Rick Wakeman

Born in Perivale, Middlesex, England, Rick Wakeman trained in classical piano before leaving the Royal College of Music to become a studio musician in London in the late 1960s. In that early period he appeared on recordings by David Bowie, Cat Stevens and Elton John, spent a spell with Strawbs and joined Yes in 1971, where his keyboard playing helped define part of the group's progressive sound on Fragile (1971) and Close to the Edge (1972). At the same time Wakeman developed a prolific solo career, initially centered on instrumental progressive rock enriched by symphonic writing and conceptual forms, with albums such as The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1973), Journey to the Centre of the Earth (1974) and The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (1975). Over the decades he has alternated returns to Yes with projects with the English Rock Ensemble, film music, solo piano concerts and more ambient or new‑age records like Country Airs (1986), while keeping a taste for musical narratives and extended pieces. In recent work he has continued this trajectory between piano reworkings, exemplified by Piano Portraits (2017), and new progressive rock compositions such as The Red Planet (2020) and A Gallery of the Imagination (2023).