Early bands Lake joined his first band, Unit Four, playing cover songs as their singer and guitarist. Following their split in 1965, Lake and Unit Four bassist Dave Genes formed another covers group, the Time Checks, until 1966. He then became a member of the Shame, where he is featured on their single, "Don't Go Away Little Girl", written by
Janis Ian. but the group secured a residency at the
Marquee Club in London. Lake left the group in 1968 over creative differences as the band were to enter the recording studio. Their keyboardist
Ken Hensley later said that Lake "was far too talented to be kept in the background".
King Crimson In the 1960s, Lake formed a friendship with guitarist
Robert Fripp, who would later lead
King Crimson. Lake and Fripp were from Dorset and both received lessons from Don Strike.
Michael Giles stayed as drummer and
Ian McDonald joined on keyboards, flute and saxophone. Vocalist/bassist
Peter Giles left the group, and was replaced by Lake. This was Lake's first time playing bass guitar; he had primarily been a guitarist for eleven years. King Crimson supported
In the Court of the Crimson King with a tour of the UK and the US, with some of the shows featuring rock band
the Nice as the opening act. and appear on the music television show
Top of the Pops with them, performing the song "Cat Food".
Emerson, Lake & Palmer , Toronto, in 1978 In April 1970, Lake left King Crimson and joined with Emerson and drummer
Carl Palmer of
the Crazy World of Arthur Brown and
Atomic Rooster, to form the progressive rock
supergroup,
Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Sinfield, who stated he went with Lake to purchase the carpet, felt that this was half the story; he believed that Lake was driven to keep up with Emerson's extravagant equipment: "He was one of those classic
keep-up-with-the-Joneses cases." It was released as a single, and reached number 39 in the US. In 1974, Emerson, Lake & Palmer took a break in activity. Lake used this time to focus on his family life, travel, and to write and release music. One of them, "C'est la Vie", was released as a single. Lake called the album the "beginning of the end" of the band, as he stopped producing their albums, neither of which were a "really innovative record".
Solo career and other projects In 1975, while still a member of ELP, when they were on hiatus, Lake achieved solo chart success when his single, "
I Believe in Father Christmas", reached number two on the
UK Singles Chart. It has become a
Yuletide perennial. In the UK, the single sold over 13,000 copies in two days. The result,
Greg Lake, was released in September 1981 on
Chrysalis Records, and reached number 62 in both the UK and the US. The debut concert for the tour of the album took place in August 1981 at the
Reading Festival, with bandmates
Gary Moore on guitar,
Ted McKenna on drums,
Tommy Eyre on keyboards, and Tristram Margetts on bass. Lake's second solo album
Manoeuvres was released in July 1983. He disbanded the Greg Lake Band soon after completing it, without promoting or touring the album, and split with his record company. Adding to the decision, lead guitarist Gary Moore had written solo material that brought him a recording contract. In October 1983, at Carl Palmer's request, Lake briefly joined Palmer in the 1980s supergroup
Asia, to replace fellow King Crimson alumnus
John Wetton for four scheduled concerts in Japan. Lake agreed and spent six weeks learning Asia's songs, culminating in his performance in the "Asia in Asia" concert at the
Nippon Budokan Hall in Tokyo, 6 December 1983, the first concert broadcast over satellite to MTV in the United States, and later made into a home video. Lake left the group after the tour, having joined as a favor for the Japanese concerts only. In 1986, Lake and Emerson decided to re-form Emerson, Lake & Palmer to record another album. However, Palmer continued to have commitments to Asia, so Lake and Emerson auditioned other artists. They found good rapport with drummer
Cozy Powell, and recorded their eponymous album
Emerson, Lake & Powell with him. In 2001, Lake toured as a member of the seventh incarnation of
Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. The tour was sponsored by UK entertainer and long-term ELP fan, Jim Davidson. But the shows were not a sell-out and the US leg was cancelled. In 2006, Lake played as a member of the supergroup
the RD Crusaders in aid for charity. He was a special guest on their album
Night Castle (2009). In 2010, Lake and Emerson completed an acoustic world tour, performing ELP songs. The tour got off to a bad start following a backstage altercation between the two, but "we completed the tour and it was very happy. We actually ended up enjoying ourselves". The concert was released on CD, DVD, and Blu-ray as
High Voltage. It was the final performance by the group. Lake wished to continue touring, but claimed his bandmates "didn't want to", thus ending such plans. Lake spent several years writing his autobiography
Lucky Man, originally planned to be published in 2012 but eventually released posthumously in June 2017. On 19 June 2017, the Municipality of
Zoagli (Genoa) Italy posthumously awarded honorary citizenship to Lake and engraved a marble plaque that is next to Castello Canevaro where he had performed on 30 November 2012. In his final years he worked on producing the album
Moonchild by Annie Barbazza and Max Repetti, where some of his most iconic songs were arranged in an avant-garde/contemporary mood, for only piano and voice. == Personal life and death ==