Greg Lake

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Greg Lake

Gregory Stuart Lake (born 10 November 1947 in Poole, Dorset, England) is an English bassist, guitarist, vocalist, songwriter and producer, best known as a founding member of King Crimson and Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

Biography

1960s: Early life, The Gods and King Crimson

He was interested in music at a young age, and wrote what would become one of Emerson, Lake & Palmer's biggest hits, "Lucky Man", when he was still at school. In 1968, Lake was a member of a band called The Gods along with future members of Uriah Heep. Lake left the band in summer 1968 before they released their debut album.

Lake went on to form King Crimson with an old school friend, Robert Fripp. As both Fripp and Lake were primarily guitarists, Lake switched to playing bass.

For King Crimson's debut album, In the Court of the Crimson King, Lake also contributed as songwriter and singer. The album was originally to be produced by Tony Clarke who was then the producer for the Moody Blues. However, after the first day Clarke walked out as he had difficulty understanding what the band were trying to create. Lake assumed the role of producer. Although the album credits the whole band as producers, it was primarily Lake who produced it.[1]

King Crimson went on a North American tour with The Nice, who were on their farewell tour. It was after this tour in April 1970 that Lake left the band to form Emerson, Lake & Palmer along with Keith Emerson from The Nice on keyboards and Carl Palmer from Atomic Rooster on drums and percussion. Despite his official departure from King Crimson, Lake agreed to help with the completion of King Crimson's second album In the Wake of Poseidon.

1970s: Emerson, Lake & Palmer

ELP were hugely successful in the 1970s (with album sales totalling over thirty million), and significantly contributed to the evolution of progressive rock. Lake contributed to many of ELP's songs but was particularly noticeable for his guitar-oriented and soulful tunes such as "C'est la vie" (Works Volume I), "Still... You Turn Me On" (Brain Salad Surgery) and "The Sage" ("Pictures at an Exhibition"). Lake became popularly known for his UK Christmas number two single, "I Believe in Father Christmas" in 1975 which was later included on the ELP album Works Volume II.

In 1973, Lake founded the Manticore label and signed some very talented musicians such as Italy's PFM and Banco and King Crimson/Emerson, Lake & Palmer lyricist Pete Sinfield.

1980s: Asia and solo career

After the break-up of ELP, Lake toured briefly with the group Asia in 1983 as a temporary replacement for John Wetton, as well as releasing two solo albums and conducting a tour in the early 1980s. The albums were Greg Lake (1981) and Manoeuvres (1983), both of which featured ex-Thin Lizzy guitarist Gary Moore and, even though the latter is more sophisticated, saw Lake playing straight rock. In 1986 he, Emerson and Cozy Powell released the album "Emerson, Lake and Powell" -- basically an ELP reunion with Powell replacing Palmer who was then drumming in the band Asia.

1990s: Emerson, Lake & Palmer again

Emerson, Lake & Palmer subsequently reunited in the early 1990s and played the progressive rock circuit, especially in outdoor summer concerts, and released two new studio albums. In 1998, the members of ELP had a rather acrimonious falling-out and Lake left the band.

2000s: Recent work and Greg Lake band

Keith Emerson's 2004 memoirs "Pictures of an Exhibitionist" give an unflattering portrait of Lake, and not surprisingly Lake has said that he will never reunite with ELP in the future. He has not been especially visible on the music scene since then, though he did tour as a member of Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band in 2001. In late 2003 he played bass on The Who's "Real Good Looking Boy".

On October 22, 2005 Lake began touring the UK with a brand new "Greg Lake Band", to positive reviews. The band comprises David Arch on keyboards, Florian Opahle on guitar, Trevor Barry on bass, and Brett Morgan on drums. A double DVD was released by Warner Bros/Classic Pictures early 2006, with Greg Lake in full form, his voice now deeper and louder than before[citation needed]. The Greg Lake Band was ready for a new tour on September 2006 with rumours of a new album in the pipeline, although this tour was cancelled at the last minute due to "management troubles"[citation needed].

Greg Lake performed "Karn Evil 9" with the Trans Siberian Orchestra at the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, Long Island, New York on December 20, 2006, and at the Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, NJ on December 21, 2006.

Solo Discography

Albums

  • 1981 Greg Lake US #62; UK #62
  • 1983 Manoeuvres
  • 1995 King Biscuit Flower Hour Presents Greg Lake In Concert
  • 1997 The Greg Lake Retrospective: From The Beginning
  • 1998 From The Underground: The Official Bootleg
  • 2000 Live
  • 2002 Nuclear Attack
  • 2007 Greg Lake (Compilation)

Singles

  • 1981 Love You Too Much
  • 1981 Let Me Love You Before You Go
  • 1981 For Those Who Dare
  • 1981 It Hurts
  • 1983 A Woman Like You

References

  1. ^ [1] article from Guitarnoise.com

2. Forrester, George, Martyn Hanson and Frank Askew. Emerson, Lake & Palmer, The Show That Never Ends, A Musical Biography. (2001) Helter Skelter Publishing ISBN 1-900924-17-X.

External links

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