Rick Wakeman
Rick Wakeman
Richard Christopher "Rick" Wakemanis an English keyboardist, songwriter, television and radio presenter, author, and actor. He is best known for being in the progressive rock band Yes across five tenures between 1971 and 2004 and for his solo albums released in the 1970s...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionRock Singer
Date of Birth18 May 1949
career course funny genuinely host known men people since tv work
Since the 1980s, I've been known more for my TV work, I used to host 'Live at Jongleurs' and of course 'Grumpy Old Men,' and so it's really all come from there. It's been a funny career really, there are people that know me now as a TV person, a comedian, an interviewer - I've had people genuinely gobsmacked to find out I am a musician.
cover good peel
'Tales From Topographic Oceans' is like a woman's padded bra. The cover looks good, but when you peel off the padding, there's not a lot there.
artists cat david joined kept life morning musician numerous played session though trained worked yes
I had joined Yes in 1971. I was a classically trained musician who had worked with numerous artists as a session musician. I played on David Bowie's 'Life On Mars,' Cat Stevens's 'Morning Has Broken' and even on some Des O'Connor records, though I kept that quiet.
accent brought fond hugely maternity memorial scottish simpson though tickled
I'm hugely fond of Scotland. My daughter, Jemma, was born in the Simpson Memorial Maternity Hospital in Edinburgh, and it always tickled me that she was so vexed she didn't have a Scottish accent even though she was brought up down south.
Apparently I'm well-known for my stories, my raconteur tales, that sort of thing.
band chalk cheese generally great rest touring yes
Touring with Yes was generally great fun, and I got on well with the rest of the guys, but we were like chalk and cheese in many respects. I was unique in the band as a card-carrying Conservative.
farther frustrated hardly music played playing
To play music, you have to understand it. I didn't understand 'Topographic Oceans.' That's why I hardly played on it. It frustrated me no end - and playing the whole thing on tour, I got farther and farther away from it.
garden buried
Success is buried in the garden of failure.
band coming-back felt
Coming back to Yes is like never having left. Even when I have not been in the band, I have always felt part of it.
understanding secret way
The secret of breaking rules in a way that works is understanding what the rules are in the first place.
writing
I'm always writing or playing because that is my life.
cousin class stuff
As a songwriter, I was influenced by David Bowie - a great writer. A class above everybody in so many ways. Lennon and McCartney, of course. Class stuff. David Cousins was my favorite lyricist.
writing next needs
The studio is not the place to write. You need to be 75% ready when you go into the studio, and then the music can develop to the next stage.
rocks play records
But I'd play on everything from pop records to a lot of the glam stuff to rock stuff to classical stuff. I used to get called to do all those things, it was great.