Biography

Rick Wakeman's work on the classic albums of the progressive rock band Yes, his hugely successful solo albums, as well as his contributions to classic David Bowie songs, has earned him a reputation as one of rock's greatest ever keyboardists. Wakeman was educated at Drayton Manor County Grammar School. Classically trained on the piano, he later attended the Royal College of Music but left without graduating. He first made his name as a session musician at Trident Studios. Among his notable early work was playing Mellotron on David Bowie's breakthrough single "Space Oddity".

Bowie subsequently asked Wakeman to play on his "Hunky Dory" album, which has become one of his most acclaimed works and produced the songs "Life on Mars", "Changes" and "Oh! You Pretty Things", which all featured Wakeman on piano. In the early 1970s, Wakeman was one of the most sought after keyboardists in Britain. He played on albums by The Strawbs and was receiving offers to join the progressive rock band Yes and David Bowie's band The Spiders from Mars at the same time. He chose to join Yes and during his time with the band they recorded several of the most famous albums of the progressive rock genre, including "Fragile", "Close to the Edge" and "Tales from Topographic Oceans". Wakeman also recorded some hugely successful solo albums during the 1970s, principally "The Six Wives of Henry VIII", "Journey to the Centre of the Earth" and "The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table".

In the late 1970s, Wakeman and progressive rock in general fell out of favour with the arrival of punk rock. Nevertheless, he was able to continue with work as a musician and continued to record his own albums, although they were not as commercially successful. In his later life he has become just as well known as a radio and television broadcaster.