wooding, author of Wakeman's biography. In 1994, Wakeman completed the Simply Acoustic Tour, a series of solo piano concerts in the US in aid of ASSIST. Recordings from shows in Virginia and the Calvary Chapel in Costa Mesa, California was released on The Piano Album in 1995. The latter show was attended by 8,000 people. Wakeman formed Hope Records to release this new Christian music, and decided to use the royalty payments to fund the production of more albums for the label. In October 1992, Wakeman embarked on a world tour with a four-piece group of Fernandez, guitarist and bassist Alan Thomson, and his son Adam Wakeman on additional keyboards. The tour lasted until 1994, and was organised as Wakeman wished to tour with a second keyboardist to "free [him] up to do more things" on stage. The tour marked the release of Wakeman with Wakeman, an album of keyboard compositions written and performed by the pair. They released No Expense Spared in 1993, Romance of the Victorian Age in 1994, and Vignettes in 1996. In 1993, Wakeman's financial situation took an unexpected turn when he was demanded to pay almost £70,000 to the Inland Revenue for interest charges and unpaid penalties related to tax he had paid for the preceding six years. He later wrote: "With help from Brian Lane's office and Yes's accountants, in my signing away all publishing income from everything I had ever written ... Twenty-two years' work had vanished in the three seconds it had taken to sign my name." Wakeman credits his 1993 appearance on the evening talk show Danny Baker After All as a turning point in his television career, after he told a story about being arrested in Moscow for smuggling a KGB uniform out of the country. In mid-1995, Wakeman became involved with Phillip Gandey's family circus entertainment project Cirque Surreal, writing and recording "timeless" pieces to enhance the show's various characters. The show was initially held at the Brighton Festival, and Wakeman went out to perform it live with his band at other venues, including the Cheltenham Festival. Around the same time, Wakeman scored the soundtrack to Bullet to Beijing, a made-for-television film starring Michael Caine and Jason Connery. He also scored its sequel, Midnight in Saint Petersburg. Wakeman left Yes in May 1997 before he could tour with them, due to scheduling conflicts and lack of coordination between the artists' management. In June 1997, Wakeman became the host of the stand-up comedy television show Live at Jongleurs. Later in 1997, his 20-minute choral piece "Noah", written for the English Chamber Choir, premiered in London. Wakeman performed the piece with the choir once more in 2011. 1998–2008: Return to the Centre of the Earth, English Rock Ensemble revival, and final Yes run In 1998, he started work on Return to the Centre of the Earth, a sequel album to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Journey to the Centre of the Earth. The idea first came to Wakeman in 1991 during a tour of Italy, which led to discussions about the project with Atlantic Records that year about a re-recording of the original album with new equipment and arrangements, but the idea was rejected. It was revived in 1996 when Wakeman received offers from three record companies willing to fund and release a new "epic" album. After a deal with EMI Classics was made, a story based on three unnamed travellers and their attempt to follow the original route was finalised, and recording began in 1998 with a band, the London Symphony Orchestra, the English Chamber Choir, Patrick Stewart as the narrator, and guest performances from Trevor Rabin, Ozzy Osbourne, and Bonnie Tyler. Released in 1999, the album went to number 34 in the UK, Wakeman's first album to enter the chart in 12 years. Recording was temporarily disrupted because of Wakeman's health. He made a cameo appearance in the 2002 thriller horror film Alone as a hospital patient. In 2003, Wakeman starred in the BBC television show Grumpy Old Men, and stayed on as a regular until the show ended in 2006. The show increased his national profile and made him a regular in the after dinner speech circuit. In April 2002, Wakeman rejoined Yes for the fifth and final time, and said it took eight months to get the necessary paperwork to make it happen. The band toured worldwide with the Full Circle Tour and 35th Anniversary Tours, which ran from 2002 to 2004. Wakeman described the band's playing during his return: "It was far and away the best the band had ever been ... there was no staleness, there was a lot of freshness." The only new studio material worked on during this time were bonus tracks on The Ultimate Yes: 35th Anniversary Collection. After the 2004 tour Yes entered a four-year hiatus, during which Wakeman retired from large scale tours following ongoing health problems. When the band regrouped in 2008, Wakeman's son Oliver replaced him on keyboards. In April 2005, Wakeman and his band performed three shows in Havana, Cuba, including an outdoor show attended by an estimated 10,000 people. They came about after Wakeman was offered to perform there to support a charitable foundation that supports a children's cancer hospital. The first two shows were filmed and released as Made in Cuba, proceeds from which were given to the hospital. Cuban leader Fidel Castro greeted Wakeman, thanking him for his humanitarian support. This was followed by a performance of Return to the Centre of the Earth with his band, orchestra, and choir in Quebec, Canada. The show featured Jon Anderson as a guest performer, which led to the pair touring the UK together as Anderson/Wakeman. Wakeman scored the 2007 documentary film In Search of the Great Beast 666, about the life of occultist Aleister Crowley. He toured the UK in 2007 with a new production, the Grumpy Old Picture Show. Inspired by his appearances on Grumpy Old Men, the show combined live performances and stories with visual accompaniments including old photos and pre-recorded sketches. The initial run of 14 dates were so successful, Wakeman completed a further 24 dates in the following year. During this period, Wakeman also collaborated with Deep Purple keyboardist Jon Lord for a performance at the Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Sunflower Jam charity. Although the pair intended to record an album together, the project was curtailed by Lord's cancer diagnosis and his subsequent death in 2012; their Sunflower Jam set remained Lord's final live appearance. In July 2011, Wakeman reunited with Strawbs during their acoustic summer tour with a guest appearance at their show at AbbeyFest. The discovery of a long-lost conductor's score in 2009 prompted Wakeman to record an expanded version of Journey to the Centre of the Earth in 2012. Originally truncated to fit the constraints of a single LP, the re-recorded work spanned 54 minutes and featured the English Rock Ensemble with original vocalist Ashley Holt and second vocalist Hayley Sanderson, the Orion Orchestra, and narration by Peter Egan. To commemorate the original album's fortieth anniversary, Wakeman performed this expanded version on a 14-date UK tour in 2014. This project served as the catalyst for a similar expansion of The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Released in June 2016, this 88-minute version, narrated by Ian Lavender, was Wakeman's first album produced through direct-to-fan crowdfunding. He premiered the work live the same day at the Stone Free Festival at London's O2 Arena. In June 2013, Wakeman participated in the Medieval Mystery Play Festival with performances at Blackfriars Priory—where he was joined by his children Oliver, Adam, and Jemma—and the Cheltenham Centaur. The latter featured new arrangements of his 1970s trilogy performed with the English Rock Ensemble and the Cheltenham Symphony Orchestra. Although he had planned to stage King Arthur at Kingsholm Stadium that year, the event was cancelled. Following a 10-show piano residency at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2013, he announced a Wakemanfest event at the Gliderdrome in Boston, Lincolnshire for October 2015; however, the festival and a subsequent Scandinavian tour were postponed after Wakeman suffered an undisclosed health scare. Once recovered, he spent much of 2016 to 2018 touring globally with Yes bandmates Jon Anderson and Trevor Rabin as Yes Featuring Jon Anderson, Trevor Rabin, Rick Wakeman, a collaboration that performed music from different eras of the band's catalogue. A significant shift in Wakeman's solo career occurred in January 2016 following the death of his long-time friend David Bowie. A live piano tribute of "Life on Mars?" on BBC Radio 2 received such viral acclaim that Wakeman released it as a charity single for Macmillan Cancer Support. The reception inspired a trilogy of solo piano albums: Piano Portraits (2017), Piano Odyssey (2018), and Christmas Portraits (2019). The first of these reached No. 6 in the UK, marking his highest chart position since 1975 and his first silver-certified album in the UK since 1977. This commercial resurgence culminated in 2019 with his first solo tour of the United States in 13 years. In June 2020, Wakeman returned to progressive rock with The Red Planet, an instrumental rock concept album inspired by Mars that featured his English Rock Ensemble. He followed this in March 2023 with A Gallery of the Imagination, a stylistically diverse collection of songs with Sanderson on vocals and instrumentals. During this period, he also staged a significant retrospective at the London Palladium in February 2023, performing The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Journey to the Centre of the Earth, and King Arthur in their entirety alongside a selection of Yes material. These performances were subsequently released as a live album. Following a 2024 UK tour dedicated to his Journey and Yes catalogues, Wakeman embarked on what was billed as his final solo piano tours of North America and Europe. A centrepiece of these performances was "Yessonata", a 30-minute piano composition interpolating various themes and melodies from his tenure with Yes. A 20-minute studio version of the piece was later paired with a similar suite based on themes from King Arthur for a standalone album release. In 2024, Wakeman also performed at the Starmus Festival, debuting an original composition for piano and orchestra written as a tribute to primatologist and climate campaigner Jane Goodall. Following a period of recouperation from surgery, Wakeman began a North American tour with himself and eldest son Oliver Wakeman on additional keyboards for the first time in March 2026, billed as Wakeman and Son. ==Instruments==

By the end of 1972, Wakeman's typical keyboard setup included piano, electric piano, Mellotron, Hammond organ, and Minimoog synthesizer, and he had played a pipe organ and harpsichord on record. He went on to use many later models of synthesizers including the Polymoog and the short-lived Birotron, which he helped fund in its development. Because of the advent of digital keyboards at that time, and expensive components used in the instruments' manufacture, the Birotron was never a commercial or technical success and only 35 were produced. In recent years, Wakeman has used various Korg models, a Yamaha Montage, and the Memotron, a digital version of the original Mellotron. An urban legend claims that Wakeman got so frustrated with one Mellotron that he poured petrol on it and set fire to it, which he said in 2010 was only "semi-true", and had become an exaggerated story over time. He clarified that some were so far beyond repair they were taken apart and burnt, but he kept the frames. A double Mellotron that he had made was stolen and reappeared in America. In addition to keyboards, Wakeman still owns the soprano saxophone that he used at the Royal College of Music, and can play some rhythm and bass guitar. ==Recognition and influence==

In his foreword for Wakeman's 1979 biography, Elton John named The Six Wives of Henry VIII as one of his favourite albums. He noted Wakeman's "brilliant" technique and wrote that his "mastery of electronic instruments only adds to his abilities". In 2011, MusicRadar included Wakeman among "The 27 greatest keyboard players of all time". In 2019, readers of Prog voted him the second greatest progressive rock keyboard player, with the magazine stating, "Wakeman's time with Yes helped define prog as we know it, being filled with timeless brilliance [...] The man's style is fluent, and underlines a love of many genres, all cohesively brought into focus." In 2024, Neil McCormick of The Daily Telegraph ranked him as the second greatest keyboard player of all time. Keyboardists who have cited Wakeman as an influence included Dave Greenfield of the Stranglers and Mark Kelly of Marillion, who cited Wakeman as his primary influence. ==Personal life==

Family Wakeman has been married four times and has six children. In March 1970, at the age of 20, he married Rosaline Woolford. They had two sons, Oliver and Adam. Their marriage became strained by the end of 1976, as Wakeman was advised to take a year out of the country for tax purposes and was to spend several months recording with Yes in Switzerland. Woolford was reluctant to move with the family, and amongst other reasons, filed for divorce in 1977. In later life Wakeman said the marriage was a mistake for both of them as they were too young and were "not ready for what the musical world was about to throw at me." He began a relationship with Swiss-born Danielle Corminboeuf, a secretary at Mountain Studios in Montreux, while recording with Yes at the same studio. They married in January 1980 in Barbados. Wakeman left their home on the Isle of Man and for a period lived in hotels. In 2004, Wakeman revealed that he had had an extramarital affair with American-born designer Denise Gandrup, who first met Wakeman in 1972 and made several of his capes. After they split in 1981, they reconnected in 1985 and had one daughter. Wakeman felt it best to keep the relationship and child secret to protect his family, but continued to financially support his daughter. In December 2011, Wakeman married journalist Rachel Kaufman who is 25 years his junior. The pair met in 2004 when Kaufman conducted a press interview with him, and were engaged in 2007. Health Wakeman has faced a number of health issues. In his twenties he had three heart attacks due to smoking and drinking heavily and overworking. Wakeman stopped smoking in 1979, but continued to drink and recalled "wild" nights with Keith Moon, Vivian Stanshall, and Rick Parfitt. In September 1984, Wakeman was fined £155 and banned from driving for one year for speeding and being over the drink drive limit. On 8 August 1985, Wakeman became teetotal after he fell ill during an Australian tour. He flew home where a doctor revealed he had alcoholic hepatitis, signs of cirrhosis and organ failure, and said he had six months to live if he continued to drink. In 1998, Wakeman collapsed on a golf course and was rushed to hospital, where he was diagnosed with double pneumonia, pleurisy, high blood pressure, and showed signs of Legionnaires' disease. He was placed in an induced coma, and at one point his doctors gave him 24 hours to live. In 2016 Wakeman announced he had type-2 diabetes. In 2023, he said his playing was affected by macular degeneration in his left eye, which he treats with monthly injections. He also has arthritis in his hands, legs and feet, for which he wears half gloves while performing. In 2025, Wakeman had surgery on his spine and brain to treat his normal pressure hydrocephalus. Wakeman has never used drugs and believes that had he taken them he would have done so to excess and died. Other activities In the 1970s, Wakeman met Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and bought Tropical Saint, a racehorse that belonged to her. After it died, he bought Balinloning, a small horse that he had in care for a year and entered in races. In 1977, Wakeman was one of several musicians, along with Peter Frampton, Mick Jagger, and Paul Simon, who were part of the ownership group of the Philadelphia Fury, a new football team to compete in the North American Soccer League. The team split in 1980. Wakeman is a supporter of Brentford F.C. and in 1979, was a director of the team for one year. In 1983, he became chairman of Camberley Town F.C. while he was living there. Wakeman is also a supporter of Manchester City F.C. Wakeman has been a supporter of the Conservative Party, saying he was "unique in [Yes] as a card-carrying Conservative". Wakeman had a renewal of his Christian faith which began at around the time of his 1984 marriage to Carter. In the 1990s, Wakeman bought a house in Los Cristianos, Tenerife. In 1993 Wakeman was invited to play the piano at the inauguration of US President Bill Clinton. He declined due to unavailability. In 1996, Wakeman was involved in a plane crash while landing at Derry, Northern Ireland. The eight-seater Manx Airlines plane lost power and its undercarriage collapsed, causing the plane to land on its rear wheel and the front crashing onto the tarmac, with the propellers and engine breaking off. After passing a medical check he played at an awards ceremony dinner for the same airline. In September 2005 Wakeman began to host a Saturday morning radio show on Planet Rock called ''Rick's Place, that went on to feature David Jensen as co-host. The show ended in December 2010 after over 200 original episodes. Several months before its cancellation, Wakeman began a pre-recorded Saturday night show on Dublin-based Radio Nova with his friend David Hoffmann which lasted through 2012. In 2009, Wakeman recorded an online interview series called Face to Face with various musicians. In 2020 he launched Rick's Plaice'', a subscription-based video series based on the format of his former Planet Rock show. The series lasted two seasons. Freemasonry In 2007 Wakeman became a Freemason, joining the Chelsea Lodge No. 3098 which is made up of entertainers. His father was a member of the Brent Valley Lodge No. 3940, and the support that Wakeman and his mother received from his friends at the Lodge following his death was a catalyst for Wakeman to learn more about Freemasonry. In 2019, Wakeman was elected as an honorary member of his late father's Lodge. In 2011, Wakeman joined the Knights Templar fraternity, and is also a member of the Vaudeville Lodge. He hosted the Grumpy Old Rockstar's Chelsea Lodge Ladies Festival in the following year. Wakeman appears in his Masonic apron in the 2017 documentary series Inside the Freemasons. Charity work and patronage in aid of the Performing Right Society for Music Members' Benevolent Fund in 2009 In 1988, Wakeman was elected into the Lord's Taverners cricket charity, and was chairman of the Isle of Man branch with his wife in the early 1990s. He took up golf in the 1980s after becoming teetotal, and has since taken part in many charity tournaments. From 1995 until at least 2012, the Rick Wakeman Celebrity Classic golf tournament took place at Burhill Golf Club in Surrey, raising funds in aid of the children's charity Sparks. Wakeman is an honorary president of the Classic Rock Society, formed in Rotherham in 1991. In 2009, he became a patron of Tech Music School. He was one of the board of directors of the Performing Artists' Media Rights Association (PAMRA), a non-profit organisation committed to promoting musicians' rights and income. He is a patron and active supporter of several animal welfare charities, including Friends of the Animals and Saving Strays. In 2017, Wakeman was made an ambassador to Animals Asia Foundation, of which he has supported since 2013. Awards and honours In October 1997, Wakeman received a Golden Badge Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA), given for outstanding contributions to the British music and entertainment industry. In 2008, Wakeman gave a class to students of the London College of Music and later that year, received an honorary professorship from the college for his contributions to music. In 2010, Wakeman was awarded the Spirit of Prog Award at the annual Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards. In 2012, Wakeman received an honorary fellowship of the Royal College of Music in a ceremony presented by HRH The Prince of Wales, the college's president. In 2022, he received the Musicians' Company Honorary Fellowship at the Royal College. Wakeman was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2021 Birthday Honours for services to music and broadcasting. He is a Freeman of the City of London, and a liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Glovers. ==Band members==

Selected solo releases • Piano Vibrations (1971) • The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1973) • Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1974; live) • The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (1975) • No Earthly Connection (1976) • ''Rick Wakeman's Criminal Record'' (1977) • Rhapsodies (1979) • 1984 (1981) • Cost of Living (1983) • Silent Nights (1985) • Time Machine (1988) • Sea Airs (1989) • Phantom Power (1990) • Night Airs (1990) • Classic Tracks (1993) • ''Rick Wakeman's Greatest Hits'' (1993) • Light Up The Sky (1994; EP) • The Seven Wonders of the World (1995) • Return to the Centre of the Earth (1999) • Piano Portraits (2017) • Piano Odyssey (2018) • Christmas Portraits (2019) • The Red Planet (2020) • A Gallery of the Imagination (2023) • Yessonata (2024) • Melancholia (2025) Film scores • Zee and Co. (1972) • Lisztomania (1975) • White Rock (1977) • The Burning (1981) • ''G'olé!'' (1983) • She (1984) • Crimes of Passion (1984) • Creepshow 2 (1987; with Les Reed) • Hero (1987) • Phantom Power (1990) • Bullet to Beijing (1995) • Midnight in Saint Petersburg (1996) • White Rock II (1999) • Alone (2002) • In Search of the Great Beast 666 (2007) Video games and CD-ROM • Microcosm (1993; Sega Mega Drive) • Between Earth and the End of Time: The Worlds of Rodney Matthews (1996; CD-ROM) ==Bibliography==

Notes References Sources • • • • • ==External links==